What does it take to bring a global fashion event to life?
Ten students from Ferrari Fashion School had the opportunity to experience the answer firsthand, joining the backstage and production support team of Vogue World: Milano 2026, held on September 22 at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II during Milan Fashion Week.
The students were involved in the experience through one of the lecturers, who helped create this opportunity to connect students directly with one of the major events on the international fashion calendar.
Coming from the undergraduate programmes in Fashion Design, Fashion Styling and Communication and Fashion Business and Digital Marketing, the students worked behind the scenes across rehearsals, production activities and dressing.
An experience that allowed them to discover what happens beyond the runway, where timing, coordination, teamwork and attention to detail come together to make a major fashion production possible.
Vogue World: Milano 2026 at Milan Fashion Week
After previous editions in New York, London, Paris and Los Angeles, Vogue World arrived in Milan for its fifth edition, transforming the historic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II into the stage for a celebration of Italian fashion and creativity.
Held on September 22, 2026, the first day of Milan Fashion Week, the event explored Italian craftsmanship, manufacturing, Made in Italy and innovation through five thematic acts.
Behind the public-facing spectacle was a complex production involving creative direction, fashion, choreography, backstage operations, hair, make-up and music.
For Ferrari Fashion School students, taking part meant entering this system from the inside and understanding how different professional roles work together before and during a major international fashion event.
Ten Ferrari Fashion School Students Behind the Scenes
Ten Ferrari Fashion School students had the opportunity to contribute to the backstage and production activities surrounding Vogue World: Milano:
- Gaea Luise Pagdunsulan
- Klara Krstevska
- Zeynep Demirtas
- Melissandre Wuiot
- Margherita Gugole
- Luca Girola
- Alessia Murru
- Georgiana Ursachi
- Ma Djulienne Debrah Panganiban
- Marika Tormenti
The students came from three different BA programmes, bringing together Fashion Design, Fashion Styling and Communication, and Fashion Business and Digital Marketing within the same professional environment.
From Rehearsals to the Runway: Learning How a Fashion Production Works
The students’ involvement began before the event itself.
During the first rehearsals, they worked as stand-ins, stepping into the roles of models and performers to help the production team test timings, entrances, exits and movements.
For Gaea Luise Pagdunsulan, this was one of the most valuable aspects of the experience. Being directly on the runway during rehearsals meant understanding how each act is organised, how timings are calculated and how routes are planned to make a large-scale production flow seamlessly.
Working alongside an experienced professional team also revealed something that audiences rarely see: behind every few minutes of a fashion show are days of preparation, coordination and continuous adjustments.
Experiencing Vogue World Before the Show
The rehearsals also gave students an unusual perspective on the event before the Galleria became the stage seen by the international audience.
Klara Krstevska recalls acting as a stand-in during the first days and rehearsing the walk together with the production team. One particularly memorable moment came when Anna Wintour, Editorial Content Director of Vogue US and Chief Content Officer of Condé Nast, arrived to observe part of the rehearsal.
The following evening, the students moved to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II for another rehearsal. Working in one of Milan’s most iconic and busy public spaces added another layer of complexity, requiring the team to adapt the production to the location itself.
For the students, these rehearsals transformed the runway from a finished image into a working environment shaped by timing, logistics and collaboration.
Backstage at Vogue World: Working as Dressers
On the day of Vogue World: Milano, the students moved into another fundamental area of fashion production: backstage dressing.
Klara was stationed at La Scala, where her role was to prepare and dress a model, then wait for their return after the runway appearance. The responsibility of the backstage role meant that she could not watch the show directly from the Galleria, following parts of it instead from her phone while remaining focused on her duties.
It was a very different perspective from that of the audience, but precisely for this reason a valuable one: experiencing fashion from behind the scenes means understanding that the final show depends on professionals working out of sight, each responsible for a specific part of the production.
For Klara, the experience was also an opportunity to put herself in a real professional environment and take part in an event she was deeply grateful to experience through the School.
Fashion Education Meets the Industry
For Gaea, taking part in a production of this scale meant seeing, experiencing and understanding each phase from the inside.
Among the most stimulating activities was the organisation of the different acts. Students stepped onto the runway during rehearsals to test timing, calculate exits and help identify the most effective routes.
Just as important was the opportunity to work alongside professionals responsible for transforming a creative concept into a live international event.
Taking part behind the scenes allows students to understand how these dimensions connect, while experiencing the pace, responsibilities and collaborative dynamics of the international fashion industry.
For the ten Ferrari Fashion School students involved, Vogue World: Milano became more than a show to watch. It became a fashion production to experience from within.
