On the face of it, Paris is the center of the fashion industry. But if you want to know what’s really happening to fashion right now, you have to go to Milan, where the drama is playing out in real time—from the crisis on the manufacturing floor amid a government crackdown on working conditions all the way to the runway. The week began with Demna’s debut at Gucci, and ended with a starry tribute to Giorgio Armani. In between were highs and lows, including the scandal of Brunello Cucinelli’s alleged operations in Russia. In the background, of course, were perennial ruminations over the industry’s macroeconomic headwinds and the seeming impotency of any person or brand or group to combat them. Over dinners, at parties, on the sidelines of shows, the conversation was the same: What used to work doesn’t anymore, and what used to be okay isn’t.