Before the lights and the front rows, there are numbers: how many shows, who opens, who closes, which rules change. This week New York publishes its final fashion week schedule, Milan announces its widest edition in years, and two separate initiatives — a prize and a school on the runway — are a reminder that behind every collection there's always someone who imagined it before anyone else wore it. Four stories, one month: September, the busiest on the fashion calendar.
New York reopens fashion week, with one new rule for everyone
From September 9 to 15, New York hosts 70 shows and presentations on the official schedule, plus by-appointment and digital collections. The eve, Wednesday the 9th, already brings five off-schedule shows: among them, a house turning 85 and a label celebrating its 25th year — the week starts a full day before it officially opens.
The official schedule opens Thursday the 10th with the runway debut of a new artistic director at a storied American house, and closes Tuesday the 15th with the show that has redefined New York tailoring in recent years. In between, a structural change: as of this edition, the CFDA's fur-free policy, announced a year ago, applies to every brand on the official calendar — fur is officially out of American runways for good. On Friday the 11th, marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, the schedule starts later than usual, at 10am.
Milan announces its biggest calendar of the year
From September 22 to 28, Milan hosts womenswear fashion week for spring/summer 2027: 203 appointments in total, including 61 shows — 54 physical and 7 digital — 88 presentations and 54 events. It's a wider edition than February's, organised with support from Italy's Foreign Ministry, the ICE Agency and the City of Milan.
Widening the week beyond the best-known houses is the Fashion Hub, the space dedicated to emerging Italian and international designers: open to the public from Tuesday afternoon the 22nd through Sunday the 27th, 11am to 7pm. No press credential needed — just the curiosity to see who might be on the runway a few seasons from now.
A new prize for the women who work with their hands
On September 26, during fashion week, the Sozzani Award will be handed out for the first time: a prize that rotates each year between photography, fashion and design & craft, and whose first edition — titled "Women" — celebrates the women whose research contributes to contemporary culture. Entry is free and open to creatives, professionals and students aged 18 to 40, from any country.
The jury judges artistic quality, research and the ability to generate new narratives; it's led by the foundation's president and co-founder alongside its creative director and two stylists. The foundation, established in 2016, joined UNESCO's Global Education Coalition — more than 230 organisations working on education — just days ago, confirming the prize sits inside a broader education project, not a one-off event during a single week.
A school on the runway, before the big houses
On Sunday, September 27, it's Milano Moda Graduate's turn: the twelfth edition of the project that puts students from Italy's leading fashion schools on the runway. Launched in 2015, the format runs in two categories: one for capsule collections designed by the students, mentored directly by the fashion week's organisers; the other reserved for ten selected designers, each presenting an outfit developed with a technical partner specialised in components and closures.
The collections walk in front of an international jury that awards the most representative outfits. It's the only appointment of the week where the audience, ahead of the critics, judges someone who doesn't have a name yet — the same logic as the Fashion Hub, applied to those still studying.
In brief
New York restarts with a packed calendar and one new rule: no more fur on the official schedule. Milan announces its biggest edition of the year, with the Fashion Hub open to anyone who wants to walk in. A new prize puts the women who work with their hands at the centre. A school walks before the big houses. Four different ways of saying the same thing: fashion prepares, before it shows itself.