Founded over thirty years ago, Mittelmoda – The Fashion Award is an international competition for students and young designers from fashion schools around the world. The competition is promoted by Mittelmoda International Lab and Fondazione del Tessile Italiano, in partnership with Sistema Moda Italia and Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.

The finalists will have the opportunity to present their collections and projects in Milan before an international jury of fashion professionals. The 2026 edition features a total prize pool of up to €35,000, across awards dedicated to innovation, creativity and specialist industry categories. 

Among the international finalists are two talents from Istituto Marangoni Firenze, Giulia Lin and Matilde Gori, bringing two distinctive approaches to contemporary Fashion Design to the competition.

Giulia Lin: New Balances

Born in Prato and raised in a family connected to the textile industry, Giulia Lin has developed a design practice that critically explores the relationship between the individual, work and contemporary society. Mittelmoda describes Giulia Lin as a recent graduate of Istituto Marangoni Firenze whose work examines how productivity, efficiency and constant availability influence contemporary life.

Her collection,“Hyphen”, reflects on the fragile balance between private and professional life through a reinterpretation of homewear and workwear, deconstructed and recomposed into hybrid silhouettes where comfort and formality coexist. Hand quilting becomes a distinctive feature of the project, used as a metaphor for the relationship between expectation and reality.

Previously selected among the top students of the Fashion Design course for the 2024/2025 academic year, Giulia Lin took part in Text(s)Ture(s), Istituto Marangoni Firenze’s 2025 Fashion Show dedicated to some of the School’s most significant student projects.

Giulia Lin’s work has already received recognition within the industry, including a CNMI Special Mention at Milano Moda Graduate.

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Matilde Gori: Research and Knitwear

Matilde Gori, a Fashion Design student at Istituto Marangoni Firenze, developed a creative journey that began with drawing and later evolved into a strong specialisation in knitwear.

Her design practice brings together tailoring, technical research and material experimentation, exploring the expressive potential of yarn and garment construction. Her creative approach is based on a continuous dialogue between technique and intuition, transforming the design process into an ongoing translation of thought into form.

Recognised among the most outstanding students of the Fashion Design programme for the 2025/2026 academic year, Matilde Gori also took part in MĪRĀBĬLIS, Istituto Marangoni Firenze’s 2026 Fashion Show, dedicated to some of the School’s most innovative and accomplished student projects.

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Being selected as Mittelmoda finalists offers Giulia Lin and Matilde Gori an important opportunity to engage with the international fashion landscape, bringing to the competition two distinctive design approaches united by research, experimentation and a contemporary vision of Fashion Design. Their inclusion in Mittelmoda's official 2026 selection places both designers alongside emerging talents from international fashion schools.