Fashion brands including Diesel, Gucci, Blumarine and Ferragamo staged their Autumn Winter 2023 collections at Milan Fashion Week on catwalks piled with 200,000 condoms and on a medieval battlefield.

The week-long occasion took place at various locations across the city of Milan from 21–27 February and marks the penultimate event in the Autumn Winter 2023 womenswear season before it concludes in Paris.

As a result of their newly appointed and exited creative directors, Italian fashion houses Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Ferragamo were among some of the most anticipated shows of the season and with this came statement and dramatic show spaces and catwalks.

From Prada reusing it's set from the past menswear season to Loro Piana filling a terracotta room with heaving bales of cashmere, Dezeen has highlighted seven key catwalks and installations at Milan Fashion Week.

Diesel

Kicking off Milan Fashion Week, designer Krzysztof J Lukasik installed a mountain of 200,000 Durex condoms on top of a bright red catwalk at the centre of the Diesel showspace. According to Diesel, the collaboration was a reminder of the importance of safe sex. The 300,000 condoms will be given away for free at various Diesel stores throughout April.

"Sex positivity is something amazing," said Diesel creative director Glenn Martens. "We like to play at Diesel, and we are serious about it. Have fun, respect each other, be safe. For Sucsexful Living!"

The condom mountain announced a capsule collection between Diesel and Durex. Throughout the collection, the "D" from Diesel's logo placed replace the "D" of Durex's logo was applied to t-shirts, hats, jeans and hoodies.

Gucci

Gucci staged its Autumn Winter 2023 show at its Milan headquarters and go-to show venue, the Gucci Hub. The set was created by French production company Bureau Betak, which clad the floors of the headquarters in an avocado green, 70s-esque carpet.

Within the carpeted floors, two circular conversation pits were installed and lined with brown leather booth seating.

Tubular concrete volumes, omitting bright white light, protruded from an office-style ceiling directly above the sunken conversation pits. Elevator shafts were covered in a plush mustard fabric between the venue's concrete walls whereby models entered onto the catwalk as the show began.

Prada

As usual, Prada's womenswear show reused and reinterpreted its set from its recent menswear show that took place on 15 January. Presented within the Deposito, a concrete-lined exhibiton space at Milan's Fondazione Prada, the set was designed by AMO.

A dropped, mechanical ceiling was installed in the Deposito which began to raise as the show started. Unlike the menswear show, which saw the moving ceiling reveal polycarbonate chandeliers, the ceiling raised to expose orange-painted I-beams each of which were wrapped in almost five-metres of white flowers.

"The process uncovers floral decoration, previously concealed within the industrial form – their revelation prompts another reconsideration of both space and the figures that move within, a new point of view," said Prada in its show notes.

Ferragamo

Designed by French events company Villa Eugénie, the studio responsible for designing some of fashions most notable catwalks and events, Ferragamo's Autumn Winter 2023 womenswear show took place at the Mario Bellini-designed MiCo – a convention centre just outside the centre of Milan.

In plan, the set took shape as an infinity loop that saw monolithic wooden walls, stained in a deep marine blue, curving around the perimeter of the show space. A plush off-white carpet blanketed the floors and rows of cube-shaped stools were organised in curving lines within the blue boundary walls.

Ferragamo is headed by British designer Maximilian Davis who was announced as the Italian luxury brand's creative director in 2022.

Loro Piana 

Billowing bales of cashmere cover the walls and floors in mountainous forms at Loro Piana's Autumn Winter 2023 presentation at Milan Fashion Week.

The interior of the presentation space, including its walls, ceiling and carpet were hued a muted terracotta, arched openings lead visitors throughout the space and hint at the arched colonnades of historic Italian Palazzos.

The showroom at the presentation bestowed a more paired back aesthetic than its nearby cashmere installation. Mannequins dressed in the Autumn Winter 2023 collection were fixed on top of layers of curving, asymmetrical sheets of wood, which were finished and stained in different tones of blue, green, brown and cream.

Bottega Veneta 

French-Belgian fashion designer Matthieu Blazy presented his third collection for Bottega Veneta at Palazzo San Fedele, an industrial palazzo turned Bottega Veneta headquarters finished with exposed concrete and wood panelled walls.

The interior of the industrial space was decorated with a vast pistachio green terrazzo carpet, which stretched across the floors and third row seating. Two rows of Gio Ponti's Supperleggera chairs snaked throughout the concrete space and identified the catwalk.

Three bronze sculptures were dotted throughout the space, including Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, which were placed atop pistachio green terrazzo wrapped pedestals.

Blumarine

Moss, ruins, soil and a flaming iron "B" effigy reference a barren medieval battlefield at Blumarine's Autumn Winter 2023 womenswear show. Blumarine's creative director Nicola Brognano drew inspiration for the collection from the 1999 film The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, reimagining a modern day saint.

With the audience dimly lit and the soil catwalk and flaming B at the centre of the space lighting the venue, a winding dirt path was carved between moss-covered mounds and remnants of fallen stone buildings.

The top image is courtesy of Villa Eugénie.