When The Devil Wears Prada 2 was filming in Milan, you should have seen the city.
There was a huge hubbub. Anyone and everyone seemed to be heading to the casting calls, hoping to become one of the 2,000 extras recruited as models, fashion-show guests, pedestrians or people casually sipping prosecco at cafés.
It was all beautifully orchestrated and designed.
But is Milan really like that during Fashion Week?
Yes. And no.
Next Milan Fashion Week: 22-28 September 2026, see the calendar here
The film captured something very real about the energy and glamour of Milan Fashion Week. As a former runway model who now works in media, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience it from both sides, backstage and in the press pit. If you love fashion, or simply like beauty, spectacle and a little extravagance, it is a thrilling time to be in Milan.
However, for those not in the industry who need to get on with their daily lives, Milan Fashion Week is not that thrilling.
Designer Rick Owens once compared fashion to sport, an analogy that makes perfect sense. Football fans know the teams, coaches, players and rivalries. Fashion followers know the houses, designers, models, photographers, editors, influencers and celebrities.
So, imagine being a person who doesn’t understand football and suddenly the city is taken over by football fans – everywhere.
That is what Milan is like during Fashion Week for people who don’t understand fashion. Milan is overrun with fashionistas. During your quiet morning commute, you can’t find a seat on the train. Your favorite place to get an espresso is stuffed with people because a top model posted her location on Instagram. The shortcut you usually take is blocked because it passes a bookstore where a legendary fashion editor is signing books. Outside boutiques, there's a constant ebb and flow of people looking for free glasses of prosecco and swag bags.
Fashion Week hasn't always dominated Milan like this. In its earlier years, many of the main events were held at the Fiera and it functioned much more like a trade fair. Today, fashion houses stage their own productions in palaces, museums, courtyards, former factories and unexpected spaces all over the city.
Milan itself has become the venue. Some neighborhoods, however, feel it more than others.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is not the epicenter of Fashion Week, but it certainly knows how to dress for the occasion.
During la settimana della moda, its glass dome and grand archways stop feeling quite so much like a historic monument and more like a temple to luxury. Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Borsalino, Chanel and the other boutiques become stops on an informal fashion pilgrimage.
The irony is that the Galleria is also a thoroughfare. People actually need to cross it to get to work, school, the doctor or dentist.
During Fashion Week, ordinary commuters share the space with photographers, shoppers, editors, models, hotel guests and people who appear to have nowhere in particular to go but are nevertheless dressed magnificently for the journey.
The hotels around the Galleria and Piazza della Scala become part of the scene too. I once waited half an hour outside the Park Hyatt just because I saw an excited crowd. When I asked who they were waiting for, the answer was, “I don't know, but someone famous will come out eventually!”A five-minute walk across the gallery can become a fashion-watching expedition.
If you want to see the spectacle without needing an invitation, this is an easy place to start.
To avoid the crowds, step out of the Galleria and head toward the Duomo, where the sheer scale of the cathedral gives you a little breathing room even when the piazza is busy. Or slip into one of the quieter side streets like Via Santa Radegonda, where the Fashion Week traffic thins out quickly. A few minutes away, you can go from photographers and luxury boutiques to a much more ordinary Milan of cafés, courtyards and local shops.
Quadrilatero della Moda
The Quadrilatero della Moda, is probably where the Fashion Week takeover is most obvious.
Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga, Via Sant’Andrea, Via Gesù and the surrounding streets are wall-to-wall chauffeur-driven cars trying to squeeze through narrow streets, photographers waiting outside boutiques, impromptu street-style shoots and impeccably dressed security guards stationed at entrances.
Occasionally a designer stages something directly in the street and traffic simply has to accept defeat.
This is, after all, where almost every major Italian and international luxury house has a flagship store. Armani has made Via Manzoni practically a world of its own, with boutiques, restaurants and a hotel. The Palazzo Morando Fashion Museum, Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, and Palazzo Clerici are often used as venues for fashion events.Fashion schools Istituto Marangoni and Istituto di Moda Burgo are also located in this neighborhood.
If you want to feel Fashion Week, come here. If you want to cross town efficiently, don't.
To escape the chaos, slip into the La Scala Museum, where the divas and divos belong to another era of Milanese glamour. Or, if you prefer to observe Fashion Week from a comfortable distance, have lunch at Zelo in the courtyard of the Four Seasons. You can still watch the fashion traffic but sitting down.
Brera
Brera has a different kind of Fashion Week energy.
The neighborhood appeared prominently in The Devil Wears Prada 2, and it is easy to understand why. The narrow lanes, historic buildings and cobblestones provide exactly the Milan backdrop people imagine when they think of fashion.
During the week, Via Brera, Pontaccio, Solferino and Fiori Chiari fill with editors, buyers, creatives and influencers moving between presentations, private events, showrooms and restaurants.
Brera already knows how to handle a design crowd. Every April, during Milan Design Week, almost every shop, gallery and café seems to become part of the program. Fashion Week feels like a slightly more glamorous cousin.
Normally, much of Brera is wonderfully pedestrian and made for aimless romantic wandering. During Fashion Week, it’s no longer a place for a pleasant hand-holding moment.
Palazzo Citterio, Castello Sforzesco and fashion boutiques around the district often host exhibitions or events, while hotels such as Palazzo Parigi become meeting points for people in the industry.
But what I like about Brera during Fashion Week is that you can step out of it very quickly.
To take a breather, go into the Pinacoteca di Brera, sit in a shady spot under the trees in the Brera Botanical Garden, or walk into San Carmine Church. A few meters away from photographers and fashion parties, Milan becomes quiet again.
Porta Genova and Tortona
For a different view of the fashion business, head toward Porta Genova and Via Tortona.
This part of Milan tells another side of the story.
The former industrial and railway district around Tortona, Savona and Bergognone has become one of the city's most important creative areas. Converted factories and warehouses now hold showrooms, studios, production companies and event spaces.
Here, Fashion Week feels less like luxury retail and more like an industry at work.
You still see stylish crowds, of course, but you are just as likely to encounter young designers, production crews, buyers and students moving about presentations.
Armani has long had a major presence in the area, including Armani/Silos, while spaces such as BASE Milano and Superstudio regularly become part of the wider Fashion Week calendar.
This is also where you can see MFW's next generation. NABA students stage projects and presentations, and smaller labels can sometimes feel more interesting than the big names because you don't already know exactly what you are going to see.
Dodge the crowds by going to MUDEC (contemporary art museum), wander toward the Navigli and Darsena, or find a café on Ripa di Porta Ticinese.
You may still see a fashion show featuring the pedestrians walking by your table.
Porta Nuova and Corso Como
Corso Como, Garibaldi and Porta Nuova are where Fashion Week collides most visibly with contemporary working Milan.
Garibaldi is a major railway station. Piazza Gae Aulenti is surrounded by offices. People are going to work, catching trains, walking dogs and buying groceries while, at the same time, the fashion crowd is moving between events a few streets away.
Every week is Fashion Week at Corso Como 10, so during the official MFW you are sure to see something outstanding. The entire street of Corso Como is full of independent boutiques and pop-up shops. If you get hungry, go to Ristorante alla Cucina delle Langhe for traditional cuisine, or for a true foodie experience, visit the Eataly megastore with a café, three restaurants, and a cooking school.
The contrast is what makes this area interesting. Turn one way and you have Fashion Week. Turn another and someone is rushing for the 17:20 train.
Find some quiet by crossing Piazza Gae Aulenti which leads to the contemporary urban garden, BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano (library of trees), with more than 500 trees, thousands of plants and a variety of birds that have taken sanctuary there.
Few cities let you escape Fashion Week quite that quickly.
Isola
Just north of Garibaldi, Fashion Week in Isola is low key and laid back.
The neighborhood has always had an independent streak, with street art, artisan workshops, vintage shops, small bars and creative spaces.
That attracts a fashion crowd too but feels more bohemian than bougie. Artists open their doors and the shops spruce up the windows for the occasion; Le Solferine vintage store is especially chic during Fashion Week. Also, check out the bohemian concept café Frida. Inside is Ernesto Shop, a boutique showcasing local artists, artisans and designers.
Isola is where I would send someone who wants to feel that something is going on without being swallowed by it.
Take a stroll in Tree Villa Park, an extension of BAM, located beneath the Bosco Verticale towers and the best place to see them up close.
Porta Venezia
Porta Venezia is another area that has become important for independent fashion, younger creatives, and parties. Local bars and restaurants pick up a lot of Fashion Week traffic. It’s a refreshing contrast to the old-school luxury of Montenapoleone.
Venues such as PAC Contemporary Art Pavilion, GAM Modern Art Gallery and the very chic LuBar become part of the cultural and fashion calendar. The rooftop restaurant and lounge Five at the Hotel Calimala Milano is a great place to see the city from above and get a bite to eat.
If you become tired of looking at people, look at the buildings instead. Corso Venezia branches from the Quadrilatero, passing grand palazzi and some of Milan's best Liberty architecture along the way.
Wander through the Giardini Indro Montanelli, or take a detour to see Palazzo Castiglioni, Casa Galimberti, Casa Guazzoni and Villa Necchi Campiglio.
Fashion Week may be occupying Milan, but Milan has been stylish for considerably longer.
So, should you avoid Milan during Fashion Week?
Absolutely not.
If you have come specifically for fashion, enjoy it. Dress up. People-watch. Walk through Montenapoleone. Have an overpriced coffee somewhere fabulous and see who sits at the table next to you.
But remember that not everyone around you is participating.
Someone trying to push past a crowd of photographers may not be having a Fashion Week moment. They may simply be trying to get home.
And if you have arrived in Milan without the slightest interest in fashion, have a little patience. Let the fashion crowd indulge in their thing for a few days.
Milan is a city that understands obsessions; football, design, vintage cars, flowers, opera, food, dance, fashion. Whatever your thing is, sooner or later there will probably be a week when Milan lets you take over the city too.
Celia Abernethy, Founder & Editor
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