Beneath Milan’s surface, in a forgotten stretch of urban infrastructure at Piazza De Angeli 1, something quietly radical unfolded during Spring/Summer 2026 Milan Fashion Week. The Major Virtual Tunnel, formerly an unused metro conduit located above the still operating metro station in the area, was reborn as a site-specific fashion arena: an architectural gesture of reimagination as much as a literal venue.
KASAI
As part of Green Fashion Week and supported by the European Union’s Next Generation EU Fund, the tunnel became the unexpected headquarters for a forward-thinking collective initiative—featuring five designers whose aesthetics span textile experimentation, radical upcycling, and conscious craft. The event did not just host fashion; it staged it as passage, threshold, and metamorphosis.
Davii
Concept: A Collective Show in a Liminal Space
Represented by Maximilian Linz, the show’s concept was built around the tunnel as a narrative device. No conventional catwalk here—fashion met place, and clothing became a medium that resonated with the tunnel’s concrete quiet, shadow-play, and architectural rhythm.
Henri
The five participating designers—DAVii, Henri, KASAI, Pé de Chumbo, and Simon Cracker—were unified not by aesthetic sameness, but by a shared commitment to fashion as language, activism, and transformation. Each SS26 collection was shown in dialogue with the space, stitched together by the tunnel’s raw geometry and symbolic liminality.
The Designers & Their SS26 Collections
DAVii
A brand founded by Fabiano Fernandes in Porto, DAVii is known for ethereal couture and conceptual tailoring. For SS26, DAVii presented “Reimagined Forms”—a collection exploring the tension between organic fluidity and futuristic structure.
Materials like neoprene, silk organza, and leather were molded into sleek silhouettes with curved lines and architectural detailing. The result was a quiet forcefulness: garments that floated and sculpted in equal measure, echoing the tunnel’s dynamic between concrete and light.
Henri
Founded in 2024 by Henri Maheu—after a decade at Jacquemus, Alaïa, and Louis Vuitton—Henri is a brand that reclaims the glamor of the past with technical precision. SS26 was only the label’s second outing, but a confident one.
Drawing on the vocabulary of 1950s couture, the collection featured hourglass jackets, shantung capes, and jacquards reminiscent of 18th-century motifs. It read as both encyclopedic and subversive: a collection that treated clothing as emotional archetypes, rather than seasonal products.
KASAI
The label of Ana Olingheru, KASAI is deeply spiritual, feminist, and anti-fast fashion. SS26 focused on the duality of structure and vulnerability. Sculptural denim framed silk voile and corsetry. Transparency was a recurring theme—used to expose softness rather than conceal it.
Elements like structured virgin wool blazers and translucent layers conjured the divine feminine as both myth and lived experience. KASAI’s garments were both precise and fluid—embodying resilience through grace.
Pé de Chumbo
Hailing from Portugal and known for artisanal textile design, Pé de Chumbo brought tactile intimacy into the urban-industrial setting. With weaving at its core, the brand’s SS26 presentation explored craftsmanship through texture: yarns, loops, knits, and open weaves became garments that were both material and memory. In the tunnel, these pieces took on a new depth—softening concrete, grounding the space in hand-made tactility.
Simon Cracker
Simone Botte’s anti-establishment brand took center stage with “Punkindness Forever”, a capsule rooted in radical upcycling and deep emotional storytelling. Referencing school uniforms, vintage coins, and teen rebellion, the pieces were cut from deadstock and assembled with affection and irony.
Crumpled silks, exaggerated tailoring, and hand-painted motifs (like Salem the cat) made the collection personal and punk. For Simon Cracker, the tunnel became a refuge—a safe space for creativity outside the toxic norms of the industry.
Henri
A Tunnel Reimagined
The Major Virtual Tunnel was not merely a setting but a collaborator—its rawness offering contrast to fragile silks, its silence highlighting each designer’s voice. As an alternative to carbon-heavy fashion weeks, the show’s format aligned with Green Fashion Week’s mission: sustainability, conscious creation, and urban reuse.
KASAI
With no traditional backstage or front row, the tunnel blurred roles—audience and model shared space, and the city became fabric. In that liminal, echoing corridor, fashion did what it rarely has space to do: pause, reflect, and transform.
