Today sees the start of Milano Fashion Design, an initiative dedicated to fashion, culture and style, promoted by the Mondadori Group and the City of Milan, that once again this year will contribute cultural events to the event.

Following the success of previous editions, the Mondadori weeklies Donna Moderna, Grazia and Tu Style, points of reference for millions of readers interested in fashion, new trends and what’s new for women, will stage in Piazza Liberty in Milan, five days of shows, meetings and performances.

Fashion Show
Until Saturday 22 September, from 3 to 7.30 pm, Grazia will run a catwalk show at the Fashion House in Piazza Liberty featuring important labels. Among the performances so far confirmed are Loveable-Playtex and The Bridge. Tomorrow it will be the turn of Yes-Zee with Francesco Facchinetti, Baroni, Carla Ferroni, Kontatto, Eklé, Nomination, Koiné, Primadonna, ABBIDDIKKIA, Moon Boot, Rinascimento, Giorgia & Jones, Nell & Me and Cannella.
Also this year Sunday will be dedicated to children, who will be on the catwalk from 2.3 to 6.30 pm, with clothes from many of the most prestigious producers in the sector, such as Brums, Asso, Eddie Pen and Woolrich Kids.
The team and fashion bloggers of Grazia.it will move to the heart of the city, along with the editorial staff, in order to be as close as possible to the events of the Milan Fashion Week.

Casting “real women”
With Donna Moderna the spotlights of fashion shift to real women of all ages, sizes and professions. From tomorrow until Saturday 22 September, from 10 am to 12.30 pm, Milan will be the location for a casting effort to select the protagonists of the magazine’s fashion and beauty features, but above all to choose the women who will take part in the multi-ethnic fashion show to be held on Sunday 23 September on the Fashion House catwalk.
At the same time Donnamoderna.com, with its #divaMI initiative, will photograph all of the women against a backdrop of some of cinema’s most famous scenes, with glamour accessories and the advice of the stylists from Chicisimo.

Cultural events and beauty workshops
Milano Fashion Design is an occasion to take part in the cycle of cultural events “Women, Art, Fashion and Entertainment”. The Fashion House will host an extensive calendar of encounters, free admittance, introduced by Stefano Boeri, the councillor for Culture, Fashion and Design of the City of Milan, and presented by Antonio Calbi, the city’s director of Entertainment, Fashion and Design. Proceedings begin today at 12.30 with the round table “Dancing in Milan”: on stage Susanna Beltrami, choreographer and director of the DanceHaus, Milan, Marinella Guatterini the critic from Il Sole 24 Ore, lecturer in the aesthetics of dance and head of the course in theatrical dance at the Scuola Paolo Grassi, and Annamaria Onetti, Festival Exister/artedanzae20. On Friday 21 September, the discussion will be on “Personal style and mythmaking in twentieth-century art” with Marina Pugliese, director of Milan’s Museum of the Twentieth Century. On Saturday 22, the subject will be “The ’70s make-up and hair in the era of Saturday Night Fever”, organised by Make Up and Wigs Stage Entertainment /Teatro Nazionale.
In addition, on Thursday 20 at 1 pm and Friday 21 at 7.15 pm, Tu Style, together with R101 and the Department of Fashion and Design of the Milan Politecnico, will hold a workshop “A new life, a new look!”, to discuss how change can influence image. The special guest at this meeting will be Marco Balestri, presenter of the R101 radio programme “Molto Personale”.

“Special events”
The calendar of events for Milano Fashion Design also includes a number of special events, including today, at 7 pm. a party organised by Privalia and Tu Style to celebrate the Privalia.IT Girl, chosen from among 1000 girls. On Thursday at 7.30 pm Casa Cambalache will present the dancers who were runners up in the Tango Salon 2011 world championship who will perform “Tango en voga”, while on Friday 21 September, at 8 pm, DanceHaus’ Susanna Beltrami will present an extract from un “Le vent Noir”.
On Saturday 22 September, at 8 pm, Donna Moderna will bring to the Fashion House stage the “Kataklò Athletic Dance Theatre” who will perform an engaging alchemy of energy and athleticism and the harmonious intensity of dance.

Partners
Milano Fashion Design has been realised thanks to the Regione Puglia, the main partner: and on Saturday 22 September at 12 pm, the President of the Region Nichi Vendola will speak.
Renault is the event’s main sponsor. Also participating: Bioscalin, CityLife, Panasonic with Eluga (the new water-proof Android smartphone), Maybelline (sponsor & official make-up) and Compagnia della bellezza (sponsor & official hairstyling).
Event partner of the event: Privalia that celebrates its fifth anniversary along with Mondadori and Trenitalia with the Frecciarosa project dedicated to the world of women.
Milano Fashion Design is an event produced by DPR – Input Group.

A complete calendar for Milano Fashion Design is available at www.milanofashiondesign.it.
You can also follow Milano Fashion Design on Facebook.