The 15 fashion appointments not to be missed during the Salone del Mobile

Program and map in hand, "operation fashion" at the Salone del Mobile 2024 is underway. From April 16th to 21st, our calendars are marked with Milan Design Week, but what's really driving the buzzy atmosphere in the city? Fuori Salone. With the world of design becoming a limitless, experimental world (as well as an opportunity to explore), it's no surprise that luxury brands are taking the opportunity to showcase the breadth of their creative visions.

What are the events not to be missed? Here is Vogue's guide (and be sure to check back as we continually update this round up).

Related: Liminal Objects: The new exhibition presenting the shining Scandinavian stars of fashion's next gen

Gucci's 'Design Ancora' is a project born from Sabato De Sarno's idea to define the concept of iconicity in the intersection of fashion and design. Co-curated by Michela Pelizzari, at the flagship store on Via Monte Napoleone 7, from April 15th to 21st, there will be an exhibition of five pieces that are emblematic of Italian-ness and Milanese-ness, special editions that will be on sale on the brand's website: Mario Bellini's 'Le Mura' for Tacchini, the 'Clessidra rug', 'Portaluppi Pattern Project' by cc-tapis, Nanda Vigo's 'Storet' for Acerbis, Tobia Scarpa's 'Opachi' for Venini, and finally Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni's 'Parola' for FontanaArte.

Prada Frames marks the return of a multidisciplinary symposium designed to explore the complex relationship between the natural environment and design. From April 14th to 16th, the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi is the place for reflection on the private environment, understood as a frame of reference within which to face contemporary challenges.

‘Being Home’ is the latest chapter of Prada Frames, a project born in 2022. Held at No. 5 Via del Gesù in Milan, in what until 1974 was a personal residence, Prada has created a moment of collective insight. Curated by the design and research studio Formafantasma – with contributions from Paola Antonelli, Brigitte Baptiste, Kate Crawford, Jack Halberstam, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, Anna Puigjaner, Alice Rawsthorn, Isabella Rossellini and Françoise Vergès – will be a kind of “cultural banquet” to explore the deeper meanings of living space and home as a concept through a rich program of talks.

Prada Frames Being Home is free admission, subject to availability, upon registration on prada.com starting 9th April.

From April 15th to 21st, Milan's Central Station – the city's focal point – will be transformed into a kind of illusory landscape animated by portraits and quotations in text that will overpower the noise of the station. Moncler invites the public to dream, and not through a work of art to be contemplated but by through a dialogue that will last.

Being one of the largest galleries open to the public, the station will be the setting for Moncler's exhibition ‘An Invitation To Dream’, curated by Jefferson Hack, filmed and photographed by Jack Davison. "Dreams have accompanied me and Moncler from day one: we have never stopped dreaming, being a source of inspiration and at the same time being inspired by others," said Remo Ruffini, President and CEO of Moncler. “In this project, we have brought together some of the brightest creative minds who dare enough to dream for us as well,” Hack added. Time, humanity, intimacy: values to be discovered where, usually, we run at high speed.

At Palazzo San Fedele, the Milanese home of Bottega Veneta at 1/3 Piazza San Fedele, 'On The Rocks' will be an immersive installation that, from April 16th to 20th, will shape the second chapter of a narrative journey that began with the autumn/winter '24 fashion show. In collaboration with Cassina and the Le Corbusier Foundation, it will be a tribute to the visionary genius of an architect who wrote the future in the past. The LC14 Tabouret Cabanon stool played a starring role in the set design of Matthieu Blazy's last show: "a practical object that has become a legend," in his words. But, once again, it will be more than a design piece.

Loewe 'Lamps' is the exhibition that from April 15th to 21st, at Palazzo Citterio (Via Brera 12) will present an exclusive collection of 24 lamps created on commission by internationally renowned artists who have always been deeply connected to the Maison. Light becomes a tool for observing the world from different points of view, and the floor, table or pendant lamps will be journeys into the inspiration of those who created them.

The boutique at 23 Via Monte Napoleone will be the setting for the latest chapter of the Balenciaga Art In Stores project. Starting April 13th, in fact, it will be transformed into a reimagined art gallery featuring eight works from Andrew J. Greene's 'Timeless Symbols' series. At the centre of the reflection is the life of objects and everything about their taste, meaning, ideological, social and material value. On stainless steel candlesticks, a hidden motor slowly rotates each piece imitating the gesture of selling. A portable mirror, a shrimp cocktail, a red rose, a globe, a mug, the clutch shoe or the Chips Bag: they are not what they seem and lead the viewer to question his or her own point of view.

During the Salone del Mobile 2024, Versace opens the doors of its home. It is Palazzo Versace, at 12 Via del Gesù, the venue for an audio-immersive experience that opens up the sound dimension that has played out throughout its history. From April 17th to 21st, 'Versace Home: If These Walls Could Talk' will be open to the public-after registering on the website-for a sensory journey through what the Maison represents. What happens when you cross the threshold of such an iconic place? What happens after a fashion show or before a photo shoot? And if the walls could talk, what would they say?

From April 16th to 21st, Milan will be transformed into an oasis at your fingertips, or rather Oasi Zegna – a nature reserve that covers 100 km² in the setting of the Biella Alps in Piedmont, which was created thanks to the reforestation program around Ermenegildo Zegna's woolen mill. From the installation of a kiosk in Via dei Giardini to the one in Piazza Duomo (where the brand among other things oversaw the redesign of the flower beds) to the Rizzoli Store in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II to the boutique at 27/E Via Monte Napoleone, 'Born In Oasi Zegna' will not just be a book to read or an exhibition to visit but a philosophy to make your own.

It is the title of the volume published by Rizzoli that serves as a vehicle for inherited values, a stimulus to continue building without merely celebrating. It is the title of an exhibition that tells its story in the Zegna Headquarters (via Savona, 56A), open to the public for the occasion. But it is above all what Zegna represents with a real and engaging authenticity: the importance and urgency of respect for the earth and nature, as well as urban green spaces to bring people closer to natural ecosystems and the protection of biodiversity and social responsibility.

Loro Piana Interiors is a tribute to the genius of a visionary artist. 'A Tribute To Cini Boeri', in the Cortile della Seta, will be an installation designed with the collaboration of the Cini Boeri Archive dedicated to arflex furniture, presented with the brand's fabrics. April 16-21, at 33 Via della Moscova.

Chiostri di San Simpliciano (in Piazza San Simpliciano 7) will be the the setting for the exhibition curated by Anthony Vaccarello on the occasion of Milan Design Week 2024, open to the public from April 16th to 21th (registration required). Saint Laurent Rive Droite, in collaboration with Ginori 1735, has reissued 12 original plates from the collection Villa Planchart Placeholders designed by Gio Ponti in 1957, which includes a series of porcelain tableware decorated with the same motifs as the villa commissioned from him in Caracas a few years earlier.

Gen D Vol. 2 is the must-attend Dolce & Gabbana event to discover the young talents who will write the tomorrow of design and furnishings. On display at Via Broggi 19 from April 16th to 21st will be works by Byungsub Kim, Ella Bulley, Hannah Lim, Jie Wu, Laurids Gallée, Daniel Valero, Mingyu Xu, Riccardo Cenedella, Thabisa Mjo and the Touche-Touche duo, selected by curator Federica Sala.

In addition to presenting the new additions to the Casa line made in partnership with Luxury Living Group, the Dreaming collection and the Verde Maiolica theme, Dolce & Gabbana created a space of visibility for eleven creatives from all over the world, giving them the opportunity to bring the manufacturing realities of their countries of origin into dialogue with Italian artisanal culture and the Maison's aesthetic codes.

Palazzina Sunnei - 15 Pietro Cironi Private Street - becomes home to cc-tapis. April 15th to 21st, Sunnei x cc-tapis - The Process will be a multi-sensory retrospective through all the steps of a collaboration that led to the 72 square metres of coluorful striped fabric that carpeted the floor of the autumn/winter '24 fashion show. No one knew it, but the creative alchemy did not end with one giant rug. The new wave of contemporary design is yet to be discovered.

NonostanteMarras is not only a concept store designed as a sensory evolution of traditional shopping, but it is the place to observe Antonio Marras 's restlessness and multidimensional flair from unprecedented perspectives. At 8 Via Cola di Rienzo, from April 16th to 21st, it will be home to 'The Sea Where You Don't Touch It'.

In addition to the ceramics made by the Sardinian artist, among hand-embroidered lamps and shirts, chairs, sofas and tables born from the collaboration with Nodo Italia will be presented, evidence of the eclectic creativity of the designer. In an environment of emotion and storytelling, the aesthetic power of blue will guide the narrative: characterising the exhibition in the showroom's basement is the artistic-perspective simulation of a labyrinth of glass doors made of worn wood. One looks through the glass to read the past and relive memories. Seafarers "kiss, leave a promise, leave and never return," but emotions will remain.

Among the events not to be missed is the launch of the Thom Browne by Frette collection. Available from April 16th in Thom Browne boutiques around the world and on the brand's website, it will be presented at Palazzina Appiani - at Viale Giorgio Byron 2 - during the Salone del Mobile 2024. Mirroring the designer's passion for traditional fabrics and artisanal techniques, it expands the brand's home line with bedding, bath, bathrobes and more, transforming quality and sophistication into stylish details for living.

The appointment with La Double J is at Palazzo Belgioioso, Piazza Belgioioso 2, from April 17th to 21st (10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.). An installation inspired by the solar system created by Max Siedentopf will be the framework for the new homewear collection Solar, inspired by a research trip to Andalusia. Evoking the energy of the Mediterranean in Spring, it celebrates the season of rebirth and the primordial power of the sun, to make joy a continuous engine of connections. With precious craftsmanship as a constant, meticulous attention to detail, and an explosive use of color, it reflects the values and creative vibrancy of J.J. Martin.