NABA highlights technical craft and manufacturing links at Fashion Graduate Italia 2026

Milan-based design school Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti presented its latest postgraduate collections at Fashion Graduate Italia 2026 under the umbrella initiative Designers + Makers, according to a press release shared by the institution.

Held at BASE Milano from October 27 to 29, the event featured a dedicated runway show and a three-day exhibition platforming work from the academy's two-year Master of Arts programs in textile design and fashion design. Organized by Piattaforma Sistema Formativo Moda ETS, the annual gathering serves as a critical bridge between Italian fashion academies and industry stakeholders seeking early-stage talent.

The runway presentation opened with a specialized knitwear segment developed in direct collaboration with yarn manufacturer Lanificio Cariaggi and machinery developer Shima Seiki Italia, utilizing industrial technologies housed within NABA’s campus laboratories.

This was followed by collections from graduating fashion design students whose work had previously been vetted by an industry jury during Milan Fashion Week. Complementing the catwalk, an installation curated by course leader Andrea Cammarosano documented broader institutional research, displaying ongoing partnerships with textile mills such as Manteco and apparel label Aspesi, alongside European Union-funded public initiatives.

For fashion educators and institutions, NABA’s presentation illustrates an increasingly necessary operational strategy: embedding specialized manufacturing partnerships directly into postgraduate degree curricula. By aligning student research with technical machinery providers and upstream material suppliers, academic programs can provide practical production experience that traditional studio models often lack.

In an increasingly competitive hiring landscape, establishing direct supplier pipelines and showcasing student work to accredited trade bodies serves both as a metric of institutional viability and an effective mechanism for talent placement.