Today sees the start of Milano Fashion Design, the initiative promoted by the Mondadori Group, with its titles Donna Moderna, Grazia, Tu Style, the web sites Donnamoderna.com and Grazia.it, and the City of Milan, which this year will take part in the programme with cultural initiatives and events.
Milano Fashion Design will offer the city, until 26 February, and coinciding with the Fashion Week, five days of shows, meetings and performances at the special Fashion House designed by Michele De Lucchi, in Piazza Liberty.

Fashion Show
The programme of Milano Fashion Design will be rich in appointments dedicated to fashion. Until Saturday 25 February, from 3pm to 7.30pm, at the Fashion House in Piazza Liberty, there will be a series of fashion shows organised by Grazia with the participation of personalities from the world of entertainment. Among the performances scheduled today Fornarina, Luna and Luciano Soprani, in addition to a special event by Asus introducing its latest technology. In the coming days it will be the turn of Yes-Zee, Swisses, Cromia, Mangano, Nell & Me, Giorgia & Johns, Kocca, Mazzonetto, Geox, Sisley and Peserico, while Milano-Fiera Macef will promote its exhibition activity with a fashion performance.
Also this year Sunday will be dedicated to children with catwalks between 2.30pm and 4.30pm, presenting clothes by the most prestigious companies in the sector, including Eddy Pen, iDo and Il Gufo.
Grazia.it and the bloggers of the new Grazia IT Blogs network will be on the move around the city to capture and photograph the latest trends in fashion and beauty. Headquartes of the GRazia.it editorial staff will be the Grazia.it POP Up located in largo La Foppa

“Special events”
The extensive programme of activities of Milano Fashion Design begins today with the first of a series of special events on the theme of Donne in scena (Women on Stage), organised by the City of Milan in collaboration with Tu Style.
Until Friday 24 February, from 12.30pm to 1.30pm, at the Fashion House, important protagonists from many of the shows running in Milan’s theatres will provide previews of their work, as part of the cultural encounters initiative presented by the city’s director of entertainment, fashion and design, Antonio Calbi.
Introduced by the city’s councillor for the arts Stefano Boeri, the programme will begin with Valeria Magli and Lina Sotis presenting Soirée Sotis, which will run from 24 to 26 February at the Teatro Elfo Puccini. Tomorrow, Thursday 23 February, Elisabetta Pozzi, Eva Robin’s and Alvia Reale will preview the stage play “Tutto sua mia madre” (Teatro Elfo Puccini, 21 February – 4 March).
On Friday 24 February Maddalena Crippa will talk about “E pensare che c’era il pensiero” (Tieffe Teatro Menotti, 21 February – 4 March), while from 7.30pm, Tu Style will bring to the Fashion House stage the veejay Alessandro Cattelan who will present his book “Quando vieni a prendermi?” (Mondadori).
In addition, for the whole of the event, the stage of Milano Fashion Design in the evenings will be animated by the most famous international companies of street artists taking part in the Milano Clown Festival and, on Saturday 25 February, the Unione Italiana Sport per Tutti will stage a dance show.

Casting and Fashion coach
From tomorrow until Saturday 25 February, from 10am to 12.30 p.m., Donna Moderna will run a series of castings to select the protagonists of the magazine’s fashion and beauty coverage, and above all the women who, on Sunday 26 February will walk an “all-Italian” catwalk at the Fashion House: 20 ‘real women will take part in the show, one from every region of the country, wearing the creations of famous designers. The magazine has also decided to launch, precisely during the most glamorous week for fashion, a new challenge: to sign the Manifesto delle donne vere (Manifesto for Real Women) including their own definition of beauty and truth on the mini-site www.donnevere.donnamoderna.com, on Twitter at hashtag #donnevere, on Facebook or by writing down and placing their description in a box on the Fashion House stage.
At the same time the fashion coach of Donnamoderna.com will change, with just a few moves, the style of all those who want to “learn” something more about fashion. Every day the woman who has most revolutionised her image, thanks to the advice of the personal stylist, will receive as a gift a total look at one of the stores in the city centre.

The partners
Milano Fashion Design has been organised thanks to the support of Regione Calabria – main partner – that tomorrow, Thursday 23 February, at 2.30pm, will present its achievements in the field of fashion and crafts, that will also be on show every day at 2pm during the event.
Renault – main sponsor – will present the new Twingo, also offering visitors the possibility of a test-drive in Via Hoepli.
Event sponsors: Ferrovie dello Stato, Milano-Fiera Macef, Glaming, L’Oréal Paris, also with the “Nail Bar” by Color Riche, L’Oréal Professionnel, Cadey with Staminaline, Asus and Alcatel.
Milano Fashion Design is an event produced by DPR Eventi.

The complete programme for Milano Fashion Design can also be found on the web site www.milanofashiondesign.it.
You can also follow Milano Fashion Design on Facebook.