“The event has become increasingly international – declares Agostino Poletto, General Director of Pitti Immagine at the press conference held on 15 May in Milan – more than 65% of the presences are foreign: it’s the highest percentage of all the Pitti Immagine shows. Pitti Bimbo has changed a lot over the last few seasons: a new restlessness, curiosity, and desire to act has led it down the lifestyle road, conveying a different, more plural, and across-the-board idea of fashion, which speaks of an expanding children’s world. Sign of this transformation is the increased number of participating designer brands, which today represent 15% of the show’s offering”. Among the exhibitors there are also 146 new names and re-entries: a sign of the event’s vitality, but also an opportunity for buyers to find new stimulus and proposals that they can bring back to their boutiques.

The setting will be that of Pop-Pitti Optical Power, the theme of the Pitti Immagine summer fairs with the Pop Arena, an optical Technicolor area curated by Sergio Colantuoni in the new lounge above Hall M, as the point of reference during the event with its bar, relax area, occasions for entertainment, and brand presentations.

The core of the selection continues to be represented by the worlds of Pitti Bimbo, with designer labels and leading fashion brands, EcoEthic with its green and “ethical” collections, Sport Generation with sportswear and activewear and Superstreet, with its urban collections. Next to this, however, are the most research-oriented proposals of Active Lab, with its street and active style, of Apartment, the home of the most sophisticated luxury brands, of KidzFizz, featuring the most creative collections of the brands committed to experimenting with shapes, materials, and presentation methods, and of The Next, with its small selection of indie brands. Fancy Room, the lifestyle space, presents itself with a wider selection of small accessories, gadgets, furnishing accessories, etc…. There will then be the special projects of Editorials, dedicated to the world of constructions and the jungle, of Kid’s Evolution with designers who present “mini-me” versions of adult collections, Fashion Comics, this time inspired by the Uglydolls, and the illustrators of Off the Page… and in the World of Fashion, which with its activities tries to create a dialogue with the childrenswear fashions of the future.

Likewise rich is the program of events and presentations that have chosen the stage of Pitti Bimbo in a constant dialogue between the Fortezza da Basso and the city of Florence: from the garden party for the 50^th anniversary of Monnalisa in the Giardini Torrigiani, to the launching of the Philosophy collection by Lorenzo Serafini. From the presentation of the Dondup kidswear collection, which announces at Pitti its in-house return, to the party for the first 5 years of the Dsquared2 kids line… There will then be the runway shows of Activelab, Apartment, KidzFizz and the catwalk collective of the Spanish brands of Children’s Fashion From Spain: Barcarola, Boboli, Desigual, Foque, Mayoral, Tarleta, and Tuc Tuc.