Front Row Diaries: Inside the Presentation & The return of Stella Jean
Attending Milan Fashion Week.
Hello besties, welcome to my MILAN FASHION WEEK. This will be a series of 3 posts with fashion shows I attended, events and presentations. So let’s the show begin 💌
If the runways are the fireworks, presentations are the candlelit dinners — quieter, slower, and infinitely more intimate. Standing just inches away from embroidery that took hundreds of hours, I realized that the real magic of MFW is sometimes found off the main stage.
check the part 1 here with other events.
all the sources used are from the editor of The fashion files.
THE FITTING
If you saw the previous post, you know I gave a HUGE spoiler. So here is the continuation of the video e the reveal: FITTING DAY FOR STELLA JEAN FASHION SHOW 🥹😍🫢😮
First of all I would like to tell you how it happened. I was at home and when I opened my email at 3am (yes, 3am because I had a really bad headache that night and I slept early like 9pm and got up at 3) there was a message saying that they would love to styled me for the fashion show OMG OMG. My very first time having a fitting for a fashion show, so wear the clothes from them it was such a magical experience for me. So next day on the 26th I went to their atelier and…let’s watch together.
The dress was perfect and it fits me like a glove. The fabric is so light and at the same time structured with the embroidery on the both sides. I felt like a princess, for real.
And I can’t wait to have another experience like this in the next fashion weeks.
Btw, here is my special thanks for the brand Stella Jean and the team. I met two cute girls that helped me with the styling and the choosing of the dress: Kate and Sanzia.
STELLA JEAN
Before showing you the BIG DAY, let’s have a quick story about the brand.
Stella Jean is a designer who embodies duality — shaped by her Haitian-Italian heritage, yet forging a voice that transcends borders. Born in Rome in 1979 to a Haitian mother and Italian father, she experienced early on the richness and tensions of multiple identities. That mix — of culture, color, tradition, and expectation — now fuels her design work.
Her fashion isn’t just about clothes; it’s about stories. She lets fabric tell them. Think wax prints from Africa reinterpreted in elegant Italian cuts; cultural handcrafts and textural techniques juxtaposed with precision tailoring. She doesn’t design for seasons so much as for conversations — identity, inclusion, heritage. Over time, her brand has become known for its joyful boldness, intricate layering and the way each garment feels like a bridge between distant places.
The return to the runway: Stella Jean’s comeback to Milan Fashion Week was more than just a fashion event — it was a statement.
After stepping away for years, she returned with a collection that merged Italian tailoring with Bhutanese craft, symbolizing the dialogue between cultures that defines her work. Her runway wasn’t just about clothes; it was about visibility for artisans, particularly women, whose traditions risk fading away. By inviting Bhutanese craftswomen to be part of the show, she gave them not only a platform but also recognition in a global arena.
Her message was twofold: celebrating heritage while urging Italy to protect its own artisans, whose crafts are also endangered. It’s clear she sees fashion as a tool for advocacy, not just aesthetics. Ending the show in a T-shirt thanking Giorgio Armani was a reminder of her own journey — a gesture of humility, solidarity, and continuity.
In short, her “return” was really a renewal of her mission: using style as a bridge between cultures, and as a shield for traditions at risk of being forgotten.
THE FASHION SHOW + OUTFIT
I decided to pick this dress because I really love the shape and how it fits me. The brown and cream color are just perfect together. And a quick note: this dress is from a resort collection and never worn before so here we are. Now who is wearing: MEEEE 🥹. Such an honor to represent the brand with such a beautiful dress.
The location of the fashion show was inaccessible garden of Museo Diocesano. I was sitting in the first row and under my chair there was a bag with a gift: skincare products. I LOVED IT!
Such an honor for me to be chosen by the brand to wear their outfit to celebrate such a special moment. Thank you Stella Jean and the entire team.
QUICK NOTES FROM THE SHOW
⭐️ the trends are so visible here: stripes, details in embroidery, vibrant colors like orange and blue, high waist.
⭐️ Jean’s use of zero-waste methods, natural fibers (like Himalayan nettle), and slow, time-intensive practices are a rejection of fast, disposable fashion.
⭐️ The juxtaposition is clear: Italian tailoring (suits, corsets, structured lines) meets Bhutanese weaving and motifs.
You can see more on my social medias: Instagram and TikTok.
PRESENTATION: FEDERICO CINA
Well, right after the amazing show of Stella Jean I headed to Federico Cina to see the collection presented with an interesting performance.
At Milan Fashion Week, Federico Cina chose not to stage a spectacle but a meditation. His Spring/Summer 2026 presentation, aptly titled Sottovoce (“in a low voice”), unfolded like an intimate conversation, where silence carried as much weight as the garments themselves.
The setting was quiet, almost contemplative, encouraging guests to slow down. Models lingered in the space rather than marching through it, their movements pared back to subtle gestures that emphasized presence over performance. This calm atmosphere prepared the eye for clothes that spoke in the same restrained yet eloquent tone.
Cina’s silhouettes favored softness over rigidity: draped shirts, relaxed trousers, and jackets that suggested structure without enforcing it. Natural fabrics — cotton, linen, light wools — were treated with a kind of reverence, their textures left visible, their imperfections embraced. The color story was rooted in earth and memory: chalk white, clay, soft sage, pale stone, punctuated by occasional flashes of rust or blue, like sudden sparks in a quiet room.
What stood out most was not innovation for its own sake but the insistence on intimacy. Cina has long drawn on personal histories in his work, and this season’s garments felt imbued with that private, lived quality — clothing made not to dazzle from afar but to invite closeness.
In an era when so many collections fight to be louder than the last, Sottovoce was an act of resistance. Federico Cina reminded Milan that fashion can be most powerful when it whispers, offering a space for reflection amid the noise.
I can’t wait to share with you the last part of my fashion week. More fashion shows upcoming.
Thank you for reading and see you in the next one,
The fashion files.