Donatella! Miuccia! Pierpaolo! The Vogue World 2026 Front Row Was a Mount Rushmore of Italian Fashion

A woman from Milan, a man from Rome, and a woman from Calabria walk into a bar… well, not a bar, exactly, but the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. And that trio? Miuccia Prada, Alessandro Michele, and Donatella Versace, respectively.

The three legendary Italian designers weren’t the only fashion titans to find themselves as seatmates for Vogue World 2026: Milano—they were joined on their section of the front row by a who’s who of Italian style that also included Domenico Dolce, Stefano Gabbana, Pierpaolo Piccioli, Francesco Risso, and Maria Grazia Chiuri. (There was also a handful of honorary Italians thrown in for good measure: Demna, the artistic director of Gucci; Raf Simons, the co-creative director of Prada; Louise Trotter, creative director of Bottega Veneta; Maximilian Davis, creative director of Ferragamo; Meryll Rogge, creative director of Martin; and Pieter Mulier, who is currently beavering away on his first collection for Versace, to be revealed in February 2027.)

It isn’t much of a surprise they were there, of course—as the evening celebrated Italian fashion and craftsmanship, it also played as a greatest-hits collection of many of their designs. Was Mrs. Prada gazing fondly at her lipstick skirt on the runway, recalling its original debut at her spring 2000 show? Did Signora Versace gasp at the return of a Warhol-inspired catsuit from Gianni Versace’s spring 1991 collection, famously revived by his sister for her spring 2018 tribute collection? And did Mr. Dolce and Mr. Gabbana—flanking Jennifer Lopez in the front row, wearing one of their designs—clap their hands with delight upon seeing the sumptuous looks worn by Wali Deutsch and James Turlington from their early 2010s Sicily-inspired collections? Well, to find that out, you’ll need to watch the livestream.

What we can say for sure is that it’s a once-in-a-blue-moon event to see all of these legends in the same room, let alone sitting next to each other in the front row. (What we wouldn’t have given for a second-row seat behind them to eavesdrop on the gossip.) Only at Vogue World—and only in Milan.