The Graduate Show marks the culmination of years of creative development of Polimoda’s final year fashion design classes, a moment where vision, skill, and concept converge into a singular statement.
In the school’s 40th year, under the mentorship by pioneering creative directors and alumni Luke and Lucie Meier, as well as educational support from the school’s director Massimiliano Giornetti, An Vandevorst, advisor to the Design Department, and the faculty, this graduating class present their final collections in a defining annual moment for the school.
This year’s designers emerge from a generation shaped by instability and rapid change, and their work reflects this: fearless, intimate, and urgently human. They demonstrate a deeply personal and socially engaged approach to fashion, with students drawing extensively from memory, cultural heritage, and lived experience to inform their collections.Â
Across the board, garments function not merely as clothing but as emotional and conceptual statements, evidence of a generation using fashion to process, resist, and make sense of the world they have inherited.
Graduate Show 2026
June 15 · 6.30PM CET
- Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence (by invitation only)
- Live Streaming on Vogue Italia and Polimoda channels
- 19 final-year collections
- 100 boundary-pushing looks
- 1 winner Best Collection 2026
- Selected by an elite jury of icons from fashion and culture
Concept
Polimoda’s Graduate Show 2026 presents collections that use fashion as a tool to explore and make sense of the world.Â
Identity emerges as the defining preoccupation, whether explored through femininity, queerness, immigration, or the performance of social roles, and more. A significant group interrogates the tension between the body and the systems that seek to control it, from technology and industry to political power. Craft and cultural specificity are treated with great commitment; many designers honor traditions from their home countries while recontextualising them through a contemporary lens.Â
Luke and Lucie Meier together with Director Massimiliano Giornetti review final student collections at the Manifattura Campus. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Faculty member Luigi Giannetta and mentors Luke and Lucie Meier meet with Polimoda Fashion Design students during final collection reviews. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Director Massimiliano Giornetti joins Fashion Design students for final collection review sessions. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Fashion Design Advisor An Vandevorst supports students during collection review sessions at Polimoda. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Faculty members Luigi Giannetta and Maxence Dinant guide students through final collection critiques ahead of the Graduate Show. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Faculty members, mentors, and advisors collaborate with Polimoda students during final collection reviews for the Graduate Show 2026. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Luke and Lucie Meier meet with Fashion Design students during final reviews at Manifattura Campus. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Luke Meier supports Polimoda students during final collection review sessions ahead of the Graduate Show. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Fashion Design Advisor An Vandevorst reviews students works during collection review sessions at Polimoda. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Lucie Meier and Director Massimiliano Giornetti meet with students during review sessions at Manifattura Campus. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Mentors, advisors, and faculty members work alongside Polimoda Fashion Design students during final critiques and mentoring sessions. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Director Massimiliano Giornetti reviews a garment prototype developed by a Fashion Design student at the Manifattura Campus laboratories. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Luke and Lucie Meier together with An Vandevorst review a student’s moodboard during collection development sessions at Polimoda. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
Lucie Meier and An Vandevorst mentor students during collection development and final review sessions. Photography by Serena Gallorini.
The show itself is a formative experience. Weeks of collection development, fittings, styling, casting, and backstage preparations transform the event into something far more than a showcase. A real fashion show, free from commercial constraint, where every challenge becomes part of the learning. Here, each student’s experience contributes to a collective event that brings together the community of the school and its forward thinking vision.
Designers
From the final year of our Fashion Design courses, 19 exceptional students from 13 different nationalities have been selected to present their work at the graduate show.
The chosen student designers are:
Mentors: Luke & Lucie Meier
This year, students developed their collections under the mentorship of Luke and Lucie Meier. Having studied at Polimoda 25 years ago, their return to the school represents a meaningful cycle of knowledge passing between generations, underpinned by their belief that creativity is fundamental in helping all of us move forward, in an increasingly perturbed world.
Their guidance has brought decades of creative direction into dialogue with emerging talent, intertwining discipline, visual sensibility, and conscious design values, and offering young designers not just technical insight but a creative vision: a pursuit of excellence and feeling in fashion that strips away the superfluous and returns to creativity.
Credits
Creative Direction
Massimiliano Giornetti
Mentorship
Luke & Lucie Meier
Styling
Serge Girardi
Music
Frédéric Sanchez
Hair & Makeup
New Line Academy
Technical sponsors
- Graziano Ricami
- Gruppocinque
- Shima Seiki Italia
- Lineapiù
- Preciosa
- Ostinelli Seta
- Leo France
- Lanecardate
- Tollegno
- Landi Confezioni
- Mazzanti Piume
- Russo di Casandrino
Media partner
1 Granary
Livestream partner
Vogue Italia