Bold shift from competition to collaboration drives IED Milano’s graduate show, turning a traditional runway into a collective art experience.
This year, Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) Milano unveiled a transformative approach to its annual graduate fashion show by centering collaboration over competition. During Milan Fashion Week in September, the Milan campus presented “Unstage” at the Galleria Lia Rumma contemporary art gallery, featuring a live, immersive experience opened by Scarlett Rouge, a multimedia artist and daughter of Lamy. Scarlette Rouge kicked off with a live performance that highlighted the show’s multi-sensory atmosphere and narrative depth.
Thirteen newly graduated IED Milano students presented 50 looks as a unified collective rather than as separate sequential collections, a deliberate departure from the conventional runway format. The aim was to dissolve rivalries among designers and to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration across courses and departments.
Since its 1966 Milan opening, IED has established itself as a creative hub, shaping many of fashion’s influential talents. Notable alumni include Pierpaolo Piccioli, creative director at Balenciaga; Maria Grazia Chiuri, chief creative officer of Fendi and former Dior designer; and luxury shoe designer Amina Muaddi.
IED now educates roughly 10,000 students annually across 11 campuses in Italy, Spain, and Brazil. The school offers programs spanning fashion design, fashion marketing and communications, cinema and visual arts, and product and interior design.
To explore how collaboration informs the collective approach behind the graduate show, BoF spoke with Danilo Venturi, director of IED Milano.
Why reimagine a graduate fashion show as a collective art performance instead of a traditional runway?
At IED, fashion is viewed as more than aesthetics; it embodies ethics, culture, ideas, and relationships. A conventional graduate show can foster competition among students, but the aim here was to cultivate a shared vision that transcends individual accolades. The desired result is a more fluid, inclusive, collaborative, and artistic presentation that creates meaning and strengthens connections.
How is collaboration fostered among students who would normally compete for attention?
Students are carefully selected based on compatibility and creative balance. Even when ideas initially diverge, those differences can spark unexpected energy that enhances the overall presentation. There’s always some uncertainty about how well partnerships will mesh, but including contrasting perspectives often yields surprises and novelty. The goal is to avoid predictability and maintain dynamism.
The show reflects the school’s mission to nurture thoughtful, ethical, and innovative designers capable of shaping fashion’s future. The objective is to blend diverse ideas while preserving a cohesive collection mood, requiring negotiation and shared responsibility because building a collection is demanding work that often involves long nights.
What challenges arise when merging individual work into a collective body?
Common collaboration hurdles appear—unequal effort, late arrivals, and other interpersonal dynamics. Beyond typical teamwork, students must balance personal visions with a shared identity, adding complexity to the process. IED students’ experience with collaborative study helps align personal ambition with group goals, mirroring real-world brand work where identity guides collective output.
How does ‘Unstage’ reflect IED Milano’s teaching philosophy?
The show embodies a research-driven, bridge-building approach—between self and others, cultures, and past, present, and imagined futures. It emphasizes a global, forward-thinking outlook, with diversity and freedom to be diverse as core values. Creativity gains meaning when contextualized within broader ethical and cultural frames.
What is the future of graduate presentations in terms of audience reach and experience?
Graduate presentations are evolving with a generation that blends physical and digital spaces, personal and collective narratives, and deep research with surface display. IED views the graduate show as cultural production rather than a mere exam. The emphasis shifts from competition to demonstrating research, growth, personality, and unique creative voice. Graduation becomes a milestone of transition rather than a test score.
What impact did live performance have on the show’s atmosphere?
Scarlett Rouge’s performance added emotional depth and a multi-sensory layer, inviting direct audience engagement and a stronger link between art and fashion, body and space, and identity and interaction. The gallery setting, with strategic stage design—such as keeping parts of the space initially quiet—built anticipation and underscored the event’s improvisational energy.
Looking ahead, which industry themes will shape the next generation of students and events?
Freedom, community, and creative longevity are expected to define future fashion experiences. Art, artificial intelligence, and cross-disciplinary influences from beyond fashion will increasingly inform design processes, enabling more diverse forms of expression. During the pandemic, students explored technology and AI, but many opted to begin with traditional, hands-on practice, suggesting a balanced approach that values both innovation and craft. The overarching role of schools remains to cultivate conscious, forward-thinking designers who can challenge and redefine the industry, not merely supply it with talent.
This feature is a sponsored piece funded by Istituto Europeo di Design as part of a BoF partnership.
