MILAN — A major fashion extravaganza is expected to unfold in Florence Wednesday night, when the “Runway Icons” outdoor show staged by LuisaViaRoma in partnership with British Vogue will take place in front of more than 2,000 guests.

The event is set to replicate the 90th anniversary celebrations of the Florence-based luxury retailer in 2019, when the store partnered with Carine Roitfeld and her son Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld on a similar multibrand runway show held at the city’s Piazzale Michelangelo.

“We wanted to repeat the experience, in the same location as well,” said LuisaViaRoma’s president Andrea Panconesi ahead of the big event. The show will be held at dusk on the square, which features a reproduction of Michelangelo’s David statue standing at its center as well as a sweeping panoramic view of the Arno River and the Florence skyline. “We thought it represents not only Florence but the whole history of culture and art, a symbol of the Renaissance and modern art,” Panconesi said about the location.

Set to be a celebration of fashion history, the show will retrace the evolution of style with the help of 50 international brands that have been involved in the project with the help of Edward Enninful OBE. As reported, Enninful has been recently promoted to a new role of global creative and cultural adviser of Vogue, a post he’ll take up in 2024 after stepping away from his role as editor in chief of British Vogue. 

For the event in Florence, emerging and established labels — including the likes of Bottega Veneta, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Loewe and Valentino — were called to create looks giving a modern interpretation to their archives and iconic pieces, “which have been identified and selected by Edward [Enninful],” Panconesi said.

“But the runway show is dubbed ‘Icons’ also because of the models involved,” continued the executive, adding that the casting will encompass different generations and include Natalia Vodianova, Irina Shayk, Eva Herzigová, Mariacarla Boscono, Vittoria Ceretti and Pat Cleveland, among others.

“[Cleveland] was my idol. I remember seeing her when I was younger, walking the catwalk of the White Room [of Palazzo Pitti] and I’m so curious to see her again. She’s so unpredictable,” said Panconesi, referencing the time ready-to-wear shows were staged in Florence in the mid-1950s.

The resonance of the event will be amplified by a livestreaming on Vogue’s website, the retailer’s Instagram channel and broadcast via screens installed in the windows of the physical store in Via Roma. Google will be a partner of the event as well, which made Panconesi particularly proud, having masterminded the retailer’s pioneering foray into e-commerce in 1999. “Having them as partners now is like an acknowledgment of all the work we have done online,” he said. 

In particular, 30 pieces seen on the catwalk will be available to purchase through the @ShopWithGoogle Instagram account and at a dedicated section on LuisaViaRoma’s website right after the event, respecting a see now, buy now format.

The drop will be followed by 22 exclusive capsule collections developed with brands involved in the show. From Thursday to Nov. 16, tie-ups will be released every Thursday at midday CET, starting with those of Nensi Dojaka, Alexander McQueen and Mugler that will drop simultaneously this week. These will be followed by the likes of Moncler and Tom Ford, to end with a range by Paco Rabanne in the fall. Pieces in each collection will come with a special tag reading “Runway Icons.”

In addition to the fashion show, Wednesday night’s event will see a live performance by Andrea Bocelli, an exclusive dinner for 300 people and a party, where guests such as Lucien Laviscount, Julia Fox, Serge Ibaka, Elsa Hosk and Moses, to name a few, are expected.

The Hollywood-like production is expected to echo the buzzy gala soirées LuisaViaRoma is known to host with UNICEF in Capri and St. Barths, which over the years have drawn celebrity guests such as Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jared Leto and Spike Lee, as well as live performances from the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Drake, Lenny Kravitz and Dua Lipa.

Other activations staged throughout the Pitti Uomo trade show, which will close on Thursday, are flanking the “Runway Icons” show, including in-store cocktail events and exclusive dinners hosted in partnership with brands ranging from Roberto Cavalli to Magda Butrym. 

Panconesi highlighted the overall strategic role these events play in enhancing the brand awareness around the retailer, which has been part of private equity firm Style Capital’s portfolio since 2021. Last year, LuisaViaRoma sales totaled around 250 million euros, of which more than 90 percent were generated online. Panconesi forecast revenues will exceed 300 million euros in 2023.

The retailer’s acceleration has been boosted by a strong performance in its domestic market — where sales increased 40 percent in the past two years — and by its ever-increasing work in brand scouting and overall enhancement of its offering, now encompassing more than 600 luxury brands with highly curated selections. For example, Panconesi addressed clients’ growing penchant to embrace an ethical behavior, whether in their shopping choices or lifestyle in general.

“The era of disposable fashion is over, everybody wants to dress but also eat and live in a more sensible way,” he said. To this end, the retailer’s LVRSustainable section introduced in 2019 and dedicated to environmentally sustainable brands and tie-ups with nonprofit organizations has proved to be a key asset in attracting and engaging with customers.

As reported, last year LuisaViaRoma also made its foray into the resale game by partnering with Vestiaire Collective on a project enabling its clients to sell their previously worn fashions in exchange for credits to be spent on new goods on the e-commerce site.

Another category in expansion mode is beauty, which Panconesi sees as so strategic that he’s eyeing the creation of a LuisaViaRoma-branded cosmetics line. The goal is to debut it when the retailer will open its first international outpost in New York, which Panconesi sees as likely to happen at the beginning of 2024.

LuisaViaRoma inked a long-term lease for a 7,855-square-foot retail space at 1 Bond Street in Manhattan’s NoHo, neighboring such retailers as Showfields and Kith and across the street from hip members club Zero Bond, in a location that Panconesi described as “absolutely fantastic.” The yearly rent rate stands at $3.2 million, according to leasing advisory firm Mona, and includes the lease of a 5,000-square-foot space on the building’s lower level.

“New York is historically the most modern city, it renews itself so rapidly and is in constant evolution, just like fashion,” Panconesi said about the choice of setting foot Stateside. Incidentally, LuisaViaRoma already tested the brick-and-mortar waters in Manhattan, opening a pop-up store in 2018 in partnership with Spring Studios and Spring Place.

Panconesi reiterated the importance of the U.S., which accounts for 17 percent of LuisaViaRoma’s overall sales. This makes it the retailer’s second largest market, following Italy, which represents 25 percent of total revenues. Another 25 percent is generated by France, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany combined. 

The new store is to replicate the format of the Florentine unit, which boasts a minimal interior concept intended to be “an ever-changing box that can be filled with different contents every time.”

Panconesi underscored the importance of keeping a consistency of style and to respect the retailer’s own identity. “We are a specialty store, so there won’t be branded corners but our own image,” he ensured. As for the experiential offering, LuisaViaRoma experimented with cafés in its Florentine flagship but a similar implementation might be introduced in New York only “in a third phase” due to different regulations. 

Asked about other future openings, Panconesi sounded cautious, explaining he favors a step-by-step approach. Yet he reiterated the importance of brick-and-mortar stores despite the retailer’s strong expertise and performance online. “We were born 94 years ago with a physical store, so brick-and-mortar is in our DNA and it’s what gives me a lot of inspirations and satisfactions. You can still do something there that you can’t do online: the direct relationship with customers is irreplaceable,” the executive said.

In particular, it was Panconesi’s grandmother Luisa Jaquin who planted the seeds of the family company’s success by opening the concept store in 1929. Following Style Capital’s investment of 130 million euros to acquire a 40 percent stake in the retailer, Andrea Panconesi left his post as chief executive officer — now held by Yoox veteran Alessandra Rossi — to be president of the company, while his daughter Annagreta serves as creative director of both the website and physical store.