Milan Fashion Week Men’s unfolded in the midst of a Europe-wide heatwave, with sweltering temperatures being the subject of conversation du jour (and, with thermometers hitting 40 degrees in Paris later this week, this looks to be a topic that will define fashion month). In some ways, it provides an appropriate backdrop for the summer collections: after all, this is the climate for which these clothes were defined. And there was an escapist mood that permeated the collections: Dolce & Gabbana conjured a Sicilian vacation (an all-white linen finale looked particularly apt for the conditions), while Paul Smith’s undone tailoring was inspired by a photograph of his grandfather on holiday, his suit trousers rolled up so he could paddle in the water. Meanwhile, at Ralph Lauren – a label which has become ubiquitous among show attendees this season, particularly the Polo line – mined the moment with a joyful collection that embraced colour and print, filled with clever styling moments.
Elsewhere, there were standout shows from Prada – Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons reworked menswear’s fundamentals, including the denim jean, for a collection that they called ‘an exercise in clarity’ – while at Setchu, Satoshi Kondon, one of menswear’s most intriguing designers, drew inspiration from a recent fishing trip to Gabon. Meanwhile, Thom Browne brought his characteristic wit and whimsy to Milan (he hasn't shown in Italy since 2008), and Giorgio Armani closed out proceedings with a collection that drew on sun-soaked Mediterranean markets and their eclectic wares.
Ralph Lauren
‘Even classic boundaries are there to be pushed,’ proposed the statement for the combined showings of Polo and Ralph Lauren Purple Label collections. As such, the rarified world of country club sports that Ralph Lauren has almost come to symbolise was tempered with something more easy-going and less restricted – there were classic double-breasted blazers, of course, but also lettermans made from top-stitched college flags in vivid primary colours, or lived-in, sun-faded indigo zip-up bombers. Patchworking, one of the great American traditions, was a recurring theme, lending a cosy expressiveness to proceedings. Silk scarves were worn knotted around the throat or draped over the shoulders, but also around the waist, a casual take on a cummerbund. And berets and paint-splattered pants signified something a little rebellious, even beatnik, about the season’s man – perhaps not as squeaky-clean as he may first appear.
On the ground in Milan, Wallpaper’s fashion and beauty director Jack Moss observed that the brand has become the uniform of choice for the style set, describing the preppy look as ‘ubiquitous’ throughout guests’ wardrobes. If American collegiate style is having a moment, Ralph Lauren’s mallet-wielding, horseback polo player is still leading the charge. IBJ
Dolce & Gabbana
The Italian island of Sicily has been a perennial inspiration for Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, as well as the spiritual home of their eponymous house (the former was born in Polizzi Generosa, a small town outside of Palermo, and memories of this time continue to shape the pair’s collections). Next month, they will show their latest Alta Moda collection in the ancient seaside resort of Taormina – Dolce & Gabbana’s equivalent to haute couture – and this latest men’s collection was something of a precursor. Titled ‘Vacanze Siciliane’ (‘Sicilian Vacation’), the Metropol showspace was backdropped with a film showing Taormina’s Isola Bella through the course of a summer’s day, while prior to the show’s start, models milled about the runway as if wandering to the beach in the morning, or back at night (think: robes, swim briefs, open linen shirts and the like). The rest of the collection mined this easygoing, escapist mood, filled with plenty of Dolce & Gabbana signatures, from broderie anglais shirt-and-short sets, evoking Sicilian table linens, to citrus prints, breezy loose-weave knits, and a multitude of jewellery-like embellishment (a pair of crystal-adorned jeans was a highlight). The show ended with models emerging onto the runway en masse in white linen – a summertime wardrobe that looked particularly appealing in the sweltering Milanese heat. JM
Setchu
As temperatures in Milan soared this week, there can’t have been a single guest in attendance whose mind wasn’t on water, in some way. At Setchu, Satoshi Kuwata’s love for fishing was the starting point for this season’s collection – played out across 17 genderless looks. Oversize nets, worn draped across the body or woven into the garments themselves, were constructed from leather cords tied in sophisticated Japanese square knots, and ‘[paid] tribute to the abundant fishing grounds found in the waters off Gabon’, where Kuwata had journeyed to in the past.
Elsewhere, asymmetry and cavity openings, and the Geta shoes worn throughout, placed the collection firmly back in Japan. One standout garment was a stiff coat with zip fastenings, cut in matting reminiscent of Tatami, and a looser cotton trench revealed construction details such as interior hems and tacking. IBJ
Paul Smith
Paul Smith
Sir Paul Smith will turn 80 in July 2026. As a way of marking this red-letter year, thoughts at his namesake brand have turned to celebrating the man’s personal relationship to tailoring. The story began in childhood, with Smith recalling ‘his grandfather standing knee-deep in the sea, dressed in a full suit and tie with rolled-up trousers’, a laissez-faire attitude to dress that would go on to inform Smith’s decades-long career as one of the suit’s biggest champions, during which time he embraced a softer, lighter interpretation of the classic set.
The effect of these recollections was a gorgeously undone affair: cuffs turned up and sleeves rolled, ties unknotted, shirts unbuttoned. There was a fluidity to the fabric, mouliné seersucker and printed silk habutai, left unlined, and a gentleness to the palette of off-whites, creamy grey, pistachio and butter. Playful knits and pewter-cast charms of sailboats and seashells evoked rose-tinted memories of childhood and a carefree, never-ending summer. IBJ
Prada
Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons called their latest menswear collection ‘an exercise in clarity’, beginning with a handful of foundational garments – jeans, the denim jacket, the blazer, the leather blouson and the T-shirt, each ‘striking in their pragmatism… a framework for ceaseless possibility and reinterpretation.’ In a preview, Simons likened the process of this season to creating a ‘pasta al pomodoro’ – a dish in the canon of Italian greats despite being made from only the simplest of ingredients. ‘Everything looks simple, but it is not,’ said the designers. ‘The ambition was to do something new with “nothing” – against exaggeration, against complex material. Against useless design. There is nothing that [we] hate more in this period than useless foundation. This nothingness is very precise – to do this is far more difficult to achieve.’
In practice, this meant iterations of these garments in new fabrics and proportions: jeans were reconstructed in brightly hued leather, tailoring wool, or a sheer fabric which revealed the garment’s construction beneath, while the season’s super-skinny silhouette (which ran throughout) was described by the pair as ‘highly controlled’. Accessories, bar some half-and-half hybrid sunglasses, largely focused on the waist: supersized belts were hung with colourful leather and nylon pouches, leaving models hands free, while foulard-style scarves were wrapped around the midriff.
Together, it made for a sharp, precise collection from the pair, in their 13th co-designed runway show – Prada distilled to its essence. ‘In this collection, there is a break, with conventions of luxury,’ they continued. ‘This was conscious – [it is] a shift in attitude. Changing materials, reconsidering proportions. The new silhouette is fundamental. There was something compelling about reiteration, about this focus. It is about being extremely decisive and precise.’ JM
READ: Prada’s latest menswear collection strips things back: ‘It’s against useless design’
Thom Browne
A neoclassical Milanese courtyard filled with 400 seersucker plant pots (replete with fabricated flowers) could have, in lesser hands than those of American designer Thom Browne, very easily stolen the show, but, happily, this role was left to his final look: a bride. He wore the brand’s typically slim-cut short suit underneath – in purest white, described as ‘a bright column of light at midday’ – and a train of voluminous tulle cascading from the shoulders on top, finished with a jaunty, veiled boater. A self-assured statement from Browne, who called the collection ‘an evolution of his core identity’.
Elsewhere, there was a distinctly Edwardian feel to proceedings – through a combination of low-V-necked cricket jumpers, straw boater hats, sharp shoulder jackets and deck-chair stripes. Suitably for the long-garden-party atmosphere of the era, embellishments took the form of bumblebees and dragonflies. IBJ
Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani chose the courtyard of Palazzo Orsini, the historic headquarters of the house and the former private residence of the late eponymous designer, to host its latest menswear show – a shift from the usual purpose-built showspace in the building’s basement. In the warm early evening (Giorgio Armani-branded facial sprays and fans were distributed to guests in light of the current Europe-wide heatwave), models circulated the historic courtyard, which had been transformed with woven mats and Moroccan-style stools to reflect the collection’s inspirations: a ‘Mediterranean market… an imagined space, bathed in intense sunlight, where light softens surfaces.’ It was a very Armani-esque starting point for a collection – the late designer often channelled a mood of sultry escapism, particularly in his summer outings – figuring here in typically louche tailoring, safari jackets and gilets, and open-weave knits in a palette of earthy desert tones and blues evocative of sea and sky. Alongside the menswear collection, designed by Giorgio Armani’s longtime collaborator Leo Dell’Orco, Silvana Armani – Mr Armani’s niece – presented a Cruise 2027 collection, which followed a similar tact: albeit with flourishes of glamour, like a closing series of looks that were rich in embellishment. JM