Unstage: Images from the IED fashion show at MFW

Date

29 September 2025

Between art and fashion, a collective show beyond the runway, featuring Scarlett Rouge’s performance and the creations of 13 emerging designers.

A voice, a song in motion in the semi-darkness, expressed with the force of a ritual and punctuated by the power of an original soundtrack, accompanies the first look of Unstage at Milan Fashion Week. The look is worn by artist Scarlett Rouge, whose performance kicks off the event with which the Istituto Europeo di Design invites the audience to deconstruct the runway.

The 50 looks presented at Unstage are the result of a dialogue between the collections of 13 emerging IED Milano designer: they form a show that is a collective and artistic action, rather than a display of individual achievements.
There is no stage, only a geography of gestures, sounds, garments, and thinking bodies, beginning with Rouge’s performance (in the main image by Cate Colapetro, the look is by Li Chien)

The creations, moving between darkness and light in the multi-level space of the Galleria Lia Rumma, reflect the intimate insights of the young designers on memory, roots, and identity, as well as visions that intertwine art, nature, and formal experimentation. The result is a creative tableau translating the fragility and strength of a generation into the languages of contemporary fashion.

Unstage's art director is Umberto Sannino, Head of IED Milano Fashion School.

IED UNSTAGE’S DESIGNERS AND LOOKS

The 50 featured looks alternate between outfits by individual designers and ensembles created through the dialogue between pieces from multiple collections. They are complemented by shoes from two Italian excellence brands, Marsèll and Vic Matié.

Li Chien

Never forget where you came from: inspired by the designer’s grandfather, who fled to Taiwan during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt his life after weeks at sea, the collection “Wandering Memory” turns his resilience into a symbol of strength shared with millions of refugees throughout history.

Andrea Putzu e Rosamaria Simonetti

“Suspiriae” draws on the fragility of porcelain dolls to explore society’s obsession with perfection. In the final segment of the collection, “Epilogue”, distorted shapes and expanded volumes transform Victorian femininity, turning the passive doll into an active subject.

Giovanni Piccirilli

“Cruising Time” questions our perception of time, celebrating memory, desire, and pleasure. Fashion becomes a language to collapse temporal boundaries and reconnect with human experience.

Aurora Perinelli

The collection “Vulnerable Body” explores vulnerability, turning the body into a canvas of pain and emotion. Fabrics both protect and absorb, deforming with the wearer’s feelings, becoming a silent witness to suffering and a bridge between what is worn and what is felt.

Teresa Giannattasio

In autumn’s fading fields, chrysanthemums bloom like stars, symbols of hope and renewal.
The collection “Here and Now” reflects on fragility and decay contrasted with the vitality of youth, an interweaving of memory, family, and homeland.

Simone Griffa

“Escapism” becomes a journey of transformation, a soft, comforting embrace where once-clipped wings can now defy gravity. Fluid shapes, swirling prints, and ethereal textures bring movement and magic, scattering dreams like seeds.

Gaia Carlomagno

“Rovine” transforms urban chaos into rural calm, layering recycled fabrics, natural dyes, and textures to crystallize memory. Clay pendants and doily details celebrate craftsmanship and circular fashion.

Giacomo Galluccio

The collection celebrates the inner child, drawing on the fairytale “Rosaspina" to transform lost playfulness into imagination, joy, and a force that restores hope and inspires change.

Riva Karin Migita Ficici

“Rosy Retrospection Clinic” examines the impact of misogynistic beauty standards and consumerism in East Asia, drawing inspiration from two major Japanese fashion movements: Lolita and Gal.

Luca Procopio

The collection “Replica” explores truth and the fake, where self-recognition is shattered, masks are built, and identities multiply. Bodies fragment and reassemble, as clarity gives way to ambiguity. Formal garments and replicated figures blur reality, leaving imperfect echoes and interfaces of being.

Giacomo Sica

“Sunriders” is a journey into modern masculinity, deconstructing biker machismo and reshaping virility. Oversized boots and circular structures, echoing wheels, headlights, and the sun, reimagine the new man.

Alan D’Isola

“La Camatta” is a streetwear collection rooted in the designer’s hometown, Lambrinia. Recycling, memory, and nature shape garments that tell stories of rural life, heritage, and a return to origins.