The great Brexit of fashion? Why British designers are decamping to Milan | Milan Fashion Week

Mr.Ilan mens fashion week is the place where all the big Italian names converge. This is where Prada dictates the shape of the pants that everyone will one day wear and where Gucci launches the next it-bag. But as the shows got underway this weekend, an unexpected new trend emerged: the great Brexit of fashion.

Just four months after making his debut as Dunhill's creative director at London Fashion Week, Simon Holloway instead chose the Italian capital for the brand's Spring/Summer 25 show. On Sunday, he aimed to recreate the atmosphere of a beautiful spring day in England by showing off in a garden in Milan.

Martine Rose, the cult London designer whose clothes draw on traditional codes of masculinity such as football and club culture, and who is favored by celebrities including Kendrick Lamar, has also defected this time. Presenting directly after Prada on Sunday, Rose took pride of place in the program, which has more than 80 events and runs until June 18.

David Koma has been showcasing womenswear in London since 2009. His glamorous designs have been worn by Rihanna and Beyoncé, but for his menswear debut he decamped to Milan, while this month Paul Smith traveled to Florence as a guest designer at Pitti Uomo.

Gianluca Borghi, general manager of 10 Corso Como, a luxury concept store in Milan, says the Italian city's fashion week is gaining momentum. According to Borghi, different fashion cities dominate at different times, but Milan offers a rather particular and almost unique scenario, thanks to the combination of a privileged location for both the creative world and its business counterpart.

The exodus of British talent is a blow to London's fashion scene already hit by Brexit, the removal of duty-free shopping for tourists and the cost of living crisis.

Rose spoke about feeling discouraged and sad about the truly demoralized London fashion landscape. Half of his team is now based in Milan. Holloway says that although London is the epicenter of creativity, it makes commercial sense to focus on Milan.

It's a marked contrast to the 2010s, when Rose exhibited in London alongside many pioneering designers. Victoria Beckham, once a London fixture, moved her show to Paris in 2022 and since then, Grace Wales Bonner and Bianca Saunders have followed suit.

While Paris has earned its nickname as the fashion capital of Europe, more recently it is Milan, once considered a somewhat boring and industrial city, that attracts creatives.

Brexit has played a key role in increasing its appeal. A generous tax incentive introduced in 2015 to encourage Italians to return to their home country, and later extended to foreigners, has also proven successful. And you can add to this mix the country's recent introduction of a digital nomad visawhich allows third country nationals earning over 28,000 (24,000) to relocate and work remotely, and the fact that fashion is taken seriously as an industry.

Lisa Bridgett, a fashion technology entrepreneur who recently moved to Milan after working in London and Paris, describes fashion as the city's lifeblood.

Here, beautiful figurewhich means putting your best face forward, is a way of life, she says, explaining how typical it is to hear not only fashion people discuss the length of a shirt sleeve or the type collar.

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Koma says the city's respect for fashion was a key factor in his decision to make his menswear debut in Milan. I wanted to bring in new voices and a new audience, he says. Men really like fashion here so I think it will be more interesting to get their reaction.

Olya Kuryshchuk, founder and editor-in-chief of 1 Granary, a fashion education platform and creative network, believes that logistical challenges, including higher venue costs, posed by the upcoming Paris Olympics also benefit Milan.

But she doubts that the city can steal the crown from Paris. While London is rapidly losing its advantages, mainly due to Brexit, Paris will remain the most important hub for independent brands, as it is where the majority of shopping takes place, she says.

Although Holloways' sales and sales teams have recently moved to Milan, he wants to keep Dunhills' production in the UK as much as possible. More than 60% of its fabrics are woven in the UK and it says working with heritage mills and specialists in Scotland and the North West of England is at the heart of the brand's identity.

We exist in a market dominated by Italian menswear, he says. We are able to offer something rare. The work of Scottish knitters is very different from what they do in Italy. The use of British manufacturers is therefore of paramount importance to us.