At the Fondazione Adolfo Pini in Milan, Church’s S/S 2027 collection begins with the slipper. In the first room of the apartment, beside a Gio Ponti fireplace, are light and technical shoes – designed for crossing from room to street, made from soft suede, nappa leather, with thin leather soles and California construction, made inside out, stitched, then turned. The ‘Villa’ series is one of three product families – alongside ‘Townhouse’ and ‘Cottage’ – showcased as part of Church’s presentation, ‘The Residence’, and catering to the warmer months.

Additionally, on the gilt-tooled leather of an old writing bureau sits the ‘Shannon’, one of the house’s icons reinterpreted for the season in a new leather: a green so deep it is nearly black, painted onto undyed crust, by hand, in three or four coats, each left to dry a day, until the colour seems to swirl in the leather like oil. A painter's palette hangs on the wall above.

‘The different families of the collection all have a reference to a domestic way of living,’ said a Church's representative during the presentation. ‘So we felt an apartment, another domestic environment, was particularly fitting [as a showcase].’

‘Villa’ takes the collection towards vacation and softness; ‘Cottage’ sits between town and countryside; ‘Townhouse’ returns to formal construction with sharper leather work.

Inside ‘The Residence’, Church's S/S 2027 show in a Milanese painter's house

The ‘Townhouse’ family features Goodyear-welted shoes with a closed-channel sole stitch and a darkened, hand-finished sole. The ‘Tayport’ derby, in a polished fumé leather, holds a marked depth of colour. The ‘Taunton’ loafer, in Ocean Calf, takes a softer line, while on the ‘Thirsk’ brogue, the wingtip is drawn only in perforation and stitching, with no cuts made into the leather.

The ‘Cottage’ series, in a lighter construction, shapes only the lining and leaves the upper leather free; the welt is laid over it, so the leather runs between welt and sole and the shoe stays supple. It runs to a ‘Chukka’ boot and a ‘Derby’, and an ‘Oxford’ with concealed elastic that is worn laced or slipped on.

‘Villa’ turns to evenings and holidays, drawing from the slipper, as mentioned. A moccasin among the designs carries a hand stitch worked over the edge, resembling rope.

The exhibition space is conceived as a domestic setting, the collection comfortably placed across the rooms of the Fondazione Adolfo Pini, which occupies the piano nobile of a former private house in Milan's Garibaldi district, close to Brera. It was once the home and studio of the painter Renzo Bongiovanni Radice, who worked here until his death in 1970. Its parquet floors, coffered ceilings, family furniture and paintings remain; the apartment was last refurbished at the end of 2025, conservatively – much of what visitors see still is original. A square courtyard opens onto a columned portico, and a staircase rises to the piano nobile, where more than 40 of Bongiovanni Radice’s paintings hang among the family's furniture and ceramics, retained as ‘a living gallery’, as the foundation calls it.

At the centre of the main room, Church’s set out a material library – the leathers and components that a shoe is built from – shown with the makers at work. Church's has made shoes in Northampton, UK, since 1873, and was among the first to set them on separate left and right lasts; its Goodyear-welted shoes, the making of which runs to some 250 operations across about eight weeks, can be unpicked and resoled for years.

Also on display were pieces from the brand’s archive, as part of a project called Church’s Chapters, an attempt to show less-expected parts of its history. Church’s is often understood through men’s classic footwear, and the selection in Milan widened that picture: women’s shoes from 1900, white boots and loafers from the 1970s, advertising material from across decades, and an 1887 red book made from blotting paper, gifted to clients for New Year.

church-footwear.com

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

The second stop on the menswear calendar after Pitti Uomo, Milan Fashion Week Men’s has long been rooted in Italy’s rich sartorial history – reinterpreted season after season by its blockbuster roster of designers and houses, which includes Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Tod’s and Brioni. They will all show collections for the S/S 2027 edition of Milan Fashion Week Men’s, which is taking place this weekend in the style capital.

But Milan also draws names from beyond Italy’s borders – this edition sees the return of two legendary menswear designers, Paul Smith and Ralph Lauren, who will show S/S 2027 collections in their respective Milanese headquarters this weekend (Smith, who turns 80 next month, has shown for a number of seasons in Italy, while Lauren returned his menswear to Milan last season for the first time in 20 years). Elsewhere, a handful of newer names add energy – like the acclaimed Japan-born, Italy-based Satoshi Kuwata of Setchu, and Saul Nash, who is based in London but chooses to show in Milan – though the city is still light on fresher talent (its schedule is relatively sedate in comparison to Paris, which follows).

Also joining Milan Fashion Week Men’s this season is Thom Browne, who is making his debut in the city – expect a typically theatrical offering from the American designer, who will show on Monday afternoon at Palazzo Serbelloni.

Here, follow our real-time look at Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2027 – from behind-the-scenes glimpses to access to the shows, presentations and parties, alongside runway reviews – as seen through the eyes (and iPhones) of the Wallpaper* editors. Stay tuned.

Ralph Lauren is having a moment

Polo Ralph Lauren’s Pony motif has already proved ubiquitous this Men’s Fashion Month as guests adopt the American powerhouse’s Ivy League stylings through their personal wardrobes (in part helped by the embrace of preppy dress codes at other buzzy brands like Celine and Dior in recent seasons).

This evening at the Palazzo Ralph Lauren in Milan on the first evening of the city’s fashion week, its eponymous designer capitalised on the moment with an expansive and eclectic S/S 2027 runway show comprising both the Polo and Ralph Lauren Purple Label collections – designed to outfit the wearer through his various summertime pursuits.

‘When I began designing menswear, my inspiration came from the ease and traditions of collegiate style,’ Lauren wrote in a letter to attendees. ‘These collections are inspired by that spirit. It was about character and camaraderie.’ JM

Umit Benan is creating some of Milan’s best menswer

Some of the most compelling collections in Milan are often found off the runway: case in point, the Stuttgart-born, Milan-based designer Umit Benan’s S/S 2027 offering, presented in his airy headquarters on Via Bigli (the brand’s beautiful Martin Brûlé-designed store across the road is also well worth a visit; today, it turned into an impromptu flower shop). Crafted from superlative fabrics – this season, silk and linen mixes, lightweight suede and superfine cashmere – Benan reimagines quotidian garments in luxurious style, though the effect is never overwrought (encapsulating this was a pair of silk pyjamas designed to be worn like tailoring). Most striking, though, was the palette: alongside his usual grounding hues of brown, tan, beige and navy were enlivening shots of pink, banana yellow and sky blue. JM

Dunhill S/S 2027 calls to mind ‘generations of Englishmen’

During the presentation at Villa Mozart this morning, creative director Simon Holloway described the Dunhill S/S 2027 collection to Wallpaper* as: ‘a bit of a love letter to the blue blazer’. The letter itself might have been composed by any number of debonair gentlemen – Roger Moore, Lucian Freud, Lord Snowdon – who were on Holloway’s mind this season, as he furthered his ‘character study of British masculine identity’. The ‘blue blazer’ was interpreted as a sports coat in worsted cashmere panama, woven in Huddersfield; as a double-faced reefer coat made from rare Escorial wool; or reimagined in vivid aquamarine in addition to the traditional navy.

A timeless, cinematic quality was lent by details like an archival Art Deco table lighter adorned with playing-card motifs, 1980s-inspired superfine kid mohair, and silk dupioni evening suits ‘woven on antique looms dating to the 1960s’. IBJ

Church’s takes over the Fondazione Adolfo Pini

It is rare to find yourself at a location during Milan Fashion Week which has not before been used to host a runway show or presentation – such was the case this morning at Church’s, seeing the British shoemaker present its S/S 2027 collection in the Fondazione Adolfo Pini on Corso Garibaldi. Once the home and studio of Italian painter Renzo Bongiovanni Radice, the 19th-century building houses artworks and furnishings from his collection, providing a serene setting for the collection, as well as pieces from the Church’s archive (their oldest shoe, and first catalogue, were on display). Highlights including a new slouchy slipper in various shades of suede and leather – perfect for padding the halls of Milanese residences like these. JM

Caruso conjures the spirit of Irving Penn

The singular visual world of Irving Penn provided the inspiration for Caruso’s S/S 2027 presentation at Grand Hotel et de Milan this morning. Within a set built from mirrors, echoing the clean lines and corners Penn used as backdrops for his portraiture, the collection palette was anchored in greyscale, punctuated by fruity shades and floral prints (Penn was, afterall, one of the greatest photographers of food and flowers of all time).

The brand’s mission statement for the season was to define ‘a man who constructs his presence through proportion, detail, and quality,’ and accordingly, offered up pared back tailoring essentials, with an emphasis on materiality and a defined silhouette. IBJ

Dolce & Gabbana goes on a Sicilian holiday

The island of Sicily has been a perennial inspiration for Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, with next month’s Alta Moda show – the house’s equivalent to haute couture – taking place in the ancient seaside town of Taormina (Dolce was born on the Italian island, and it has become something of a spiritual home for the brand). This season’s menswear show once again looked towards the locale for a collection titled ‘Vacanze Siciliana’ (‘Sicilian Holiday’): backdropped by a film of Taormina’s Isola Bella from dawn to dusk, models wandered into the runway as if returning from a day at the beach, some clad in robes and branded trunks, others swimming shorts, linen shirts, vests and silk pyjamas. Elsewhere, house signatures returned – from broderie anglais short sets to citrus prints, as well as plenty of surface embellishment, like jeans adorned with crystal jewels. It feels like a sweet spot for the label to drill into a high summer mood – after all, come August, its customers are likely to be found island-hopping in the Med. JM

Variations on a theme at Brioni

The collection on display today at Palazzo del Senato was just one version of what Brioni’s customers will be able to purchase for the S/S 2027 season – personalisation and customisation being at the heart of this summer’s offering. ‘Elevating the brand’s bespoke excellence to new levels of exclusivity,’ Brioni’s intention with this collection, titled Brioni Maestria, was to balance established customs of tailoring with the whims of self-expression. Thus we saw a refined edit of elegant suiting which can be made one’s own with variations in – in addition to the fabric itself – buttons, linings, combinations, and technical specifications. IBJ

Paul Smith finds joy in the suit

Paul Smith is a lifelong wearer of suits: after his S/S 2027 runway show yesterday, held at his Milanese headquarters, the British designer said that he has worn tailoring almost every day of his adult life, even in the height of pandemic lockdowns while stuck at home. Seeing the suit as something liberatory, rather than restricting, the brilliant summer collection saw him look into his Nottingham archive for inspiration (the facility houses over 5,000 garments), honing in on styles from the 1980s where silhouettes were loosened up as a riposte to the ‘uniform and rigid’ tailoring of the decades prior. Another inspiration was a photograph of his grandfather on holiday wearing a suit in the sea, trousers rolled up to the ankle, and this sense of impromptu ease permeated the collection – shirts were unbuttoned, cuffs of suits and shirts pulled up, and ties undone – while charm-like jewellery featured pewter shells, boats and pennies, evoking keepsakes from a trip to the beach. JM

At MSGM, Massimo Giorgetti goes back to his roots

Massimo Giorgetti chose Ordet – a contemporary art gallery in Milan’s Città Studito neighbourhood – to present a vivid S/S 2027 collection for MSGM, honing in on the original spirit of the Milanese label, which he founded in 2009. Namely: a vivid use of colour and print (neon paisleys; a multitude of stripes, often layered in a single look), as well as a broad range of clashing references, from tweed two-sets to studded western jackets. Artworks by Los Angeles and London-based artist P. Staff accompanied the presentation – the trippy video installation explored themes of ‘dreaming, excitement, inebriation and exhaustion’ – while later in the evening, the designer hosted dinner at Ligurian restaurant U Barba, a nod to the region where Giorgetti owns a seaside home. JM

Prada lights up for S/S 2027

Each season, the Deposito space in Fondazione Prada is transformed by OMA for the house’s fashion shows, an over-25-year-long collaboration which has redefined runway architecture. This season, a vast Perspex floor has been installed in the hangar-like space; underneath, a series of glowing strip lights (matching clear Perspex benches provide the show’s seating). It echoes the invitation for the show: a Prada-branded light stick, like those you might wield at a pop concert (albeit it in sleek, minimal style). What does it all mean? The show starts shortly… JM

Prada strips it back

‘An exercise in clarity,’ is how Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons described their S/S 2027 menswear collection, which was presented on a clear Perspex runway at Fondazione Prada this afternoon.

Opening with model Julia Nobis, the collection was about a ‘highly controlled silhouette,’ which largely drew on the shape of jeans and jean jackets, reimagined in different fabrications – from brightly hued leather to a sheer material that revealed the construction beneath. The T-shirt was also revisited in elongated proportions, while accessories included bags which hung off belt loops, or silk scarves tied around the waist.

‘The ambition was to do something new with "nothing" against exaggeration, against complex material. Against useless design,’ the designers said. ‘The new silhouette is fundamental. There was something compelling about reiteration, about this focus.’ JM

Canali’s transcontinental spice route

Alessio Lillocci took spice as his theme for Canali’s S/S 2027 presentation – the plants themselves, with their heady fragrances and colours, but also the routes they have historically been traded upon. Pulling from regions from South Asia, East Africa, and the Mediterranean, the collection unfolded in shades of cardamom, sesame and star anise, and was conceived with layering in mind; like flavours in a dish, or the way an intrepid traveller might adjust his apparel to suit the climate and culture he finds himself in. IBJ

‘It’s against useless design’: Read our full review of the Prada show

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons called their latest menswear collection, shown yesterday afternoon at Milan Fashion Week, ‘an exercise in clarity’. The runway was made from clear Perspex; underneath, row upon row of strip lighting, as if models were striding along an enormous light box, like those used by photographers to spot imperfections in their negatives.

Prior to the show, the designers said that they were putting menswear’s fundamental garments under their own scrutiny: most notably, the denim jean, a piece of clothing so ubiquitous that it is still being worn despite Milan’s close-to-40-degree heat. Others were the T-shirt (also ubiquitous, including being worn by Mrs Prada herself, underneath a duster coat), the denim jacket, the blazer and the leather blouson. They called them ‘striking in their pragmatism… a framework for ceaseless possibility and reinterpretation.’

Continue reding here: Prada’s latest menswear collection strips things back: ‘It’s against useless design’

The essence of summer at Brunello Cucinelli

Capturing the mood of a sweltering week, Brunello Cucinelli’s S/S 2027 presentation at their Milan HQ featured sun-bleached cable knit sweaters, and dusty shades of apricot, peach blossom, vanilla, aqua green, and powder. The effect was a feeling of clothes which have already lived a life: beautifully imperfect, time-worn, loved (and slightly heat-exhausted). IBJ

Thom Browne's show set featured 400 seersucker plant pots

Four-hundred plant pots, covered in the Thom Browne signature seersucker and filled with fabricated tall-stem roses, punctuated the gravel courtyard at Palazzo Serbelloni this afternoon – marking the brand’s return to Italy for the first time since 2008. The pots were ‘arranged in a grid, reflecting the symmetry in the neoclassical porticoes’, in front of which guests sheltered from the sun under black umbrellas. IBJ

Thom Browne brings his magic to Milan

Set amid 400 seersucker flowerpots in the courtyard of Palazzo Serbelloni, Thom Browne brought his signature wit and whimsy to Milan Fashion Week with his first Italian show since 2008.

A typically theatrical outing, models donned beekeeper-style hats and wore versions of Thom Browne’s signature tailoring – here largely cut from summer seersucker – adorned with bugs and flowers. It ended with a ‘bride’ in a white suit and tulle cape, before Browne took the runway for a final bow in a frog-shaped headpiece.

‘I’m always trying to push people to think differently about tailoring, but all rooted in that original idea behind the grey suit,’ the American designer told Wallpaper*. ‘An evolution but never a change.’ JM

Up close at the Prada showroom

A closer look at Prada’s precise and focused offering for the season, ‘an antidote to complication,’ where clean colour and clever fabrication won out over extraneous embellishment. The most perfect versions of menswear staples. IBJ

Giorgio Armani hosts a Mediterranean market

Breaking with tradition, Giorgio Armani showed its latest collection in the courtyard of Palazzo Orisini – the historic headquarters of the house and the former private residence of the late eponymous designer – instead of the usual purpose-built showspace in the building’s basement. It was reflective of the collection’s mood: titled ‘Mediterranean Market’, the open-air space was covered in rattan mats and Moroccan-style seating, while the collection drew on Mediterranean codes of dress, seeing louche tailoring, safari-style jackets and gilets, and open-weave knits in earthy desert tones and blues that evoked of sea and sky. Alongside the menswear collection, designed by longtime Giorgio Armani collaborator Leo Dell’Orco, Silvana Armani – Mr Armani’s niece – presented a Cruise 2027 collection, which mined similar codes, albeit with flourishes of glamour, like a closing series of looks rich in surface embellishment. After the show, the doors opened to the Brera residence’s bucolic gardens for an impromptu party. JM

The Spring/Summer edition of Men’s Fashion Month takes place each year in the heat of June, with stops in Florence (for historic menswear fair Pitti Uomo), Milan and Paris outlining what men might be wearing a year or so ahead (Spring/Summer collections arrive in stores between January and March). This coming season looks to be one of consolidation and brand-building, as a new raft of designers settle into their roles – Jonathan Anderson at Dior, for example, will show his third menswear collection – and other houses look to steady themselves amid an increasingly tremulous luxury market influenced by outside forces, like the war in the Middle East and rising fuel costs.

Though there remains a hopeful outlook, with plenty of intriguing moments taking place across the month. These include Simone Rocha’s headline act as guest designer at Pitti Uomo, marking her first-ever menswear show, while American designer Thom Browne will make a surprise appearance at Milan Fashion Week this season (previously, he has shown as part of the menswear calendar in Paris), alongside Ralph Lauren and Paul Smith, who both return to show in the Italian city. Further afield, and off-schedule, Zegna will show in Los Angeles, following last summer’s runway show in Dubai – a sign of the Italian house’s ambition for international expansion (the Zegna group reported a rise in net profit of 20 per cent in 2025, bucking market trends).

Here, everything that Wallpaper* knows about Men’s Fashion Month so far.

Pitti Uomo (16-19 June 2026)

Pitti Uomo, which takes place each season in Florence’s Fortezza da Basso and locations across the city, has invited acclaimed Irish designer Simone Rocha to be this summer’s guest designer (she follows in the footsteps of Raf Simons, Grace Wales Bonner and Martine Rose, as well as brands like Givenchy, Jil Sander and Off-White). For the occasion, Rocha will hold her first-ever dedicated menswear show – previously, it has appeared as part of her womenswear collections – in an as-yet-unannounced location in the city. ‘I would like to thank Pitti Uomo for their generous invitation to present my first independent menswear show on the men's calendar,’ she said in a statement, elucidating that she will use the opportunity to show ‘the length and breadth of [her] menswear proposition... [and] a new chapter in my work and world.’

Elsewhere, there will be shows from DSM Kei Ninomiya – the everyday line from Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe-led concept store Dover Street Market – and Copenhagen-based label Sunflower. At the main fair, which takes place at the Fortezza da Basso, there will be the usual line-up of brands showing their latest menswear collections – among them Herno, Caruso, Guess and Brunello Cucinelli, the latter which will also host its twice-yearly opening dinner on the evening of 16 May at the cloisters of the Santa Maria Novella church, a World Heritage Site.

Milan Fashion Week Men’s (19-23 June 2026)

In Milan, a somewhat quiet schedule – partly down to Zegna decamping to LA, and other brands, like Gucci, going co-ed during womenswear – nonetheless features a handful of impactful moments. These include Prada (co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons have long had a knack of defining an entire season with their runway shows), Dolce & Gabbana (fresh off an appearance in Devil Wears Prada 2), Paul Smith (the British designer has made Milan home of his runway shows for a number of seasons) and Ralph Lauren, which will also return after showing in the city earlier this year.

Elsewhere, Thom Browne will host a special runway show on the afternoon of Monday 22 June, shifting from his usual spot on the Paris Fashion Week schedule (the American brand has a strong red-carpet presence, so expect a typically starry front row). Showing that same day is Giorgio Armani, who will move from early afternoon to evening, closing out the week’s proceedings at 6pm on Monday night.

Paris Fashion Week Men’s (23-28 June 2026)

The release of the Paris Fashion Week menswear calendar comes with a handful of surprises: notably, a Saint Laurent show on the opening Tuesday afternoon (23 June), a Celine show on the final Sunday (28 June), and presentations from Givenchy and Meryll Rogge (it will mark the first menswear presentation under Sarah Burton at Givenchy; meanwhile Rogge is making her debut on the men’s schedule).

Elsewhere at Paris Fashion Week Men’s – the final and longest leg of the month – there will be the latest show from Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton (expect a blockbuster happening on the opening night at 9pm) and Jonathan Anderson’s third menswear outing at Dior, following a high-profile debut Cruise show earlier this month in Los Angeles.

Hermès, meanwhile, will replace its usual show with a presentation as the house transitions to its new menswear creative director, Grace Wales Bonner (she replaces Véronique Nichanian, who held her final show last season). Rick Owens, Lemaire, Dries Van Noten and Willy Chavarria are all slated to show as usual, while the usual roster of Japanese designers who choose Paris to show each season – including Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe and Issey Miyake – will present their latest collections throughout the week.

Each season, designers must grapple with fashion’s unique balance of pragmatism and fantasy – clothes you can wear, yes, but also those that can thrill, transport, excite. It is why, when it comes down to defining the trends and takeaways of a given season, juxtapositions can be found here, too.

Take, for example, this A/W 2026 season, which culminated this past week in Paris after stops in Milan, London and New York. On the one hand, there was a prevalence of black – a colour that suggests a certain seriousness, or sobriety – on the other, Muppets-bright faux fur and shearling dominated the runway, suggesting an altogether more liberated mood. The same could be said for what seemed to be the season’s defining garments, the slip dress and the tailored suit – both loaded with connotations – or the lived-in layers of Prada’s A/W 2026 collection versus the levity and romance of Jonathan Anderson’s sophomore ready-to-wear collection for Dior.

Here, Wallpaper* unpacks six of A/W 2026’s defining trends and takeaways – ones that begin to set a blueprint of how we might dress for the season ahead.

Layering ultra

Prada’s A/W 2026 show had a novel conceit: instead of the usual 40-or-so models, there were just 15, each wearing four looks in an impressive act of quick changing (such was the power of the illusion, when Bella Hadid appeared just a minute or so after she'd left the runway, I wondered if perhaps she had a secret twin). Largely, this was achieved by clever layering, with models stripping away garments to reveal what lay beneath – a metaphor, said co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, for the changing demands of a woman’s life. ‘As a woman, your life is layered – each day demands not only a shifting of clothes, but a richness of identities within yourself,’ said Mrs Prada of the collection, where an anorak might have been layered over a cocktail dress; an organza skirt removed to expose a pair of bloomers. ‘You make choices, you decide who you want to be.’

Indeed, it is a way of dressing that feels particularly attuned to the demands of contemporary life – not least the changing weather, which was in full display over fashion month (the early days of Paris Fashion Week were so warm for early March that the discarding of items of clothing was necessary). Aside from Prada, collections this season felt particularly richly layered: at Celine, polo-neck sweaters were worn beneath a silk shirt, which was in turn worn beneath an overcoat (Michael Rider added plenty of accessories to the collage, too, from belts and enormous scarves to blankets grasped in the hand) while at Acne Studios, blazers were insouciantly hung over the shoulder via the use of clever in-built straps (the idea of layering was enhanced by a pile-up of clashing checks). At Loewe, parkas were constructed with extra collars, hoods and shaggy shearling trims (some layers could even be inflated like beach lilos), while Rabanne, Chanel and Valentino favoured vivid amalgams of colour, embellishment and texture, often achieved through placing one garment over another. In the respective shows, it made for some bold looks, but one could imagine teasing these pieces apart and wearing them – or indeed layering them – with your own wardrobe.

Black out

It might seem trite to call black a trend: after all, this is a colour that never goes out of style (so much so, it is the colour all others are compared to – such and such is the new black). However, the prevalence of the hue on this season’s runway was noticeable – not least at Fendi, where Maria Grazia Chiuri embraced the colour for her first Fendi collection, presented in Milan. By our count, around three-quarters of the 81 looks were majority black, a stark departure from Silvia Venturini Fendi’s primary-hued S/S 2026 collection last season. Though it didn’t feel dour: instead, it allowed the collection to straddle both a uniform sleekness – lean tailoring, flight jackets, and the like – and something more sensual in textures of lace, silk and crepe. Part of the choice, she said, was a riposte to the kind of attention-grabbing collections she sees as becoming the norm. ‘I think we must be pragmatic,’ she said. ‘Fashion is not entertainment. Fashion is a job. I am that kind of designer.’

A similar mood was struck by Peter Copping at Lanvin, where the languid glamour of the 1920s and 1930s inspired sculpted tailoring and sinuous gowns, many in textures of black, from lustrous vinyl and silk to dramatic faux fur, while at Saint Laurent, a stream of black Le Smoking-inspired tailoring introduced Anthony Vaccarello’s femme fatale for the season. Balenciaga, Issey Miyake and Gucci also had large sections of black in their respective collections, though it was Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons who was most adamant about the colour’s creative – and indeed revolutionary – potential. This season, save for a short interlude in saccharine pink, the rest of the Japanese brand’s A/W 2026 collection was all-black. ‘I have come to realise that, after all, black is the colour for me,’ said the Japanese designer. ‘It’s just the strongest, the best for creation, and the colour that embodies the rebellious spirit. And has the biggest meaning: the universe and the black hole.’

Fun ‘fur’

Fashion has long revelled in its contradictions and, if black dominated several of the runways, a more colourful countercurrent ran alongside. There was the bold yellow floor at Loewe (and equally pop-hued collection); Matthieu Blazy’s lustrous metallic palette at a triumphant Chanel; or the bold flashes of electric blue hosiery at Jil Sander, where Simone Bellotti, in his sophomore collection, sought creative liberation and ‘abandon’. Bolder still, though, were the flashes of brightly hued faux fur and shearling – or indeed fabrics which mimicked their shaggy textures – which appeared throughout the season, lending a sense of play that my colleague Jason Hughes, Wallpaper* fashion & creative director, affectionately described as a ‘Muppets mood’.

So there were Louise Trotter’s bold, shaggy silhouettes at Bottega Veneta, constructed from various fabric innovations from pulled threads of silk (they evoked fur, or shearling), or high-pile velvet manipulated to look like astrakhan; Junya Watanabe’s collaged silhouettes, where alongside crunched-up Mylar blankets, curtains and licence plates were bold panels of soft toy-like faux fur; or Loewe, where degradé shearling was trimmed ‘in the same manner as poodle grooming’. These ‘fun furs’ made a case for dressing outside of your comfort zone, or simply giving your outfit – even if it is all-black – a single colourful (and fluffy) flourish.

Slip on

In our March 2026 Style Issue, we identified the slip dress as one of the S/S 2026 season’s defining garments, particularly those that recall 1990s minimalism. For A/W 2026, the garment returned to the fore, albeit reimagined in an unconventional manner. Take Loewe, for example, where nighties – like those you might find in a Marks & Spencer four-pack, complete with the tiny bow on the chest – were recreated in rubber, cleverly 3D-printed in various primary hues (for men, a version came as a top with long sleeves). The result was something playful and a little surreal – a reflection of the collection itself, which was defined by a feeling of experimentation. ‘For us, the act of making is, at its core, an expression of joy – an intellectual, process-driven pursuit charged with playfulness,’ said Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the American designers behind the collection.

A similar, if more overtly sensual, approach came at Saint Laurent, where Anthony Vaccarello constructed a series of garments from sheer lace coated in silicone (he talked about the technique giving ‘structure’ to the traditionally delicate material, with ‘fragility becoming force’). Meanwhile, at Miu Miu, Miuccia Prada also explored the juxtaposition of delicacy and toughness, something the deep-thinking designer said was inspired by the contrast between the ‘smallness of the body... and the vastness of the [world] which surrounds us’. The latter came in trapper hats, shearling-lined parkas and hefty, bubble-soled shoes; the former in a series of sheer organza slip dresses adorned with sequins, crystal embroidery and scalloped trimmings.

New romantic

Jonathan Anderson’s sophomore ready-to-wear collection took place in Paris’ Jardin des Tuileries, where a runway had been constructed around one of the circular fountains, its surface dotted with Monet-esque water lilies (or, at least, very real-looking reproductions). In the bright spring sunshine, it made for an idyllic scene, one backdropping a collection of romance and lightness, from Belle Époque ruffles and feather-trimmed outerwear to floral appliqué and bow adornment (completing the look were polka-dot pumps or shoes decorated with lily pads). ‘Dior has this giant past, and I had to start there,’ he said of the free-spirited mood. ’Now I feel free to release it from that.’

Throughout the season, designers mined this feeling of contemporary romance, defined by levity and play. At Matthieu Blazy’s own sophomore ready-to-wear collection for Chanel, looks were richly textured and adorned – from crystal flowers to golden butterflies, or the multitude of illusory tweeds and trompe l’oeil fabrics – though never felt heavy. Meanwhile, ruffles and lace became defining motifs, appearing everywhere from Alaïa (dropped-waist peplum dresses with layers of raw-edge ruffles) and Bottega Veneta (fronds of ruched fabric reminiscent of shearling that emerged from beneath tailored fabrics) to Simone Rocha, where sheer lace and organza were delicately embellished with crystals. One inspiration for her A/W 2026 collection was a fairytale from her native Ireland – Oisín and Niamh's journey to Tír na nÓg, the Celtic land of eternal youth and beauty.

Power move

The Saint Laurent show began with eight dark-coloured suits in a row: some double-breasted, others single, each with a sloped shoulder and narrowed – though not constricted – waistline. Anthony Vaccarello said it was about proposing a new power suit, one influenced by ‘severity of the 1970s and 1980s’ but with new fluidity and ease. ‘[They are not about] a clichéd projection of power,’ he said via the collection notes. ‘[But] a quiet and fluid conversation between the parameters of femininity and masculinity.’ Indeed, the show ended with his riff on Le Smoking, Yves Saint Laurent’s tuxedo cut for a woman’s body and one of his defining creations (it celebrates its 60th anniversary this year). Worn by model Loli Bahia, it was cut with the same fluid line as the opening looks – ‘the attitude more insouciant shrug than swagger’.

It was a season of great tailoring across the board, particularly in Paris. At Givenchy, Sarah Burton said reuniting with her tailoring team from Alexander McQueen had brought new sharpness to her suiting this season – there were some great blazers with cut-in lapels and gently sculpted waistlines – while the highlights of Copping’s Lanvin came in jackets with plisséd panels on the back, which gave a dramatic (though not restrictive) hourglass silhouette. If largely tailoring this season followed these contours (wide-shouldered; narrow-waist; fluid in construction), an opposition came in a more streamlined proposition from the likes of Fendi, where narrow suiting had a uniform feel, or Hermès, where contouring equstrian-inspired blazers recalled those worn for dressage competitions.

And so concludes another Milan Fashion Week, a season marked by its debuts: across the week, Maria Grazia Chiuri presented her opening vision for Fendi as the house’s first sole creative director, young Belgian designer Meryll Rogge made an expressive debut at Marni, and Demna hosted his first runway show for Gucci – a virile mediation on sex and the body which had everybody in fashion talking. Meanwhile at Giorgio Armani, Silvana Armani – the niece of the late eponymous designer – made her ready-to-wear debut at the house. Though true to Mr Armani’s well-established codes, she said this was ‘a new perspective on the Armani style’ – light, fluid and purposely ‘imperfect’.

Alongside, there were standout shows from Prada – in a feat of quick changes and expert layering, 15 models wore 60 looks without pause – and Bottega Veneta, where Louise Trotter conjured Maria Callas and Pier Paolo Pasolini in a riot of colour and texture. While at Jil Sander, Simone Bellotti found new freedom in his sophomore runway show after the rigour and restraint of his debut.

Here, reported by Wallpaper* fashion & beauty features director Jack Moss and contributing writer India Jarvis, the 14 standout shows which defined the week.

Fendi

‘Less I, More Us,’ was the mantra Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri chose for her debut as sole creative director for Fendi, emblazoning it across the runway which stretched the length of the house’s Milanese HQ on Via Solari. Chiuri is fond of such mission statements: for her debut collection as the first female creative director of Dior in 2016, she printed the title of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s book-length essay ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ across a T-shirt. Over the nine years which followed, she would champion numerous women artists and collaborators.

Her mantra at Fendi is perhaps a feminist one too, despite the fact that Chiuri also showed menswear on the runway (and will be equally in charge of the house’s mens- and womenswear lines). It was, in part, a reference to the collective force of the formidable Fendi sisters: Alda, Carla, Paola, Franca and Anna Fendi, who took over from their parents, house founders Edoardo and Adele Fendi, in 1946. Speaking before the show, she said that people speak too often of Karl Lagerfeld’s influence – the designer was creative director of the house for 54 years – and not enough of the sisters, who employed him and would work alongside him until the company was sold to LVMH in 1999. ‘I would like people to remember all that they created at Fendi,’ she asserted.

Chiuri, who began her career at Fendi in 1989, working with the sisters until her own departure in 1999, said she credits her working ethic to them: ‘They were my mentors. They gave me my career. And I felt part of their teamwork.’ In the show, the idea of collaboration came through projects with women artists SAGG Napoli (colourful football-like scarves were created alongside the Naples-born artist) and the estate of Mirella Bentivoglio, whose slogan-like works appeared across garments. But the idea of a collective ‘us’ stretched to dissolving the divide between mens- and womenswear, too, the designer said: ‘Feminine and masculine cease to be categories of opposition and become adjectives used to describe shared qualities,’ envisioning not two separate collections but ‘one wardrobe’.

As such, the A/W 2026 outing – which eschewed theatrics in favour of a more pragmatic approach – moved between sleek, elongated tailoring and flourishes of romance, from layers of sheer tulle and lace (some evocative of her work at Dior). Meanwhile fur – the founding material of the house – came back to the fore, with Chiuri introducing the ‘Echo of Love’ project whereby clients can have their old furs transformed in an act of circularity. Across vivid two-tone chubby fur coats and patchworked fur handbags, all the materials had been sourced from leftovers in the house’s fur department – another act of practicality over spectacle. ‘Fashion is not entertainment. Fashion is a job. I am that kind of designer,’ she said. Jack Moss

READ: ‘Less I, more us’: Maria Grazia Chiuri lays out her vision for Fendi in Milan

Jil Sander

After a brilliant debut last season, Simone Bellotti continued to cleverly hone his vision for Jil Sander with a sophomore collection which he said was inspired by the idea of ‘home’. Presented in the house’s stark Milanese HQ – this season, warmth was added by the addition of a rust-coloured carpet which had been installed the length of the upper floor – the former Bally designer said he was thinking about home as an ‘an emotional space where one lives, feels safe and belongs to’, leading to a collection which diverted from restraint and rigour of last season towards something freer, more eclectic. Indeed, the designer said this was a collection about ‘flow, flou [and] movement’, with Bellotti imagining garments imbued with a life of their own through an intriguing use of pattern cutting – whether raised shoulder lines, curving seams, folded waistlines, or intentionally puckered tailoring (the slashes through garments also returned from his debut). Meanwhile evocative moments of colour and pattern added visual richness: flashes of electric blue and leopard print met fabrics evocative of interiors – a nod, Bellotti elucidated, to his father’s career as an upholsterer. ‘The question this season is whether abandon can convey restraint,’ he said of this newly liberated approach. Jack Moss

MM6 Maison Margiela

One of life’s great pleasures is watching other people, and what better place to sit and do it than a train terminal? It’s a pleasure that MM6 Maison Margiela tapped into for its A/W 2026 show – one designed around the comings and goings of passengers in an ‘archetypal train station’, in this case Milano Centrale. An archetype is a recurrent, even constant, principle, whereas a station is innately transient – how do the two meet? At MM6 it was with ‘a veritable spectrum of individuality’, and ‘sartorial actions rooted in the genuine appreciation for garments as they are, looking for ways to see them anew, which is where the fun lingers.’

What does that look like? It looks like pea coats with bunched and scrunched hems, loosely tacked to reveal quilted or flannel linings. Clashing stripes with check – something you might serendipitously pair when hurrying to get dressed. Backless khaki trench coats and skirts. And lots of tucking: hair tucked into jumpers, jumpers tucked into jeans, jeans tucked into high-gloss Wellington-style boots.

There was a strong equine theme too – afterall, 2026 is the year of the firehorse, a symbol of forward movement and independence that is characteristically MM6 – from horse motifs printed on oversized T-shirts and teddy fleeces, to full cotton flounced skirts with a decidedly American frontier feel. A train station welcomes all kinds of people going all kinds of places, after all. India Jarvis

Prada

This season, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons played a clever runway trick: instead of the usual 40-or-so models cast in a given season, the pair chose just 15 to walk the A/W 2026 show. In an impressive act of timing, they wore 60 looks in total, walking the runway four times each in quick succession, achieved through removing a layer of clothing during each quick change. When you realised the conceit (for me, I wondered if Bella Hadid had a doppelganger or secret twin after what seemed like an impossibly quick reappearance on the runway), it made for one of the most thrilling Prada shows of recent times – there was a near-breathless energy to the spectacle. (Indeed, chatting to one of the models backstage, she said she had never sweated so much, or walked so far, in a runway show during her career.)

But this was no gimmick: post-show, the co-creative directors said the collection was a reflection of the way that women wear clothing on a given day – the removal of a coat to reveal a cocktail dress, the addition of a scarf. ‘It’s about life, and how you dress each day with the clothes you have,’ said Simons. ‘About real, human people.’ The garments themselves were infused with Prada-isms: purposeful marks of wear (some appeared stained or creased; others saw layers of fabric torn away to reveal another beneath) met an insouciant, bourgeois-inflected glamour in embroidered stockings, feathered and beaded footwear and a use of satin and organza. A feeling of utility, meanwhile, came in uniform-style tailoring and riffs on classic outerwear styles, from the parka jacket to the raincoat. ‘As a woman, your life is layered – each day demands not only a shifting of clothes, but a richness of identities within yourself,’ said Mrs Prada. ‘You make choices, you decide who you want to be.’ Jack Moss

Max Mara

Is a growing interest in the history and aesthetics of the Middle Ages a reaction to the hyper-digitised, blue-lit world of today? An idealised fantasy of a pre-capitalist society? Or perhaps a byproduct of the popularity of the romantasy genre? Whatever the answer, for Max Mara’s Ian Griffiths​, whose unlikely seasonal muse was the 11th-century diplomat and military commander Matilde di Canossa, ‘there is something so strikingly of the now about so-called Dark Age design’.

Griffiths’ interpretation of pre-enlightenment era clothing saw tunics in luxurious, butter-soft suede, ankle-skimming cashmere coats and hooded garments reminiscent of the coif shapes worn by Di Canossa and her contemporaries. Standout pieces included a caramel-coloured bias-cut silk gown with a mohair, funnel-necked yoke; a suede muff worn belted around the waist; and a taupe wool playsuit accessorised with the gathered suede, elbow-length opera gloves that were seen throughout the show. Griffiths has been with the house since graduating from London’s RCA in 1987, and over the four decades which have followed, there is nobody who knows the Max Mara woman better than he. The A/W 2026 collection offered new-yet-medieval twists on the tried and tested house codes, which keep this woman returning to the brand, season after season. India Jarvis

Emporio Armani

Following the death of its eponymous founder in the autumn of 2025, Emporio Armani took an understandable hiatus from showing at menswear week in January, but returned for A/W 2026 with a combined men’s and women’s runway outing. ‘Maestro’, as the collection was titled, was not only a narrative device, but an ode to Mr Armani himself – the eminent composer, conductor, and virtuoso of fashion symphonies for almost 50 years.

The imaginative backdrop for the season was, according to show notes, a music school, and the maestro – and maestra, for this is a co-ed conservatoire – who stepped out in Leo Dell’Orco and Silvana Armani’s first jointly developed collection wore loosely tailored overcoats and baggy denim, and student-y accessories including baker boy caps, backpacks, and ties just visible beneath oversized striped knits. Leg warmers styled over patent leather pumps evoked the chill of a rehearsal auditorium, whereas the show’s second act saw rather more performance-ready pieces in the form of draped velvet, wide-lapelled tuxedo jackets, and starched white collars (a recurring motif in Milan this season: most notably in Maria Grazia Chiuri’s riff on Claudine à l'école at Fendi).

For the finale – the crescendo, if you like – the models turned out in Lydia Tár-esque monochrome. Tight leggings or flowing slacks on the bottom, white dress shirts on top, each with a different button, brooch, pin, collar, or embroidered flourish. ‘A simple and rigorous statement – now more than ever rebellious – of modernity and self-awareness,’ that could only be Armani. India Jarvis

Marni

The Belgian designer Meryll Rogge chose to collaborate with Formafantasma on the runway set for her debut show as creative director of Marni. Transforming the house’s Milanese headquarters with wood-effect panelling and fabric-covered benches – recalling a banal office space, or entranceway to a Milanese apartment block – the space was punctuated with mirrored panels which had been painted with ‘fragments drawn from quotidian life’, from office chairs to cigarette lighters. ‘The structure of the set suggests a bourgeois interior wooden frame, hints of domestic architecture – but fragmented, slightly taken apart. It feels familiar yet unsettled, as if a room has been carefully disassembled and reassembled in another order,’ Formafantasma’s Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin told Wallpaper*.

It linked with Rogge’s vision for her tenure at the Italian house: to create something which felt both familiar and contemporary, evoking Marni’s founding principles with her own distinctive twists. ‘I have a very personal connection to Marni,’ she said. ‘It’s a brand that shaped my design sensibility during my formative years, and through the show I wanted to acknowledge that sense of familiarity.’ It made for an astute opening outing: there was the irreverent spirit of founder Consuelo Castiglioni in its eclectic combinations, not only in its amalgam of nostalgic prints, swinging paillettes and boldly graphic jewellery, but also in the way a sweater might be worn with a cocktail dress, or a colourful sporty parka over a suit and tie. Rogge’s own twist on the Marni protagonist was a newfound toughness, figured in some great leather trousers and skirts, some with Western-inspired detailing. In their slung-on sensuality – imbued with a certain 1980s nostalgia – they might well fill a gap for those who are already missing Dario Vitale’s Versace. Jack Moss

READ: Formafantasma created the ‘familiar yet unsettled’ show set for Meryll Rogge’s Marni debut

Sportmax

If there are a few thematic ideas that inevitably crop up and play out in different ways by different brands in any one season, then for A/W 2026 one such example could be travel. At Loro Piana and MM6 Maison Margiela the vehicle of choice was a train; at Sportmax, the journey seemed to be taken by air. ‘Dynamism’ was the word they used, but ‘aerodynamism’ may be just as apt – as the brand itself puts it: ‘There is no clutter weighing the Sportmax woman down.’

Dresses were close-fitting and body-skimming but with movement in the draping, worn with long wraps which fell backwards over the shoulder like wings. Some of the weightier outerwear nodded to aviator-style jackets with their gargantuan lapels and collars, and contrasting textures and fabrics. Clutches were spheroid, almost discus-shaped; one could imagine them flying through the air with ease. Flashes of skin were visible beneath a kind of jumbo mesh effect leather, used for tops which were worn as a base layer beneath more autumn-winter suitable coats and gilets. Speed and movement were the defining characteristics of the collection – even the show itself was a particularly fast-paced affair – as the show notes said, the Sportmax woman has ‘places to go’. India Jarvis

Gucci

Prior to his debut runway show for Gucci, the mononymous Georgian designer Demna said he had been searching for the ‘Gucciness of Gucci’, a trip which took him to the Tuscan city of Florence, where the house was founded as a leather goods company in 1921. There, he visited factories and the archive, though it was stood in front of Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus at the Uffizi Gallery – just a few hundred metres from the Palazzo Gucci on Piazza della Signoria – that Demna had his lightbulb moment. ‘Standing in front of it, I felt overwhelmed,’ he wrote in a letter distributed before the show. ‘The beauty in it was unconditional; it was absolute. It made me realise how deeply the Italian Renaissance shaped everything I understand about art, about proportion, about desire, and about beauty. When I left the museum and stepped into Piazza della Signoria, the first thing I saw was Palazzo Gucci. In that moment, I understood the place Gucci holds within Italian culture.’

It was part of the reason why he staged the A/W 2026 collection amid an imagined museum constructed in Milan’s Palazzo delle Scintille, clad in marble and populated with plaster recreations of ancient sculptures (the vast statues had been 3D-scanned and crafted by Tuscan artisans to appear as if hewn from marble). This was a veneration of Gucci as an expression of Italian style and insouciance: after the show, he said this opening act was simply about capturing a feeling, rather than anything more intellectually overwrought. ‘I hope I made you feel Gucci today,’ he said, expressing a desire for Gucci to become an ‘adjective’. ‘That was my main purpose with this show.’

The essence of ‘Gucci-ness’ that Demna landed on was one of unbridled sensuality, a morning-after-the-night before glamour which borrowed from Tom Ford’s transformative tenure at the house in the 1990s (all the way down to a recreation of his 1997 double-G G-string, which here appeared as an in-built thong in a gown worn by Kate Moss to close the show). Other garments had been constructed without seams or with curved hemlines in order to emphasise the relationship between body and garment, while muscled male models burst out of skin-tight T-shirts and jeans. Slung on jackets, lean tailoring, and a final flurry of shimmering evening gowns completed the look. ‘[I think] it’s because of my relationship with myself, to my own body, to the way I want to see myself,’ he said. ‘I want to feel like that. I want to feel sexy.’ Jack Moss

Tod’s

It takes deft craftsmanship to imbue leather with real lightness – after all, leather is better known as a material of protection and toughness. But Tod’s’ A/W 2026 ready-to-wear was characterised by a levity of touch that could only be the handiwork of a house that makes an art out of leather (and a designer who’s got pedigree when it comes to this particular material).

In Matteo Tamburini’s latest, leather may have been the protagonist, but the plot itself was all about artisanal excellence – a fact reinforced by the real craftspeople stitching, folding, or carving objects in the entryway to the venue at Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea – cherry-picked by the brand for their impressive skill. Amongst these were brothers Vincenzo and Manuel Aucella, coral artisans and cameo carvers who represent the fourth generation of a family tradition that began in 1892 (that’s around 30 years before Filippo Della Valle started the shoe-making business that would later become Tod’s).

As for the clothes themselves, feather-light asymmetrical leather dresses fluttered with all the delicacy of a silk handkerchief, blanket-style outerwear enveloped luxuriously about the shoulders, and saddlery techniques and hand-finishing synthesised tradition and modernity. Overall, the effect was a masterclass in Italian craft and sprezzatura. India Jarvis

Ferragamo

The 1920s were a formative decade for Salvatore Ferragamo: in 1927, he founded his eponymous footwear company in Florence after returning from Los Angeles, where he worked as a shoemaker for the burgeoning film industry in Hollywood. The British designer Maximilian Davis has found fertile creative ground in the decade, with recent collections channelling what he sees as the ‘liberated elegance’ of the era – one in which conventions of dress were interrupted and marginalised groups found new freedoms (last season, Davis evoked the Harlem Renaissance, the proliferation of Black art, culture and intellectual output from the New York neighbourhood in the 1920s).

This season, in one of the curving Giovanni Muzio-designed upper galleries of the Triennale di Milano museum – dimly lit and sheathed with floor-to-ceiling curtains – he evoked the 1920s speakeasy, ‘a locus of liberation; a space where conventions of class and identity are disrupted’. As such, a louche, after-dark mood infused the collection – negligées, molten-gold dresses and vampish stilettos all featured – while riffs on maritime attire were a nod to those who frequented such drinking spots. Though the evocation of the sailor also nodded to the notion of travel which informs the Ferragamo story – the transformative experience of moving away from your home in search of something new.

‘That’s something that both Salvatore and my own family experienced – he left his home in Italy for America before returning home, and my family moved from Trinidad and Jamaica to Manchester,’ said Davis. ‘They all crossed the water to discover new beginnings.’ Jack Moss

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana’s A/W 2026 collection was an assertion of brand identity, said designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, all the way down to a front-row cameo from Madonna – perhaps the most well-known house muse and the current face of The One fragrance. The musical powerhouse watched on from the front row as the pair performed their own greatest hits: an outing near-entirely in their signature vampish black, replete with house hallmarks – lingerie-inspired silhouettes, hourglass LBDs, and, of course, plenty of lace. Though perhaps most desirable this season was the tailoring: if best known for their body-contouring dresses, the pair have always possessed a strong sartorial prowess, here encapsulated in some brilliant tuxedos which nipped at the waist and flared across the shoulder, inspired by archival silhouettes from the 1990s (they would make a great Oscars look for those wishing to eschew the traditional princess gown). Post show, Domenico and Stefano were keen to make clear that drilling into the archive was not about ‘nostalgia’ but ‘presence’, ‘a language built on roots that are still alive – Sicily as emotion, black as strength, lace as intimacy, tailoring as authority,’ they said. Jack Moss

Bottega Veneta

The particular joy of good fashion is that it’s a work of art you can actually touch – and with Louise Trotter’s sophomore collection for Bottega Veneta, touch is exactly what you want to do. The shaggy, curvaceous shapes she creates out of fibreglass need to be felt to be believed. Great piles of shearling cry out to be fondled. Even less immediately showy pieces, like a tailored grey coat with exaggeratedly round shoulders and cinched waist which was made from a thick, almost foamy looking fabric, was just begging to be squished between the fingers.

It’s the mark of a talented designer that to describe their work as ‘wearable’ doesn’t just mean ‘commercial’, or, worse ‘boring’. The Sunderland-born designer, whose previous creative director roles were at Lacoste, Joseph, and Carven, makes clothes that are infinitely wearable, but here the word might mean things that feel really wonderful to actually wear. On the practical side: pieces have pockets, shoes are flat, and bags are roomy. The more flamboyant garments are countered by easy tank tops and shirts. But more than that, there is a sensuality and tactility that sets Trotter’s work apart. Is this the byproduct of being one of the few women making womenswear at the head of a luxury house? Whatever the case, there’s no doubt that she is one of the most credible designers working today.

The A/W 2026 collection carried what Trotter described as a ‘suggestion’ of Maria Callas and Pier Paolo Pasolini – two of 20th-century Italy’s most erudite and subversive exports, and unlikely friends. Both figures have been brought back to the forefront of the cultural conversation in recent years – operatic prima donna Callas was played by Angelina Jolie in a 2024 biopic, and before that her life and lonely, premature death was dramatised on stage in an opera project conceived by Marina Abramović and co-starring Willem Dafoe. Dafoe, in turn, has played Pasolini, the poet and filmmaker whose brutal murder, presumably at the hands of far-right thugs, was commemorated on its 50th anniversary in the autumn of 2025 through a series of cultural programming and new publications. If these sound like unlikely characters to influence a ready-to-wear collection, consider that Callas and Pasolini had more in common than just tragic ends: formidable artistic talent, potent sexuality, and confident personal style amongst them. For Trotter’s debut last year she described her use of intrecciato as a conceptual device as well as a literal braiding technique – by citing these two artists she is articulating a continuation of that weaving principle, but also making a bold declaration of what Bottega Veneta, under her stewardship, is going to be. India Jarvis

Giorgio Armani

The Armani Privé show in Paris marked the debut collection from Silvana Armani, the late Giorgio Armani’s niece, who worked closely with the designer in his lifetime and was a fitting successor to uphold his legacy. On Sunday in Milan, she made her ready-to-wear debut at Armani, selecting the house’s headquarters on Brera’s Via Borgonuovo to show the A/W 2026 collection (the address was also the site of Mr Armani’s personal Milan home). At the time of the Privé show, we wrote that she had presented a collection ‘not of divergence but of continuance’, and the same could be said of this collection – it felt recognisably Armani in its louche, unstructured tailoring and interplay between Eastern and Western tropes of dress – though there was a greater feeling of softness and ease. Indeed, Silvana Armani said she was looking for lightness in both construction and spirit: jackets were assembled without padding, wrapped silhouettes appeared thrown on, and the slouchier, pleated trousers – held in place with wide belts – felt contemporary in proportion. She called it ‘a new perspective on the Armani style,’ one which she said was informed by being a woman, designing for women. ‘It is fluid, enveloping, perfectly imperfect.’ Jack Moss

In March 2025, it was announced that the mononymous Georgian designer Demna – who rose to prominence with his 2014-founded label Vetements – was to step away from his decade-long tenure as creative director of Balenciaga. His next move? Heading up Italian powerhouse Gucci: ‘a brand that has defined and redefined what luxury means and what luxury dares to become’, as he wrote in a letter published to Instagram last night (26 February 2026) on the eve of his first runway show for the house.

In that letter, he explained that he has spent the last year or so as a scholar of the brand, seeking out what he calls the ‘Gucciness of Gucci’. It was a journey that led him to the ancient Tuscan city of Florence, where Gucci was founded 105 years ago by Guccio Gucci (born in Florence, he conceived the leather goods brand after a stint at London’s Savoy Hotel as a bellboy, identifying a need within the burgeoning travelling classes for sturdy luggage). There, Demna visited Gucci’s factories and archive, but also the Uffizi galleries, which are just a few hundred metres from the Palazzo Gucci on Piazza della Signoria (the latter, housed in the 14th-century Palazzo della Mercanzia, is home to a museum that catalogues the house’s century-long history).

It was within the Uffizi that he found himself in front of an artwork he had long been aware of (it is one of the most reproduced images in Western art) but not seen in real life: Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, a defining work of the Renaissance. ‘Standing in front of it, I felt overwhelmed,’ he wrote. ‘The beauty in it was unconditional; it was absolute. It made me realise how deeply the Italian Renaissance shaped everything I understand about art, about proportion, about desire, and about beauty.

‘When I left the museum and stepped into Piazza della Signoria, the first thing I saw was Palazzo Gucci,’ he continued. ‘In that moment, I understood the place Gucci holds within Italian culture.’

The experience of entering a museum was the inspiration behind the runway set for the A/W 2026 runway show, held at Milan's Palazzo delle Scintille today (27 February), a hall designed for sporting events by Paolo Vietti-Violi in 1923 (it would later host performances from La Scala when the theatre was damaged in the Second World War). Upon entering the show space and ascending a staircase, guests were greeted with a vast hall clad in travertine Stoneleaf. Made from ultra-fine sheets of Italian marble bonded onto sheets of fibreglass and transparent resin, the innovative material – which replaces the need for heavy blocks of stone – came to market when Stoneleaf was founded in 2013.

Populating this imagined museum were a series of sculptures replicating those found in the Uffizi museum and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (subjects included Aphrodite and Artemis, and spanned Roman and Hellenistic eras). Each one was 3D-scanned before being recreated by Tuscan artisans in plaster, which was then treated to look like marble.

The space, according to Demna, was designed to represent Gucci’s own importance in Italy’s cultural canon. ‘My vision of Gucci is the coexistence of heritage and fashion,’ he said. ‘Here, they are not opposites, they are lovers. This first Gucci show introduces a universe of people, archetypes, consumers and dress codes that will shape my design language going forward. It is a foundation that begins my story at Gucci.’

Follow our live coverage of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2026.

Last season, Paris was the epicentre of the debut; this time, it is the turn of Milan, which will see three major firsts over the course of the city’s fashion week, which begins today (25 February 2026). At Fendi, Maria Grazia Chiuri will make her debut as creative director of Fendi after departing Dior last March (there, she was the first woman to head up the Parisian house). The appointment marks a homecoming of sorts: the Italian designer began her career at Fendi, working in the accessories department for a decade after joining in 1989, before heading to Valentino. She takes over from Silvia Venturini Fendi, who oversaw the house’s mens- and womenswear collections after the exit of Kim Jones in October 2024.

Meanwhile at Gucci, former Balenciaga designer Demna will hold his first runway show for the Italian house, following a star-studded short film shown last season as an introduction to his tenure. Taking place on Friday, expect the same sort of spectacle which defined his time at Balenciaga, where runway shows took place in whirling snow globes, mud-filled pits, or a surreal reimagining of the European Parliament. Finally, at Marni, Belgian designer Meryll Rogge will take over from Francesco Risso, showing on Thursday.

Elsewhere, expect the usual roster of Italian megabrands, from Giorgio Armani and Max Mara to Bottega Veneta and Prada, who will all show over the course of the week. Here, the Wallpaper* editors on the ground will be offering a real-time look at the highlights of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2026 – from behind-the-scenes glimpses to access to the shows, presentations and parties. Stay tuned.

At Jil Sander, Simone Bellotti channels the idea of ‘home’

Opening Milan Fashion Week this morning, Simone Bellotti returned to Jil Sander’s Milanese headquarters to show his sophomore collection for the brand (his debut last season saw the former Bally creative director return to the Gabellini Sheppard-designed space). For A/W 2026, the sparse white-walled space had been transformed by a rust-coloured carpet – a nod to the collection’s thematic starting point, the idea of ‘home’ (‘welcome home, where it all begins,’ started the accompanying notes).

Channelling the idea of ‘an emotional space where one lives, feels safe and belongs to’, and soundtracked by a Chiara Barzini poem on home read by Kim Gordon, it led to a highly desirable collection which moved away from the severe rigour and restraint of last season with clothing that was about ‘flow, flou [and] movement’. This was largely achieved through intriguing pattern-cutting, whereby curved seams disrupted and puckered tailoring and outerwear, while leather skirts were sliced down their front or folded at the waistline.

Elsewhere, flashes of colour and pattern (from electric blue to leopard print) met fabrics evocative of interiors, inspired by Bellotti’s father’s career as an upholsterer. The designer said he wanted the clothing to feel like it had an ‘agency of its own’: ‘the question this season is whether abandon can convey restraint’. Jack Moss

Moncler Grenoble presents The Beyond Performance Exhibit

While the style set was still at London Fashion Week, Milan was at the tail end of its spell hosting this year’s Olympic Winter Games – at Moncler Grenoble the two worlds collide in spectacular fashion. Weeks on from unveiling its A/W 2026 collection in Aspen, Colorado, Moncler Grenoble have once again taken the mountain to Milan – transforming a typical Milanese courtyard at the Portrait Milano Hotel into a tranquil alpine trail for its Beyond Performance Exhibit. Before becoming the last word in designer collaborations, the brand started life crafting technical performance-wear for life and work on the slopes, a legacy the Grenoble collection continues today. The display features a selection of ski suits and accessories, as well as numerous iterations of their signature, perennially useful, puffer jackets. India Jarvis

First look at Maria Grazia Chiuri’s debut for Fendi

‘Less I, more us’ was the motto behind Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first collection for Fendi, presented at the house’s recently renovated Milanese headquarters on Via Solari this afternoon.

Showing menswear and womenswear together on the runway – ‘feminine and masculine cease to be categories of opposition’ – Chiuri said she sought a return to ‘emotion and desire’, collaborating with women artists like SAGG Napoli and the estate of Mirella Bentivoglio on the collection. Their work appeared as motifs across the A/W 2026 outing, which melded sinuous tailoring with more romantic flourishes, as well as patchworked shearling.

The collection marks something of a homecoming for Chiuri, who began her career at Fendi in 1989, working for a decade in the house’s accessories department. And, as Roman herself, the new role unites Chiuri – who was formerly at Dior – with her home city, where Fendi was founded in 1925. Jack Moss

50,000 pieces of Diesel history backdrop the brand’s A/W 2026 show

In case you missed it – Diesel’s A/W 2026 runway set (shown yesterday, 24 February 2026) consisted of around 50,000 pieces of memorabilia from the brand archive, a monumental time capsule dedicated to almost 50 years of partying.

Displayed under bleached lighting, the installation was awash with high-voltage colour, with objects ranging from a fringed parasol and inflatable beach donut, to a coffee machine, motorbike, and lava lamp. Creative director Glenn Martens described the season’s mood as ‘waking up in a place, with no idea what happened last night,’ (think crinkled denim and ripped hems), but with surroundings this riotous, you’d think you were still dreaming. India Jarvis

No. 21 stages a show in reverse

Alessandro Dell’Acqua played with the traditional runway format earlier this evening at No. 21 by staging his A/W 2026 show in reverse: starting with models emerging en masse for the ‘finale’ (complete with the usual Pat Benatar Love is a Battlefield soundtrack he has traditionally used to close out his shows), they then returned to the runway for their individual walks. While the move prompted some speculation as to whether this was a clue to Dell’Acqua’s future at the Italian brand (was this switched-up format his metaphor for a swansong?), the collection itself was proof that Dell’Acqua remains one of Milan’s best – and oftentimes overlooked – designers. This season, a continuing exploration of femininity led him to the artist Sophie Calle, and a 1981 book of photographs she took of women’s clothing and luggage while pretending to be a chambermaid in Venice; as such, the collection moved between a déshabillé glamour (negligées layered with transparent tulle; slung-on faux furs; cardigans that were pulled away to reveal underwear beneath) and something more quotidian, like the simple black sweaters and tailoring which opened (or closed?) the show. Jack Moss

‘Less I, more us’: Maria Grazia Chiuri lays out her vision for Fendi in Milan

It might have been Maria Grazia Chiuri’s moment – this was, after all, her debut collection for Fendi, one of fashion’s major houses – but the Italian designer was adamant that this opening act was ‘less I, more us’.

So adamant, the message was stamped in alternating Italian and English along the runway, which stretched the length of Fendi’s vast Milanese headquarters on Via Solari yesterday (the address, which also played host to runway shows by Chiuri’s forebears Silvia Venturini Fendi, Kim Jones and Karl Lagerfeld, has been recently renovated to expand its footprint).

An echo of her statement-marking debut as creative director at Dior in 2016, in which T-shirts were printed with ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ (the title of the 2014 book-length essay by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), the fresh mantra proved her knack for honing a succinct mission statement.

Continue reading our review of the show here.

Max Mara channels ‘neo-medievalism’ for A/W 2026

‘Neo-medievalism’ was the term coined by Ian Griffiths to describe his A/W 2026 collection, shown in Milan’s Palazzo del Ghiaccio this morning. One inspiration point was Matilde di Canossa – known as Matilda of Tuscany – a medieval aristocrat who in the 11th century would become one of the most important governing figures of the age (‘a shrewd diplomat, accomplished military commander and patron of the arts,’ described Griffiths). As such, she added to the canon of notable – if often overlooked – women that have inspired Griffiths’ collections over his four decades at the house, here inspiring contemporary riffs on medieval attire, from tabard-cut dresses and hoods to flat suede Robin Hood boots. Indeed, suede was a throughline of the tactile collection – alongside fluffy mohair, cashmere and double-faces – which was rendered in earthy shades of brand and camel. The result, says Griffiths, was a collection of ‘fortitude, resilience and timeless style’. Jack Moss

Prada’s A/W 2026 collection was an exercise in extreme layering

15 models, 60 looks: Prada’s A/W 2026 show this afternoon was an exercise in extreme layering, as each model peeled off garments to reveal alternative looks beneath.

‘As a woman, your life is layered – each day demands not only a shifting of clothes, but a richness of identities within yourself,’ said Miuccia Prada, co-creative director with Raf Simons. ‘You make choices, you decide who you want to be.’

‘Instead of showing 60 looks on 60 women, this season we wanted to show 15 looks on 15 women,’ added Simons. ‘Each look appears four times, yet proposed in a different way. We liked the idea of a small group of women, the notion of seeing each woman four times within a single show, because you engage more, both with her as a person, and with the look. And like real life, her outfit transforms at different moments in her day.’ JM

Emporio Armani’s A/W 2026 protagonist was a musical ‘maestro’

After skipping Milan Fashion Week Men’s, Emporio Armani made its return with a co-ed outing for A/W 2026. Led by Leo Dell’Orco and Silvana Armani – the pair, who worked closely with Giorgio Armani in his lifetime, took over in the wake of his death last September – imagined the protagonist for the season at a traditional music school (as such, the collection was titled ‘Maestro’, an echo of Mr Armani’s nickname during his lifetime). In the clothing, this emerged in a clash between what the pair called a ‘British formality’ – namely tailcoat and shirts, as well as a baker boy cap which became a recurring motif – and an ‘Italian sensibility’ which figured in typically louche silhouettes evocative of the ‘Armani classics’ (generously cut tailoring, roomy trench coats and the like). The closing looks captured this juxtaposition: a series of formal white shirts for men and women, undone as if travelling home from an evening out. JM

At Tod’s, a lightness of touch

There is a satisfying lightness of touch to Matteo Tamburini’s Tod’s, despite him working primarily in leather. This season’s foulard dresses and skirts were one such example: constructed from patchworked leather, they hung lightly on models’ bodies, aping the drape of cotton or silk. Indeed, Tamburini said that the A/W 2026 collection has begun with ‘meticulous’ fabric research, not only leather (which the designer said was the protagonist, and a signature material of the house), but also cashmere, shearling and wool, the latter making up outerwear which cocooned the body like a thrown-on blanket. Craft was also centre stage in the mise-en-scène: at the show’s entranceway, a line-up of artisans selected by the house worked away on various projects – from the intricate folding of a fan to the carving of coral. JM

Demna’s first runway set for Gucci is an imagined museum

The experience of entering a museum was the inspiration behind the runway set for the A/W 2026 runway show, held at Milan's Palazzo delle Scintille today (27 February), a hall designed for sporting events by Paolo Vietti-Violi in 1923 (it would later host performances from La Scala when the theatre was damaged in the Second World War). Upon entering the show space and ascending a staircase, guests were greeted with a vast hall clad in travertine Stoneleaf. Made from ultra-fine sheets of Italian marble bonded onto sheets of fibreglass and transparent resin, the innovative material – which replaces the need for heavy blocks of stone – came to market when Stoneleaf was founded in 2013.

Populating this imagined museum were a series of sculptures replicating those found in the Uffizi museum and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (subjects included Aphrodite and Artemis, and spanned Roman and Hellenistic eras). Each one was 3D-scanned before being recreated by Tuscan artisans in plaster, which was then treated to look like marble.

Continue reading our exclusive tour of Demna’s first runway set for Gucci here.

Demna’s debut Gucci show was all about the body

Titled ‘Gucci Primavera’, Demna presented his first runway show for the Italian powerhouse at Milan Fashion Week this afternoon amid a marble-clad set evocative of a museum. ‘Presenting it in a monumental, museum-like space expresses how I view this incredible house,’ he said.

With cameos from Kate Moss, Gabriette and Vittoria Ceretti – and watched on by the likes of Donatella Versace and Alessandro Michele – what followed was a no-holds-barred collection which riffed on archetypes of Italian glamour in the Georgian designer’s slyly subversive style. The idea of ‘silhouette’ ran throughout: garments were designed to trace the line of the body through seamless cuts and engineered hemlines.

Moss’ closing look – a shimmering backless gown which scooped downwards to reveal an in-built double-G thong – was a nod to Tom Ford’s seminal S/S 1997 G-string, part of the American designer’s transformative tenure at the house. Demna seemed to channel plenty of Ford’s sexually liberated spirit here.

But despite the glamour, Demna argued this was a collection of pragmatism. ‘[These are] products that can be enjoyed by a variety of people, that enrich their lives and make them feel great, that can stand on their own, without the need for pseudo-intellectual justifications,’ he said. JM

The story behind Formafantasma’s ‘familiar yet unsettled’ show set for Meryll Rogge’s Marni debut

Belgian designer Meryll Rogge’s anticipated debut show as creative director of Marni, which took place during Milan Fashion Week A/W 2026 yesterday (26 February), was first teased across social media with a series of short videos directed by Davide Rapp, captioned ‘echoes of the familiar’ and showing just that: a key sliding into a lock, coffee being poured into a glazed mug, a bakelite telephone. Even the show invitation mimicked, luxuriously, that most ubiquitous of office stationery – the post-it note. ‘I have a very personal connection to Marni,’ Rogge tells Wallpaper*. ‘It’s a brand that shaped my design sensibility during my formative years, and through the show I wanted to acknowledge that sense of familiarity.’

This familiarity – with a few surprises, of course – was a throughline for both collection and scenography, the latter of which was a close collaboration between Rogge and research-based design agency Formafantasma (Wallpaper* Designers of the Year in 2021, and the brains behind our 2026 Design Awards trophy). In the space, founders Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin transformed Marni’s headquarters with wood-effect panelling and fabric-covered benches, while a play on perception came in mirrored panels which were partially painted with ‘fragments drawn from quotidian life’, from car headlights to office chairs. The effect was a space which felt familiar – banal office space; the entranceway to an apartment block – though hard to place.

Continue reading the story behind Meryll Rogge’s debut Marni set here.

A ‘Nomadic Reverie’ at Loro Piana

Through a static presentation, Loro Piana conjured the spirit of a transcontinental journey through colour which merged and mutated ‘like landscapes blurring through a train window’. Decadent jacquards and paisley, the latter featuring on the wallpaper as well as on garments, (and which first appeared in the maison’s historical textile archives in the 1960s and 1970s) recalled the fabrics and objects an aesthete of the old school might collect on a traditional Grand Tour, and, inevitably Agatha Christie’s most famous work was called to mind through silhouettes which fused East and West. IBJ

Sailor uniforms and speakeasies at Ferragamo

Maximilian Davis chose the Triennale di Milano – the city’s temple to design – to present his A/W 2026 collection for Ferragamo, transforming one of the curving Giovanni Muzio-designed upper galleries with cocooning curtains and carpets.

The after-dark mood related to the collection’s inspirations: the 1920s speakeasy, ‘a locus of liberation; a space where conventions of class and identity are disrupted’. It is a decade which has been central to Davis’ vision for the Italian house so far – in the early 1920s, house founder Salvatore Ferragamo was working as a shoemaker in Hollywood for the burgeoning film industry, which would inspire the formation of the house back in Italy in 1927.

‘It’s a translation of trying to imagine something from the past,’ the British designer said, noting that a muted palette appeared ‘tinted from time’. ‘In the original moment, it would have been vibrant – but now we are seeing it through the haze of history.’

Riffs on sailor uniform came to the fore – a nod to those who frequented such underground drinking spots – while negligées, molten gold dresses and vampish stilettos captured what Davis called the ‘liberated elegance of the era’. JM

Dolce & Gabbana asserts its identity for A/W 2026

Dolce & Gabbana’s A/W 2026 collection was a greatest hits of sorts: lace, lingerie and body-contouring silhouettes were all on the menu, rendered in a palette of signature black and worn with typically towering ballet-pump or bow-adorned heels (along with the occasional flat brogue). There was also great tailoring, in pinstripe or wide across the shoulder and nipped at the waist, recalling the house’s late-1990s oeuvre – though, as designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana commented, this was a collection not of ‘nostalgia’ but an assertion of identity. ‘This is not nostalgia. It is presence. A language built on roots that are still alive – Sicily as emotion, black as strength, lace as intimacy, tailoring as authority,’ they said via the collection notes. Another of their greatest hits sat front row: Madonna, face of Dolce & Gabbana’s The One fragrance, and a supporter of the house since her early days in the industry. At the show’s end, Domenico and Stefano embraced the megastar, who got a rousing applause of her own. JM

Bottega Veneta’s A/W 2026 show was all about texture

After showing in Milan’s industrial Porta Romana neighbourhood last season, Louise Trotter chose to shift to the city’s centre for her sophomore show for the house. The location was Palazzo San Fedele in the city’s centre, the location of Bottega Veneta’s headquarters. It was a fitting move: the collection, she said, was inspired by the spirit of Milan, where beneath its ‘Brutalist’ exterior, she identified a hidden ‘sensuality‘. Here, this was figured not in the exposure of skin, but a series of vivid textures designed to please the hand and eye. So there was shaggy two-tone shearling; a fabric of pulled silk threads which gave the illusion of fur or feathers; and the return of that bouncing fibreglass from her debut, here in bright pink and gleaming black. ‘I work with the most incredible artisans, and the pursuit of craft is central to everything that we do,’ she said, though at heart this was about a pursuit of pleasure particular to her adopted home city. ‘It’s fun to dress up,’ she said. JM

Silvana Armani makes her ready-to-wear debut at Giorgio Armani

Silvana Armani, the niece of the late Giorgio Armani, made her design debut earlier this year at Armani Privé in Paris with a S/S 2026 collection which was a respectful continuation of her uncle’s design legacy. ‘This was a Privé collection not of divergence but of continuance,’ we said at the time, which could also be applied to her ready-to-wear debut for the house, held this morning on Via Borgonuovo in Brera, the house’s longtime headquarters (and, in his lifetime, the site of Mr Armani’s personal Milan home).

As such, it was recognisably Armani: louche, broad-shoulder tailoring; shades of grey and blue; and references to Eastern dress all featured (here, velvet jackets with a kimono cut and obi-belt-style detailing; Mr Armani often said his collections were a dialogue between East and West). Though there was also a refreshing lightness to the collection: jackets were constructed without padding, while wrapped silhouettes had a thrown-on ease – Silvana Armani called it ‘a new perspective on the Armani style’. ‘It is fluid, enveloping, perfectly imperfect,’ said the designer via the collection notes. JM

Tomorrow marks the beginning of New York Fashion Week, which, in turn, heralds the start of a month-long A/W 2026 season of shows, with subsequent stops in London, Milan and Paris. It looks to be a season of (relative) calm: after 15 creative directors made their debut for S/S 2026, the coming weeks look set to see designers hone their visions as they settle into their roles (as such, A/W 2026 looks to be defined not by the ‘debut’, but the ‘sophomore’ show).

That said, the debuts continue, most notably in Milan, where Gucci will hold its first runway show under new creative director Demna (last season, as an introduction, he presented a short film starring Demi Moore and Edward Norton), Maria Grazia Chiuri will show her first collection for Fendi, and Meryll Rogge will debut at Marni. And those shows aside, the schedule across the month remains busy – not least in Paris, where an eight-day schedule cements the city’s status as the world’s style capital.

Here, on the eve of a new season in style, everything you need to know about Women’s Fashion Week A/W 2026.

New York Fashion Week (11–16 February)

A slight reshuffle of the New York Fashion Week schedule means that this season is front-loaded: on the opening day, three of the city’s biggest names – Proenza Schouler, Coach and Tory Burch – will all present their A/W 2026 collections, moving forward from their usual slots later in the week. Proenza Schouler will likely command the most attention: this season marks the runway debut of Jamaica-born, New York-based designer Rachel Scott as creative director, following a soft-launch presentation last season. She comes with plenty of experience: after roles at Costume National, Elizabeth and James and Rachel Comey, she founded her own label, Diotima, in 2020. She has since won the CFDA American Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2024 for her work at the brand, which held its first runway show last season to wide acclaim (it was one of Wallpaper’s highlights of the season). Alongside her new role at Proenza Schouler – where she takes over from founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez – she will continue to work on Diotima, showing her latest collection on Sunday.

Elsewhere, New York’s usual banner names return: Michael Kors will show on February 12, Calvin Klein on February 13, and Eckhaus Latta on February 14. Surrounding them are some brilliant rising names: we are big fans Zane Li’s fledgling label LII, which marries 1990s minimalism with architectural construction and a bold colour palette, while Ashlyn, led by Yohji Yamamoto alumnus Ashlynn Park, is evolving into one of New York’s most intriguing young labels with its reimagining of historical silhouettes and straddling of Japanese and Parisian codes (she recently won the 2025 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund). Other moments to watch out for are Nicholas Aburn’s sophomore show as creative director of Area, and the latest runway show from Khaite, which – if previous runway shows are anything to go by – will come with cinematic scenography conceived by founder Catherine Holstein and her architect husband Griffin Frazen.

London Fashion Week (19–23 February)

London Fashion Week seeks to continue the momentum built last season under new British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir. Proceedings begin on Thursday evening with the graduating class of Central Saint Martin MA program – long an incubator for fashion’s rising stars – while on a similar track, Fashion East will continue a two-decade-long tradition of showcasing a trio of on-the-rise designers (this season, Jacek Gleba and Louis Mayhew will return after their debuts for S/S 2026, joined by Traiceline Pratt’s GOYAGOMA). Other rising names on the schedule to look out for include Lucila Safdie, Selasi (the Ronan McKenzie-run label will hold its first on-schedule runway show) and Oscar Ouyang, while the more established Chopova Lowena and Talia Byre will both show their latest collection in a presentation format. Conner Ives, whose ode to the women of pop was one of last season’s highlights, will also show on the closing on Monday.

Elsewhere, expect shows from longtime London Fashion Week stalwarts: these include Simone Rocha and Erdem, while Roksanda is taking the season off to instead hold an intimate dinner with the BFC. There are some returning names, too: Julien Macdonald will bring his brand of typically outré glamour with a runway show on Saturday afternoon, while Joseph will host its first runway show under Mario Arena, who came to the British label in 2024 after stints at Nanushka and JW Anderson. Last but not least, Burberry will close out the week on Monday evening – expect the usual high-wattage happening with an eclectic star-packed front row.

Milan Fashion Week (24 February–1 March)

A new energy permeates Milan Fashion Week as Gucci makes a welcome return to the runway in its first show under new creative director Demna (if his Balenciaga shows were anything to go by, expect spectacle), while Fendi shakes off a period of flux as Maria Grazia Chiuri takes the helm of the Roman powerhouse (they will show on Friday and Wednesday respectively). Meanwhile, Belgian designer Meryll Rogge – who worked at Marc Jacobs and Dries Van Noten before starting her own eponymous label – will also make her debut as creative director of Marni, showing on Thursday evening.

Elsewhere, Milan continues to be dominated by its legacy names (the schedule is light on rising talent), which will host their usual blockbuster runway shows across the week. These include Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani (the latter will be co-ed, having skipped Men’s Fashion Week), Max Mara, Tod’s, Ferragamo, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada – the latter long a barometer for the season’s trends – while at Jil Sander and Bottega Veneta, Simone Bellotti and Louise Trotter will show their sophomore collections after acclaimed debuts last season. We look forward to seeing their visions evolve.

Paris Fashion Week (2–10 March 2026)

As ever, Paris Fashion Week continues to dominate: a packed eight-day schedule cements its status as the world’s style capital. Though perhaps this season can be seen as one of relative calm – after the frenzy of big-name debuts last season, including Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and Jonathan Anderson at Dior, A/W 2026 will see this new class of designers settle into their roles and hone their visions. Other designers hosting their sophomore ready-to-wear shows this season include Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier, Miguel Castro at Mugler, and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe.

Elsewhere, expect the usual line-up of the Paris’ storied houses – among them Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Celine – alongside those who travel to the city each season, including the Japanese avant-garde (among them Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, Issey Miyake and Noir Kei Ninomiya) and a slew of international labels, from Miu Miu and Stella McCartney to McQueen. Meanwhile, an energetic and eclectic line-up of younger designers completes the schedule, including Julie Kegels, Hodakova, Vaquera, Matières Fécale and Niccolò Pasqualetti.

A quieter men’s season allowed fashion to ease into 2026, with a handful of standouts shining through an otherwise pared-back schedule. At Pitti Uomo 109, Hed Mayner took the coveted guest designer slot with an intriguing show that revelled in ‘wrongness’, then two hours north in Milan, Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada transformed Fondazione Prada into the ruins of an Italian palazzo to backdrop a collection that grappled with the past. Paris, which now makes up the bulk of the menswear schedule, had a renewed sense of energy, seeing Jonathan Anderson stage an expressive sophomore menswear collection for Dior, and Pharrell Williams debut an unusual architectural project with a Tokyo-based vacation rental company Not a Hotel.

Still, a number of collections may have slipped under the radar – particularly from brands that chose to unveil their new collections off the official calendar, or via lookbook rather than a show. Here, we highlight the best collections you might have missed from the A/W 2026 menswear season.

JW Anderson

What links pop queen Kylie Minogue, fashion editor Tim Blanks, screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes (Challengers, Queer) and creative director Mark Kalman? They are all, apparently, friends of Jonathan Anderson. It's no secret that the Irish designer has been incredibly busy over the past year with his landmark appointment as Dior’s new creative director – he is the first to oversee menswear, womenswear and haute couture – so runways at his eponymous brand have paused for now. Instead, Anderson has cleverly leaned into his rich visual world through imagery, tapping up a ‘close-knit circle of friends, long-time collaborators, and acquaintances‘ to star in playful lookbooks.

The latest of these was released last week, its series of impulsive portraits by Heikki Kaski comprising perfect internet fodder, seeing the unlikely crew of creatives pose in Anderson’s A/W 2026 designs, laughing and climbing out of baskets. The collection itself is typically witty and idiosyncratic – from a tote bag reading ‘Porn’ to motifs of cars and botanics – with several pieces riffing on previous greatest hits. Or, in the brand’s words, ‘the deranged, twisted classics JW Anderson stands for’.

Wales Bonner

Grace Wales Bonner has long favoured a beautiful shoot over a runway, though she did make an exception last season, staging a special Paris presentation to mark ten years of her brand. Titled ‘Jewel’, it explored the figure of the Black dandy through an eclectic, emotionally charged wardrobe rooted in British sartorial traditions – essentially, the language that has defined a decade of her celebrated work.

Released this week, a new series of serene visuals shot by Malick Bodian sees her return to an image-first format. Set within sun-strewn modernist buildings, the collection takes cues from the ‘elemental simplicity’ of modernist architect Balkrishna Doshi. Always balancing the ‘practical and the sensual’, the collection also channels the meditative rhythms of ragas (spiritually charged Indian compositions designed to evoke particular moods and moments of day), specifically those written for the morning. Alongside fresh iterations of her ongoing Adidas collaboration, the clothes this season move fluidly between cultural touchpoints – Bengal-stripe shirting and fine merino knits made with John Smedley, brooches of panga panga wood crafted in Botswana by Beullah Serema and Peter Mabeo, and indigo linen tuxedos from Savile Row.

Using modernist design as a framework to share ‘optimism across cultures’, the collection is ultimately one of ease – something Wales Bonner may very well be seeking in the lead-up to her anticipated debut as Hermès’ new men’s creative director, which the designer has over a year to prepare for (indeed, as the morning raga reminds its listener, there’s no need to rush).

Our Legacy

Leaning into the brand’s less-is-more Scandinavian genre of cool, Our Legacy’s latest collection is dryly titled ‘Just Clothes’. The brand has long avoided the circus of fashion week and, as it does every season, has elected to unveil the new offering through a series of sharp, studio-shot images. Subtly reworking the staples that have made Our Legacy a global cult, the design team started by asking themselves, ‘What makes a pure garment?’ Removing the fizz of trends, their answer is meticulously refined uniform that can be layered and reconfigured in manifold ways: clean-cut outerwear, insulating bomber jackets, elevated denim, workwear-inflected shirting, timeless knits and leather goods embellished with the brand’s ubiquitous silver hardware. In a statement released alongside the visuals, Our Legacy describes it as ‘a necessary retreat from fashion’s ever-amplifying noise’.

Av Vattev

The fluid dress codes of British rock stars – from Mick Jagger’s romantic pirate shirts to Roxy Music’s eclectic tailoring – have fed the moodboards of Italian-born designer Antonio Vattev since he founded his namesake brand in 2018. Since then, he has not only built a cult following but dressed a new generation of pop icons, including creating tour looks for Charli XCX and Troye Sivan in 2024. This season, though, he looked from music to dance, and the figure of Soviet-born ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who defected to the West in 1961. Vattev drew on the dancer’s ‘liberation, sensuality, and understated chic’ both on and off the stage (his rehearsal wear inspired wrapped polos and beanie hats with the lace-up closure inspired by his viral ‘Viper’ cardigan). New for this season was a greater focus on craft: a newly developed ‘python’ textile was crafted from leather petals, each one hand-applied in a process taking hours of work. The starting point for the unique textile was an appearance by Nureyev on The Dick Cavett Show, wearing a python-pattened outfit.

Kartik Research

Marking his sophomore show on the Paris Fashion Week calendar, New York–based designer Kartik Kumra presented his latest collection for Kartik Research in a stately Paris hôtel particulier. Twisting a couturier’s salon-style display through a South Asian lens, seats were wrapped in Kantha fabric and rooms lined with handmade Jaipur rugs, while Kartik’s signature neroli scent filled the space. The collection looked to the refined dress codes of Ahmedabad in the 1970s, a city known as a site of artistic gathering in India. Handwoven textiles – some ornately embroidered, others expressively patchworked – formed silhouettes that merged traditional dress with Western tailoring. Rather than elaborate on the dreamlike narratives of the clothes themselves, the designer used the show notes to address the realities of trade in India at the present moment.

‘The US administration’s decision to impose a 50 per cent tariff on India a few months ago has rippled through the ecosystem in ways that are both abstract and brutally specific,’ he said. ‘We have the relative privilege of being a brand. We can follow the money, shift focus, and try to sell more in Asia to cushion a slowdown in the US. But these are fabric vendors, embroiderers, loom artists, dyers. Their access is narrow, their margins thinner […] Sitting with this reality has crystallised something for me. We need to build something back home with its own gravity. Something not permanently tethered to Western demand cycles, policy swings, or distant administrations. Something that pulls people in rather than constantly reaching out.’

For the runway highlights of men's fashion month A/W 2026, see our reports from Paris, Milan and Pitti Uomo.

Despite a lean show schedule – largely down to the number of Italian brands choosing to go co-ed in recent seasons, including Gucci and Fendi – Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2026 edition provided a nonetheless intriguing line-up of runway shows, from those that asked the big questions (at Prada, in ‘uncomfortable’ times, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons asked what do we take from the past, and what do we leave behind) to those that revelled in the joy of dressing (Ralph Lauren’s return to the Milan runway for the first time in 20 years was one such show). Others introduced fresh perspectives: in his second on-schedule show for his brand Setchu, 2023 LVMH Prize winner Satoshi Kuwata – a Kyoto-born designer who lives and works in Milan – was a rare representative for emerging talent at the week (typically Milan has been dominated by its blockbuster names).

Here, Wallpaper* selects the standout shows of Milan Fashion Week Men’s, which we saw runway-side as they happened (also see our Milan live blog, where we recorded all the action as it unfolded).

Zegna

Themes of inheritance are prescient at Zegna: on 1 January Edoardo and Angelo Zegna, fourth-generation members of the textile dynasty, became co-CEOs of the house founded by their great-grandfather, Ermenegildo Zegna, over a century ago (they succeeded their father, Gildo Zegna, who will become executive chairman). For his latest show – a return to Milan after showing last season in Dubai – creative director Alessandro Sartori mined similar themes, transforming Milan’s Palazzo Del Ghiaccio into a vast dressing room, complete with a series of towering closets, each filled with pieces from the real-life wardrobes of Gildo and his cousin Paolo Zegna. They spanned the personal and the inherited: an impromptu history of the house through the clothing of its protagonists. Sartori said he was fascinated by the idea of a garment as a vessel for memories; of creating clothing that is built to last and passed through generations. ‘I am after the sense of wonder that happens when one finds a piece that was owned by one's father, grandfather, uncle; the discovery that comes from studying other ways of dressing, which prompts a willingness to try something new,’ he said.

As the show began, models wove their way in and out of the wardrobes, Narnia-style; their own looks, which had a nostalgic elegance, captured a mood of ease and eclecticism as if they were picking out garments as they went. Indeed, Sartori described the look as dégagé: silhouettes were cut with his eye for generous, contemporary proportions, while a rich melange of fabrics spanned heritage tweeds, Shetland wools and a mohair gabardine in classic hues of brown, anthracite grey and black (shots of sapphire and mustard enlivened the look). Like last autumn/winter, outerwear was a true highlight: boxy overcoats took on roomy silhouettes with clever double-breasted fastenings (buttons were reduced into a line of three, held in place by the middle button), while utility jackets in suede had a 1970s flavour, as if plucked from one of Sartori’s time-travelling wardrobes. ‘We take deep pride and make a lot of effort in doing what we do,’ he said. ‘So the idea of creating something that can be kept, reused and reinterpreted for a long time energises us.’

Paul Smith

In the collection notes, Paul Smith name-checked his new head of men’s design, Sam Cotton, whom the stalwart British designer credited with helping him see his archive through ‘fresh eyes’. That archive is physical: a vast storage facility in Smith’s native Nottingham, comprising over 5,000 pieces, collected by the designer over the near-half century since he opened his first shop in 1970. ‘The joy of having the archive like this is that my own design team visits regularly and comes back with great enthusiasm for things they found there,’ Smith said in a voiceover to the salon-style A/W 2026 show, held in his Milanese headquarters on Saturday afternoon. ‘Seeing it through their eyes gives me energy, makes me see things in a new way.’

As such, tropes from the archive reemerged, like a series of ‘inside-out’ tailoring from the late 1990s, an era towards which that Smith and his design team had been drawn back. There were also elements from the 1980s, too – broad-shouldered tailoring recalled corporate attire of the era, while a riff on the tricorne hat had a New Romantics feel. Botanic prints, hanging glass bag charms and ‘bookish’ glasses added to the eclectic mood of the collection – Smith said another inspiration was French artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. As Smith, who turns 80 this year, bounded down the stairs to take his final bow, there was a celebratory mood: in the post-show chatter, there was a broad consensus that this was his best show in some time.

Setchu

For his A/W 2026 show, Setchu’s Satoshi Kuwata invited guests into his new Milan studio, a light-filled space which, for the occasion, had been lined with tatami sleeping mats. Though he now lives and works in Milan, Kuwata’s native Japan (the 2023 LVMH Prize-winning designer was born in Kyoto) remains prescient in his work; here, it emerged in woven straw sliders and booties (recalling both the tatami mats and traditional woven baskets), as well as the often unconventional cut of his garments, something now synonymous with contemporary Japanese fashion design.

This season, for Kuwata, as he elaborated in a charming introduction to the collection (the designer appeared on the runway personally to introduce its themes), had begun with fishing – his favourite pastime. Particularly, a recent trip to the barren landscapes of Greenland, a stormy mecca for fishing aficionados, who travel to its plentiful (if dangerous) waters. As such, garments had a feeling of function and protection (albeit in often unconventional style), from bags that, via a series of zips, transformed into garments to cocooning outerwear (jackets looped over the head and were curved at the sleeve) and flourishes of fluffy white ‘fur’ that loosely drew on historic garments in the Greenland National Museum in Nuuk (he likened them to those of the Ainu shamans of northern Japan in their use of natural materials to protect against the elements).

Now in his third season showing on the runway – the first show took place at Pitti Uomo, the second in Milan last season – Kuwata is bringing fresh energy to Milan Fashion Week Men’s, which has been notorious for its lack of emerging talent (the city’s banner names have long dominated). Judging by the buoyant mood in the room afterwards, he is a much-appreciated new fixture.

Prada

At Prada, co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons said that they were looking back to the past to look forward to the future with an A/W 2026 menswear collection that was about ‘evolution not erasure’. Backstage, Simons likened it to a kind of ‘archaeology’. ‘There is a lot here from the past,’ he said. ‘If you take the layers away, you always find a kind of beauty. There’s the knowledge that you still want to celebrate and use, but you also want to innovate.’ Befitting the collection’s thematics, the show took place amid an OMA-designed set that looked as if an Italian palazzo had been sliced away through its floors – whether in the midst of its destruction or renovation.

Mrs Prada and Simons looked towards menswear archetypes – among them the businessman’s shirt, the raincoat and the double-breasted suit – skewing their proportions until they became something new. Cuffs of shirts became supersized, layered under ultra-narrow double-breasted tailoring and overcoats, while mackintosh-style jackets came with colourful overlays and matching sou’wester hats. ‘It’s a moment of really big change,’ said Mrs Prada, who was keen to note the ‘uncomfortable’ political climate that backdropped the show. ‘Who knows the future? So [you have to think about] what you want to keep. What can you transform?’

‘Think about the businessman's or the politician’s shirt in this moment,’ added Simons. ‘You can transform that in two steps, in three steps, in four steps – what if you made the stripes horizontal? What if you gave it a T-shirt neckline? What if you age it? It’s about transforming things that you respect and love. Maybe they have the wrong connotation at a certain moment of time, when we don’t want that American corporate, masculine power. But what if you make it young, make it in beautiful colours?’

Read our full review of the Prada show here.

Giorgio Armani

Having eschewed the usual Emporio Armani show on Saturday evening (the menswear is expected to be shown alongside the womenswear collection in February), the house hosted its A/W 2026 Giorgio Armani show on the closing day of Milan Fashion Week Men’s. A starry crowd gathered for the occasion (including Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams, who earlier in the week walked for DSquared2 in a much-Instagrammed moment). It marked the first menswear show since the death of Mr Armani this past September, and the solo debut of Leo Dell'Orco, the longtime head of the men's style office of the Armani Group (as the designer’s right-hand man, he worked with Mr Armani on the menswear house’s collections; as it stands, the future creative directorship of Giorgio Armani remains unknown).

This was a collection of evolution, not revolution: a respectful continuation of Mr Armani’s legacy of louche elegance, from lustrous collarless silk suiting (the house said ‘cangiante’, an irridescent silk, was a ‘metaphor’ for the collection – ‘something in constant transformation... catching the light in ever new ways’) to oversized trench coats and fluid tuxedos, the last studded with glimmering crystal brooches. There were also some great pieces in leather – the tie-waisted flight jacket worn by Kit Butler, cut to the roomy proportions of Mr Armani’s 1980s oeuvre, shows how contemporary (and indeed borrowed), the designer’s archive still feels. As ever with Armani shows, the reception was rapturous: all the more so when a visibly emotional Dell'Orco took his final bow.

Ralph Lauren

The Ralph Lauren show marked the brand's first in Milan for two decades, with the eponymous designer opting for an intimate salon-style presentation in Palazzo Ralph Lauren (a Mino Fiocchi-designed villa that the brand acquired in the 1990s) over a more blockbuster happening. It worked: his Polo Ralph Lauren and Ralph Lauren Purple Label presentations were shown back to back, and there was a charm to seeing the clothes up close and in motion, an optimistic offering that mined the designer’s hallmarks – from the preppy uniform of Polo Ralph Lauren (an aesthetic being readily embraced by a new generation of fans, as well as here at fashion week) to on-the-ranch Americana, old Hollywood eveningwear and plenty of brilliant denim (Lauren’s patched-up and repaired jeans are also having a street style comeback)

Styled eclectically – often these tropes were mashed up into a single look – Lauren said the collection itself was ‘inspired by the different ways men live’ (a message from the 87-year-old designer, who did not travel for the show, was placed on attendees’ seats). At over 70 looks – closed out by Tyson Beckford in a shaggy-pile coat, tuxedo, cowboy hat and hiking boots – there was, simply put, something for everyone. But what united the broad collection was a certain Ralphness that makes these much-reinterpreted archetypes distinct. ‘When I began designing menswear, I was drawn to the timeless elements of tradition, but I was never bound by it,’ he said. In this welcome return to the runway, it’s clear this attitude lives on.

Welcome to Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2026

As Pitti Uomo culminates in Florence (catch up on our highlights from the menswear fair here), eyes turn towards Italy’s capital of style, Milan, where the A/W 2026 edition of Milan Fashion Week Men’s takes place this weekend (16-19 January 2026). There is something of a back-to-school feel to the event: the four-day happening marks – bar a handful of guest designers at Pitti Uomo, including Hed Mayner – the first runway shows of the A/W 2026 season, which will continue after Milan in Paris, later this month (after that, the A/W 2026 womenswear season will begin in February, in New York).

As ever, the Wallpaper* style editors are on the ground: despite a relatively sedate schedule, there are still a number of notable runway shows happening across the weekend, including Prada (expect a transporting OMA-designed set and a runway show that will no doubt set the tone for the season ahead), Dolce & Gabbana, Zegna and Giorgio Armani (the last marks the first menswear show since the eponymous designer’s passing last year). Elsewhere, British designer Paul Smith will also host his A/W 2026 show in Milan, following his move to the city last season, while Ralph Lauren will make its menswear runway return to Milan, having last shown here 20 years prior. Numerous presentations and events – including Ferragamo’s celebration of its ‘Tramezza’ shoes on Sunday evening – will take place alongside the main shows.

Here, follow our real-time look at Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2026 – from behind-the-scenes glimpses to access to the shows, presentations and parties – as seen through the eyes (and iPhones) of the Wallpaper* editors. Stay tuned.

Zegna opens Milan Fashion Week Men’s by delving into the ‘family closet’

And so it begins – the first looks of Milan Fashion Week Men’s came from Zegna this afternoon, where Alessandro Sartori made his return to the Italian style capital after showing his S/S 2026 collection in Dubai last season (the house also moved from its traditional spot closing the week to opening it). The setting was Palazzo Del Ghiaccio, whereby the expansive main hall had been transformed with a series of towering ‘imaginary closets’ which were nonetheless filled with real clothing sourced by Sartori from Gildo and Paolo Zegna, both third-generation members of the Zegna family (Gildo is the house’s Group Executive Chairman).

Inherited through the family line, they inspired a collection of eclectic, nostalgic elegance – nonetheless cut to Sartori’s generous, contemporary silhouette. ‘I am after the sense of wonder that happens when one finds a piece that was owned by one's father, grandfather, uncle; the discovery that comes from studying other ways of dressing, which prompts a willingness to try something new,’ said Sartori. ‘The idea of creating something that can be kept energises us.’ The casting was equally cross-generational – an age-diverse casting that has become Sartori’s signature in recent seasons.

Ralph Lauren returns to the Milan runway after 20 years

Ralph Lauren opened the doors to his eponymous Milanese palazzo this evening, hosting an intimate presentation of his A/W 2026 menswear collections in the striking Mino Fiocchi-designed building that the brand acquired in the 1990s. Moving away from the usual static presentation format, Lauren instead chose to show his latest Polo Ralph Lauren and Ralph Lauren Purple collections for men in a back-to-back runway show that marked his first catwalk show in the city for two decades.

He said that the A/W 2026 collection itself was ‘inspired by the different ways men live’, eschewing tight thematics for a broad collection which married his distinct style tropes – from the preppy uniform for which he is best known (here: houndstooth jackets, yellow cable knits, Polo-branded caps and the like) to on-the-ranch Americana and old Hollywood eveningwear. As ever, it felt impossible not to be seduced by his optimistic vision. ‘[These collections] stand for the worlds I have believed in and lived,’ he said. JM

Jacob Cohën opens a one-night-only hotel

The dramatic Luigi Perrone-designed Circolo Filologico Milanese was momentarily transformed last night into a for-one-night-only Jacob Cohën hotel to present the brand’s A/W 2026 collection (an undertaking only a little less ambitious than last season, where owner and creative director Jennifer Tommasi Bardelle created a whole Jacob Cohën village). Cue Jacob Cohën bell boys who led guests through to the ‘lobby’, where models lounged on Chesterfield sofas while a jazz band provided a live soundtrack (champagne, naturally, was on tap). Upstairs, there was a chance to see the highlights up close: highlights included the super-lightweight suedes in Jacob Cohën’s signature denim blue, some lined with fluffy shearling for warmth. JM

Simon Holloway looks to Lord Snowdon’s personal wardrobe to inspire his A/W 2026 collection for Dunhill

This season, Simon Holloway chose to show his A/W 2026 collection for British heritage house Dunhill at Villa Mozart, one of Milan’s discreet architectural gems (the Piero Portaluppi​-designed villa is recognisable for its ivy-covered exterior). A shift away from the runway presentations of recent seasons, Holloway instead hosted a series of intimate talk-throughs for press, introducing a collection which was inspired by the insouciant style of Antony Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon. For Holloway, the British photographer – who married Princess Margaret in 1960 to become the Earl of Snowdon – encapsulated the mood of the heady decade which followed, where high society mingled with rockstars, and the stuffy dress codes of the 1950s were abandoned (American photographer Ethan James Green sought to capture the era in an accompanying photo series, starring artist and model Henry Kitcher).

‘[It’s about] the tension between aristocratic formality and unguarded artistic expression,’ said Holloway of the collection, which came largely in shades of grey (it is an ‘always favourite’ he told Wallpaper* of the hue at the preview this morning). Bolder flourishes came in ‘haberdashery’, like colourful silk pocket squares and cashmere scarves, while motifs drawn from Arts & Crafts textiles adorned jacquard tailoring and slippers. Indeed superlative fabrications were the order of the day: from fluffy alpaca and hand-finished double-faced wool to soft-to-the-touch suede, which was used to construct a (very desirable) pair of ‘jeans’.

A fishing trip to Greenland inspired Satoshi Kuwata’s latest Setchu collection

For his sophomore Milan show, Kyoto-born designer Satoshi Kuwata – winner of the 2023 LVMH Prize for his 2020-founded brand Setchu – welcomed guests into his new brand’s ‘home’, a light-filled studio on Via Privata Rezia (for the occasion, the space had been lined with tatami mats, traditionally used for sleeping in his native Japan). Ever hospitable, Kuwata appeared at the start of the show to welcome guests, going on to talk through the collection’s inspirations, which included a memorable fishing trip to Greenland (fishing is one of Kuwata’s favourite pastimes; Greenland’s waters offered plentiful supplies). It led to a series of intriguing garments which married outdoorsy function (bags that transformed into garments through clever zip placement, warm layers of quilting, enveloping bombers and the like) with his signature unconventional pattern-cutting, honed by the designer during his time on Savile Row. Playful flourishes – like booties and slides made woven from straw, or shaggy, yeti-like ‘furs’ – added to the uplifting mood. ‘It just makes you happy,’ said my seatmate. JM.

Dolce & Gabbana was about the multiplicity of man

This season, Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce moved away from the singular themes of past collections (for S/S 2026, it was ‘pyjama dressing’) towards a more wide-ranging ‘portrait’ of style that sought to capture the multiplicity of man. ‘The runway becomes a contemporary gallery of living portraits, where every look functions as a psychological and sartorial self-portrait,’ said a booming voiceover at the start of the show. ‘[It] unfolds through a sequence of micro universes, each representing a distinct portrait of man – the introspective thinker, the creative visionary, the Mediterranean sensualist and the restless romantic’. As such, an eclectic mode of dressing was the order of the day, shifting between the bold (an enormous striped shaggy ‘fur’ coat which opened the show; colourful jumpers in fuzzy mohair), the bookish (thick-rimmed glasses, jackets in heritage fabrications), and the sporty (a handful of models in walked the runway in a Dolce & Gabbana-branded football kit). And – in a nod to last season – a pair of pyjamas and a leopard print robe. ‘There are infinite possibilities. Each one deserves its portrait,’ the voiceover concluded. JM

Paul Smith looks back into the archive for his latest Milan show

For the second season running, Paul Smith chose to show in his Milan headquarters – an ‘intimate, salon-style’ presentation narrated by the designer via voiceover. ‘[It’s about] putting classics together in a way that’s a bit irreverent and odd, sometimes playful,’ he said, noting that several of the designs were rooted in pieces his design team had discovered in his expansive Nottingham archive (it numbers over 5000 pieces of clothing and ephemera, collected over the course of Smith’s career). The 1980s and 1990s were particular touch points: some memorable inside-out tailoring was revisited, while other blazers recalled the wide-shouldered, double-breasted silhouette of the 1980s (albeit in louche, contemporary style). Meanwhile, playful flourishes – from hanging glass bag charms and botanic motifs to a jaunty riff on the tricorne hat – captured an artistic sensibility, which Smith said was inspired by Jean Cocteau. Consensus in the room was that this was the designer’s best collection in some time. JM

Stone Island presents its latest ‘Prototype Research_Series’

It is well-known that Stone Island has an avid, cult-like following, a group of technical-wear obsessives who devote their time to establishing comprehensive collections of rare and limited-edition garments. The ‘Prototype Research_Series’ is one such project – an annual initiative which showcases the spoils of the brand’s latest Wonka-like experiments in textile manufacturing, for which they remain best known (we took a trip to their extraordinary research lab in Ravarino, Italy last year, to find out more). For its ninth edition – presented in an immersive installation in Stone Island’s Milan headquarters last night – the technology in question was an ’air-blown lamination knit’, a 3D process which uses hot air to bond a membrane onto the chenille knit using an inflatable mannequin (doing it onto the ‘body’ in this way ensures perfect adhesion, according to the brand). 100 colourful pieces have been made in total – the race is no doubt on as to who can add it to their collection first. JM

A first look at the show set for Prada’s A/W 2026 menswear show

A first look at the OMA-conceived set for Prada’s A/W 2026 menswear show, taking place in Fondazione Prada this afternoon in Milan. Transforming the hangar-like Deposito space – where Prada traditionally holds its shows – the pastel-coloured set is a cross-section of a traditional Italian villa or palazzo, as if sliced through its floors. It comes complete with wood-panelled doors and fireplaces in differing marble hues.

Prada’s A/W 2026 menswear collection was about ‘evolution not erasure’

‘What can we build, from what we have learned?’ asked Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons at their A/W 2026 Prada menswear show this afternoon, which took menswear hallmarks – from cuffed shirts to double-breasted tailoring – and reimagined them in renewed proportions.

Presented in Fondazione Prada’s Deposito space – which appeared as if an Italian palazzo had been sliced away through its floors in a show set by OMA – the designers elaborated that this was a collection about ‘evolution not erasure’. ‘There is a sense of the before, which interests us, even as we search for the new,’ said Miuccia Prada. ‘That is a sign of respect – you want to move on but not erase what came before. Holding an idea of beauty and changing it into something new.’

‘We wanted to focus on important things, beautiful things that feel familiar but can be reconsidered,’ Simons added. ‘I have always liked that from the very start Miuccia’s work has been about challenging, questioning and investigating. [Here], we questioned what should remain, from the past – and what can you build, from what you learn?’

Read our full report on Prada’s A/W 2026 menswear show: ‘It’s a kind of archaeology’

Raf Simons likened his and Miuccia Prada’s latest menswear collection to a kind of ‘archaeology’. ‘There is a lot here from the past,’ he said backstage. ‘If you take the layers away, you always find a kind of beauty. There’s the knowledge that you still want to celebrate and use, but you also want to innovate.’

The show took place in Fondazione Prada’s hangar-like Deposito space, which this season had been transformed by OMA into the ruins of an Italian palazzo. Though there was no dust or rubble; instead, it was as if the various floors had been neatly cut away to reveal a cross-section of the rooms inside (in typical Prada style, they were painted in pastel shades and were installed with wood-panelling and marble fireplaces, suspended at height around the room). Only the jagged remains of ceiling beams and floorboards were evidence of any destruction having happened before.

Perhaps, then, this was a collection not of archaeology but of renovation: to make something that exists new, what do you keep, and what do you strip away? Or, as Simons elaborated: ‘We questioned what should remain, from the past – and what can you build, from what you learn?’

Continue reading our A/W 2026 Prada menswear show report.

Tod’s takes over Villa Necchi to present its latest menswear collection

For its latest menswear presentation, Tod’s once again took over Villa Necchi, the Piero Portaluppi-designed home on Via Mozart that is perhaps best known as the setting for Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love. The house’s latest menswear collection was scattered across the villa’s ground floor, with the Gommino – its signature driving shoe – continuing to take centre stage. This season, it was the ‘Winter Gommino’, a heftier version of the style which also comes in a lace-up boot iteration (for A/W 2026, they had fluffy shearling or cashmere linings). For ready-to-wear, leather was central: a new ’Pashmy’ leather – named after the pashmina as a nod to its softness and lightness – was used to coach jackets and patch-pocket blazers. JM

Giorgio Armani holds first menswear show since the death of the eponymous designer

This morning, guests gathered at the Palazzo Orsini headquarters of Giorgio Armani on Milan‘s Via Borgonuovo for what would be the first menswear show since the death of the eponymous designer last September. What followed was a respectful continuation of the Armani’s singular aesthetic: namely, louche, unrestricted silhouettes and a rich melange of fabrics. This season, the nexus was ‘cangiante’, an irridescent silk, that here became a ‘metaphor’ for the collection – ‘something in constant transformation... catching the light in ever new ways’. The show would mark the debut of Leo Dell'Orco, head of the men's style office of the Armani Group and Mr Armani’s right-hand man, who took an emotional bow at the show’s close. JM

The S/S 2026 season will likely take some time to metabolise. It was fashion’s changing of the guard moment – no less than 14 designers presented debut collections as the newly installed creative directors of the industry’s biggest brands – and with this seismic shake-up came a feeling of noise. Strident social-media comments; opinions formed in moments; debates as to what constitutes the essence of a particular fashion house, and whether this or that designer captured it – lines were well and truly drawn. Duran Lantink’s divisive opening act for Jean Paul Gaultier on Sunday afternoon became something of a lightning rod: drawing ire from social-media users, it prompted questions as to how we engage with fashion online.

‘I have read some really heinous comments about the work of many designers in these last few days,’ said Edward Buchanan, former design director of Bottega Veneta and the Milan Fashion Director for Perfect magazine, in a much-reshared Instagram post. ‘I am a designer and I know that these creatives work hard to get these collections out. It is not always perfect, and it is not always what you personally imagined it to be. You don’t have to like everything... Why not celebrate and talk about what you love?’

Fashion week S/S 2026: the key takeaways

It was why the finale of Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel debut on Monday evening felt joyful not only for the model Awar Odhiang twirling across the runway to the sounds of ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’ in a gown that descended into thousands of colourful chiffon feathers, but the fact that a weight felt like it had been lifted. Save for a handful of exceptions (Fendi is yet to announce its new creative leadership), that final debut meant that the line-up of designers at fashion’s major houses is set, and likely for some time – no more speculation or gossip, hearsay or rumour. Now, after their opening gambits, these designers must be left to hone their vision – after all, a debut is only the beginning.

Despite this, it has been a strong season of shows, with plenty of big, bold ideas sitting alongside propositions for a real-world wardrobe. There is no doubt that this new class of designers have brought with them a fresh energy: thematically, the idea of freedom emerged again and again, of dressing on your own terms. It's why this season’s trends feel equally liberated – designers gave into romance (albeit rewritten in distinctly modern terms), were unrestrained in their use of colour, and created distinctive silhouettes to match (from the ultra-streamlined to the panniered).

Here, we break down the trends and takeaways from the S/S 2026 shows, which concluded earlier this week in Paris.

The idea of freedom was on designer’s minds

A feeling of eclecticism has run through recent Prada collections, seeing co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons favour the bold and intuitive over strict thematics – a response, they say, to the uncertain, algorithmic times in which we live. This season, they talked about wanting to liberate clothing from ‘hierarchies’, shuffling simple workwear uniforms – a longtime Prada inspiration point – with colourful flourishes of eveningwear, from ballooning taffeta skirts to opera gloves. The result, said the pair, was a ‘new elegance’ – unconventional, instinctual, free. ‘In the combination of the different elements, in this idea of composition, there is a choice and freedom, authority and agency for the woman wearing them,’ said Mrs Prada. ‘It is fashion that is connected inherently to the world, with a meaning and usefulness. How to face the world, and how to survive.’

Again and again, the idea of sartorial freedom appeared in this season’s collections: at Ferragamo, Maximilian Davis channelled the liberatory dress codes of the 1920s (‘this was a moment where women were creating a new femininity... it was a celebration of freedom, a reclaiming of self’) while at Bottega Veneta, Louise Trotter’s debut collection looked towards Laura Braggion, Bottega Veneta’s first female creative lead, in its expressive use of colour and texture (as young woman, she was a part of Andy Warhol’s Factory). ‘I was imagining her journey – her freedom of being an Italian woman, an archetypal Italian woman, moving to New York,’ she said post-show. ‘It was a liberation for her. And that's really what I wanted to capture – a feeling of liberation.’

A similar mood was struck at Chanel (Matthieu Blazy was inspired by the ‘modernity and freedom’ of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s designs), Loewe (the collection’s bold, graphic line drew on the work of artist Ellsworth Kelly) and Hermès (titled ’Free Rein’, Nadège Vanhée referenced the untethered wild horses of Carmague). Through it all, there was an invitation to dress on your own terms, and without restraint.

Kaleidoscopic colour ran throughout

With this exploration of freedom came an equally liberated use of colour, as designers embraced bold, unapologetic hues in what was the most colourful fashion season in some time – a response, perhaps, to the feeling of bleakness elsewhere. This was a trend not restrained to a single city: in New York, Rachel Scott made a powerful impression with a debut runway show for her label Diotima which drew on the energetic spirit of carnival – a vivid, painterly palette spanned bright red, sky blue and cerise across anemone-like ruffles and tassel flourishes – while London saw colour-saturated outings from Erdem, Talia Byre and Burberry (a hot pink whipstitched leather jacket provided the latter’s closing look, with creative director Daniel Lee looking towards the dress codes of 1960s and 70s musicians).

As the season continued, a more graphic use of colour emerged: Simone Bellotti’s debut collection for Jil Sander featured bold primary hues of red and blue throughout; when viewed against the crisp white walls of Jil Sander’s Milanese HQ, they took on the feel of contemporary artworks. At Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s debut for Loewe, a work by Ellsworth Kelly set the tone: hanging in the entranceway of the showspace, Yellow Panel with Red Curve (1989) inspired the ‘chromatic intensity’ of the collection (zingy hues of yellow, electric blue and orange featured throughout). Stripes also appeared in the former Proenza Schouler designers’ collection, another recurring motif through the season, like at Dries Van Noten, where Julian Klausner – already proving himself as much of a master colourist as the label’s eponymous founder – presented a vivid collage of print and colour, from bold yellow stripes to abstracted polka dots, spirals and harlequin diamonds, blown up is size.

Designers evoked the time-worn and well-loved

The idea of inheritance was unsurprisingly on the mind of Matthieu Blazy at Chanel – after all, his debut for the house sees him take on the legacy of not one but two fashion greats: Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld. Originally inspired by the love affair between Gabrielle Chanel and British polo player Boy Capel, and the way she would borrow his jackets and shirts, the idea of passing garments between people – or indeed through generations – was one of the throughlines of the collection. That, he said, is the luxury of a house like Chanel, ‘the worn familiarity of the truly chic, items feel passed down and utilised,’ as he described. In the collection, this was figured in garments which appeared to be unravelling at their edges (the hanging ‘threads’ were actually minuscule strings of beads), while the 2.55 quilted handbag had been cleverly manipulated to appear battered and worn.

Indeed, the idea of the time-worn and well-loved run through the season: at Tory Burch in New York, cardigans seemed to be disintegrating at the sleeves, while other garments were purposely crumpled and creased. ‘I wanted something familiar and worn, but uber-chic and elevated,‘ she said after the show, noting that such fabric manipulation took months of experimentation despite their illusion of ease. At Coach, garments were weathered and worn – creative director Stuart Vevers said he was inspired by seeing vintage, decades-old Coach bags carried by young people on New York’s streets – while at Loewe, some of the more washed-out hues looked to reference fabric left out too long in the sun.

There was a mood of modern romance

Taking place at the Louvre Palace, the opulent summer apartments of Anne of Austria, Queen of France provided the backdrop for Nicolas Ghesquière’s latest collection for Louis Vuitton, an attempt to capture ‘the boundless freedom of the private sphere’. In its evocation of nightwear and lingerie – as well as flourishes of beaded floral embroidery, satin ruffles and enormous bows – the era-traversing collection captured a mood of romance that ran through the season, one which was influenced by history but distinctly modern in construction and anything but saccharine.

At his debut womenswear show for Dior, Jonathan Anderson evoked the pannier waistline – another surprising trend of the season, particularly as it coincided with the opening of ‘Marie Antoinette Style’ at the V&A – as well as bows, lace necklines and shoes adorned with twisting satin roses. The Irish designer said he was interested in the ‘tension’ between fantasy and reality: ‘past converses with the present, the bold with the calm, the grand with the commonplace,’ he said. Similar juxtapositions ran through Simone Rocha’s S/S 2026 collection in London, a designer who has long contrasted sweetness and subversion. Her crinoline skirts were purposely skewiff; ruffled-edge bags were shaped like pillows, while panels of clear vinyl sat atop delicate silk gowns.

Meanwhile, at Givenchy, Sarah Burton rallied against the idea that power dressing for women means simply donning a man’s suit. Instead, she sought to find authority in the feminine, from pearl-adorned bra tops to frilled mini dresses which flared like tutus. ‘I was looking at female power,’ she said. ’And how to empower women through archetypes of the feminine, an iconography of the female.’

Bold silhouettes signalled new chapters

Like this season’s prismatic palette, designers were equally expressive when it came to shape and form: spanning the playful, the sculptural and the streamlined, silhouettes echoed the month’s liberated spirit. There were Nicholas Aburn’s bold party dresses at Area, constructed from blown-up streamers, enormous pailettes or a shaggy mass of glimmering tinsel (such was their size, they transformed the proportions of the body); Louise Trotter’s undulating fibreglass tops and dresses at Bottega Veneta; or the hiked up shoulder line of Satoshi Kondo’s latest collection for Issey Miyake (the Japanese designer said he imagined the garments having a conscious of their own).

Contemporary riffs on pannier waistlines and crinoles ran through the season, including at Alaïa, where Pieter Mulier continues to define a powerful vision of womanhood with an eye to the contours of the body. ‘This collection is reduced, sculptural. Precise. Yet there is also an extremity to it, in heightened colours, bold shapes. Uncompromising,’ he said. Perhaps most extreme, though, were the bold forms of Duran Lantink’s Jean Paul Gaultier debut – like in his collections for his (currently paused) eponymous label, garments were exaggerated into almost cartoon-like proportions, riffing on the house’s signatures, from the sailor hat to trompe l’oeil prints. They may not have been for everyone, but in their audaciousness, they captured S/S 2026’s mood of abandon.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a fashion season, which concluded with the final day of Paris Fashion Week yesterday. An unprecedented number of debuts took place at fashion’s biggest houses – so many that it was, at times, hard to keep track – from Jonathan Anderson’s fantasy-inflected first take on the Dior woman to Matthieu Blazy’s joyful start at Chanel. With these blockbuster moments dominating much of the airtime, some intriguing displays from independent brands may have flown under the radar – from beautiful imagery to bookshop takeovers, museum displays and travels across the pond, these talented designers are doing things their own way.

Here, we select the best collections you might have missed from the S/S 2026 season.

Stefan Cooke

Stefan Cooke and Jake Burt have taken pleasure in doing things their own way over the past few seasons, opting to host relaxed gatherings rather than get caught up in the stress of producing runway shows. Last season, they invited friends, editors (and pets) to Burt’s east London shop, Jake’s, to try on pieces from their A/W 2025 collection. Amid jumper-swapping and chatter, an enormous cake by baker Louis Thompson provided a convivial centrepiece. This season, the pair took over Tenderbooks on Cecil Court, presenting their S/S 2026 collection with a newspaper-style lookbook and window display shot by Angus Williams. There was no cake this time, but generously filled ice buckets of beer (Thompson, however, did make an appearance as a model in the lookbook). The collection itself saw the pair’s unmistakable wardrobe take on skin-baring, thrown-together configurations – men in ecru trenches paired with tracksuit bottoms and ballet flats; women in chainmail mini-dresses and glam-rock boots, drop-waist pleats and chevron-detailed cinched jerseys. It made for an off-kilter but easy offering from two designers who somehow just get better season after season.

Lucila Safdie

Since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2021, Argentina-born Lucila Safdie has used her brand to explore various ideas of girlhood, drawing upon the worlds of cinema, literature and Tumblr to craft clothes that skew saccharine fantasies with the wearable edge of the real women in her life. While most young designers are caught up in personal fantasies, already Safdie has grounded herself in a community – outside of the studio, she hosts a well-attended monthly film club, screening features that have inspired her world.

This season marked Safdie’s first appearance on the London Fashion Week calendar, and she used the opportunity to do something quite unusual. Inviting editors to the Soho Review gallery, the designer staged a teen bedroom scene where her models – impervious to their visitors, as teenagers so often are – lounged on beds and tried on her S/S 2026 designs in mirrors. The collection used Helen Rappaport’s book The Romanov Sisters as a starting point, translating its tragic tale into a 2010-coded wardrobe that brought together Peter Pan-collared jersey polos, frill-edged shorts and cut-out cotton dresses in girly hues of pink, white and grey. It was a clever and distinctive introduction to the designer’s world, marking the arrival of an intriguing new storyteller in the city. We’re looking forward to seeing what she does next.

16Arlington

Marco Capaldo enjoyed a season off the schedule, turning up to cheer on friends at their displays instead (the designer attended Chopova Lowena and Conner Ives in support). Presenting his S/S 2026 collection with a sleek, pared-back lookbook circulated online, this season Capaldo was thinking about an ineffable quality of glamour that stretches through decades. 1920s lingerie, 1940s sleepwear, 1970s shirting and 1990s pencil skirts formed the framework of his collection, creating points of intrigue through an assemblage of tactile textures and embellishments – from a delicate brown feather trim floating from oversized trench coats to a dress formed of glimmering strands of sequins. These were clothes, said the brand, ‘made to be worn; to be seen in movement; to be enjoyed’.

Federico Cina

Italian designer Federico Cina named his S/S 2026 collection ‘Sottovoce’ – meaning to speak in a low or hushed tone. In keeping with the word’s dulcet spirit, he chose to forgo the circus of a runway show for something quieter during Milan Fashion Week. Inviting guests to Fondazione Sozzani, the designer created a ‘silent landscape’ where models gently embraced before paper backdrops, while others interacted with the cool blue set, slipping their arms into paper jackets affixed to the walls. The clothes themselves explored ideas of fragility and structure through workwear silhouettes and crisp tailoring in a palette of blue, white and grey, inspired by the muted paintings of Bologna-born artist Giorgio Morandi. The soothing presentation, said Cina, was about pausing to contemplate what it means to ‘inhabit a place, a body, a garment, the world’.

Vaquera

Over the past decade, Patric DiCaprio and Bryn Taubensee have established Vaquera as one of the most original forces in New York’s fashion scene. As the brand turned ten, they promptly upped sticks to Paris – keen, it would seem, on retaining their underdog status. This season, they were thinking about ideas of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste, presenting a cast of unruly, expressively dressed characters in an intimate showspace covered in draped curtains.

Proposing the idea that there’s a right place and time to wear anything, this season their typically berserk wardrobe mixed up romantic 18th century dress, square-shouldered two-piece sets of an 1980s bent, and surreal patchworked lingerie, worn with sneakers that were the product of a new collaboration with Nike – a sign of the ever-rising popularity of their witty, anti-glam aesthetic.

‘We moved to Paris this summer – iconically the centre of “good taste”,’ said the pair. ‘But what does that mean? When you start to see the world through our lens, you realise that these categories don’t exist… We are always examining why we are still doing this brand after so many years. The answer we always come back to is joy.’

Hodakova

Ellen Hodakova Larsson has hit her stride. ​​Marking her second Paris display since winning the LVMH Prize last year, the Swedish designer showed her S/S 2026 collection in the stony 1992 extension wing of the Musée Bourdelle. This season, as ever, saw a merging of stories from the designer's rural upbringing with scattered references of personal artistic intrigue. Using an array of salvaged materials from Swedish small towns (vintage bed linens, leather furniture covers, and umbrella boning), the collection looked to three different makers for inspiration – Donatello’s 1440 woodwork of Mary Magdalene, the architectural metalwork of sculptor Claes Oldenburg, and the heritage thatch work of Joar Nilsson, who helped her make several of the collection’s straw-woven pieces. From this melting pot, a highly original wardrobe emerged, spanning bulbous outerwear in heavy leather, furry shapes that recalled mittens, and her first experiments with shoes, which arrived in rounded, toe-capped shapes with sturdy wooden heels. It made for a rich, textural study in form and material – and yet another glimpse into Larsson’s endlessly interesting world.

August Barron

Shown at Gare des Mines in Paris, August Barron’s S/S 2026 collection marked a new era for Bror August Vestbø and Benjamin Barron – their first since rebranding from All-In to a portmanteau of their names, and a new chapter across the pond in Paris (where they’ve been based for less than a year).

The collection continued the duo’s signature approach to character dressing, this time channelling the suburban housewife of 1950s America through a lens of ‘subversion and desire’. Inspired by Japanese bondage magazines in which women’s clothing appears caught mid-undress, garments were suspended in moments of ‘tension and release’ – shirts and cardigans lifted and frozen above the chest, double-layered hoodies revealing lace bras beneath, and dresses twisting across the body as zippers sliced through midriffs.

Styled by longtime collaborator Lotta Volkova, the show saw models – including photographer Petra Collins – bounce animatedly through the space, ruffling the heads of onlookers on the front row. August Barron might have moved on from All-In, but their irreverent spirit, evidently, remains intact.

Much has been made of the ‘Great Fashion Reshuffle’ this past season, which saw as many as 14 creative directors debut their first collections at some of the industry’s biggest houses. While the clothes were, of course, the main attraction, the S/S 2026 shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris also counted a number of striking beauty moments among them.

Notably, this season pointed to shifts that are happening in beauty and fashion more generally, as the line between the two industries continues to blur and many fashion brands are branching beyond the traditional categories of make-up and hair to explore how fragrance, skincare and wellness can create novel new experiences of their clothes, both on the runways and off.

The best unconventional beauty moments of S/S 2026

For the most part, the beauty looks this season were kept relatively simple, with minimally made-up faces and slicked-back or classically blown-out tresses dominating the runways. There were a few notable exceptions: Rick Owens complemented his operatically gothic designs with eerie black contact lenses, while Glenn Martens at Maison Margiela outfitted models in logo mouthpieces that gave them a root-canal-ready appearance.

At Alaïa, Pieter Mulier combined his fluid designs with cascading, knotted hair extensions, while The Row featured sinuous up-dos held together with various combs. Meanwhile the unabashed sensuality of Haider Ackermann’s S/S 2026 collection for Tom Ford featured lacquered lips in different colours, designed by make-up artist Lucy Bridgeto match the runway floor. Not long after the show, Bridge was announced as the brand's first-ever global make-up artist, a fitting move for both Bridge and the brand, who share a penchant for opulent, cinematic glamour.

One wonders whether the appointment marks a new era for Tom Ford Beauty, which set a new standard for luxury in the industry when it launched in the early 2000s with lipsticks that cost a then unheard of $50 and the launch ‘Black Orchid’, a now-iconic fragrance made from one of the darkest, most elusive flowers on earth (and which was recently the subject of a new campaign starring Tilda Swinton). The brand’s shock factor when it comes to beauty has since mellowed, but with Bridge and Ackermann at its helm, could this now change? It will need to, if Tom Ford Beauty wants to stand out in a market that in the past five years alone has become saturated with new lines from luxury houses, including Hermès, Prada, Dries Van Noten, Celine, Rabanne and, most recently, Louis Vuitton.

The proliferation of beauty brands by fashion houses is a testament to the increasingly symbiotic relationship between the two industries, and this season proved that that relationship is poised to grow even closer. The most notable example of this is the launch of Coperni’s C+ line, a collection of skincare-infused activewear that is designed to deliver a blend of probiotics and prebiotics to the wearer. ‘We are rethinking the connection between clothing and the body,’ said designers Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer in a press release. ‘Beyond covering, protecting or expressing, garments can now care for, nourish, and support the body where it feels most alive. That vision gave birth to carewear: a new category of clothing with a new role to play.’

Whether skincare-infused clothing will take off is yet to be seen (although the success of Skims’ ‘collagen yarn’ face mask suggests it might), but New York brand Eckhaus Latta also incorporated skincare into its latest collection, with models walking down the runway in limited-edition eye masks designed by skincare brand Dieux.

When it came to fragrance, Vaquera released a scent designed with Comme des Garçons Parfums a few days before its Paris show. The brand's first fragrance is 'a scent that feels like a perfume you once knew, then forgot, and have just stumbled upon in the back of a clearance shelf'. Designed to evoke the feeling of being young in the 1990s-early 2000s, it recreates the scent of perfume ads in 1990s fashion magazines, the scent of freshly shampooed hair, and ‘the secret of your childhood car’s air conditioning’.

London-based brand Chopova Lowena pumped its runway with a rotation of its three fragrances, which it launched earlier this year, adding to the high-energy atmosphere of the show’s cheerleader-inspired collection. Its designers are certainly not the first to incorporate fragrance into their collections – Willy Chavarria perfumed Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse with Parfums de Marly’s Haltane fragrance for his A/W 2024 collection and Demna frequently tapped scent artist Sissel Tolaas to perfume Balenciaga's shows when he was still creative director of the house (including a scent of antiseptic, blood, money and petrol for its S/S 2020 show).

For his first show at Gucci this season, however, Demna played with beauty in a different way, spoofing wellness culture in The Tiger, a film that accompanied the collection and saw stars Demi Moore, Edward Norton and more falling down a psychedelic wormhole after taking a ‘homopathic, collagen-based root-infused vitamin tincture’.

Unlike with fashion, runway shows these days hold little sway when it comes to the beauty trends we see on the street. Beauty’s trend arbiters tend to be celebrities and influencers, and while certain beauty moments can go viral (cue Pat McGrath’s glassy skin for Maison Margiela), the beauty looks that stand out from the shows tend not to seep into the culture at large (McGrath’s at-home glassy skin mask did not find wide commercial success).

This season, however, hinted that the relationship between beauty trends and the runway might be changing. Not because fashion brands are presenting make-up and hair looks that people want to recreate at home, but because they are finding novel ways to bring other aspects of the industry – namely skincare – to the public and using fragrance to amplify the experience of their clothes. As wearable wellness becomes increasingly popular, it will be interesting to see if major fashion houses start incorporating developments in skincare, fragrance, and wellness into their collections moving forward, dissolving the line between what we typically think of as beauty and fashion.

It was meant to mark 50 years since the founding of Giorgio Armani, the eponymous fashion line that would become an empire. The stage was set for a career-spanning exhibition at the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan’s storied arts institution, which would see fashion enter its hallowed halls for the first time in history, taking its place amid the masterpieces of Raphael, Caravaggio and Tintoretto – a symbolic gesture of Mr Armani’s unique place in Italian culture. He is, after all, fashion’s ‘maestro’ – an enduring arbiter of elegance, whose five decades in business have seen him define Italian style and sell it to the world.

At 7pm on Sunday evening (28 September 2025), guests gathered at the Pinacoteca di Brera for an altogether different type of homage – earlier this month, it was announced that Mr Armani had died, aged 91. The setting was prescient: the Brera neighbourhood is the heart of the Armani business; just a few streets away from the gallery is Palazzo Orsini on Via Borgonuovo, the long-time headquarters of the Armani group and the designer’s personal residence. Well-wishers lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the show’s guest list, which included Richard Gere (Mr Armani designed the clothing for his star-making 1980 movie American Gigolo), Cate Blanchett and Lauren Hutton, as well as the fashion designers Dries Van Noten, Sir Paul Smith and Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared2.

‘Milano, per Amore’: inside Giorgio Armani’s final runway show

For the occasion, the gallery’s cloistered courtyard was lit by hundreds of lantern-style lamps, while a pearlescent runway ran around the length of the space. Just before 8pm, the show began: presented to a live piano accompaniment, it was an ode to the two places most important to Mr Armani – Milan and Pantelleria, the volcanic island off the coast of Sicily where the designer traditionally spent his summers. ‘Everything appears fluid, light, as if ready to yield to the island’s winds,’ read the accompanying collection notes, with silhouettes capturing the louche glamour and sinuous line which defined Mr Armani’s collections. Colours ranged from natural hues of grey and beige to vivid blues evocative of island waters. The closing looks featured shimmering crystal adornment – another Armani hallmark.

The show finished with Agnes Zogla, one of Mr Armani’s longtime muses, walking the length of the runway in a gown that featured the designer’s portrait rendered in crystal (the same portrait appeared on a white T-shirt delivered to guests as the show’s invitation). After a rousing ovation, guests filtered up the stairway and into the gallery itself, where they got a private view of ‘Giorgio Armani: Milano, per Amore’, which sees pieces from the last 50 years – for both men and women – displayed in the institution’s permanent galleries. Meticulously curated by Mr Armani before his death, the pieces were chosen to interplay with the artworks on display in the various rooms, including Giovanni Bellini’s masterpiece, ‘St Mark Preaching in Alexandria’.

‘Giorgio Armani represents one of the highest pinnacles of Italian creativity, expressed in the essentiality and rigour of form, a rigour that evolved from aesthetic to in the sense that it permeated his way of living and working,’ said Angelo Crespi, director of the Pinacoteca di Brera. ‘In this, Giorgio Armani embodies the character of Milan most fully. He is also the most emblematic expression of the culture of Brera... [this exhibition] highlights his extraordinary talent and inimitable style.’

The coming months will see inevitable questions arise about the multi-billion-dollar empire’s future: it was recently revealed that Mr Armani had instructed his family to slowly sell off the business to a luxury conglomerate (his preferences being LVMH, L’Oréal, EssilorLuxottica or another of ‘equal standing’). But for this evening, those conversations were put on hold. Instead, in true Armani style, it ended with a party: on the courtyard’s balconies, over bowls of pasta and risotto, guests raised a glass to the life of a true fashion great.

‘Giorgio Armani: Milano, per Amore‘ is on at Pinacoteca di Brera until 11 January 2026.

The invitation for Dario Vitale’s debut runway show for Versace was a letter, unsigned, which instructed guests to ‘wear something reckless, as though mocking propriety… the curtains are drawn, the wine is chilled’. Delivered just the morning of the show – which for some weeks has been shrouded with secrecy as to what form the presentation would take – it was the first glimpse of what to expect from the former Miu Miu design director’s tenure, who in succeeding Donatella Versace is the first to helm the brand outside of the family.

Taking place at Milan Fashion Week yesterday evening, the show itself was a departure from the glossy, bombshell glamour which defined Donatella Versace’s tenure and has become synonymous with the Italian house – backstage after the show, Vitale said he was searching out something ‘real’. In the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, an opulent former home-turned-gallery housing works by Caravaggio and Da Vinci, the shift was signalled by signs of disarray: amid cabinets of antiques and curiosities, an unmade bed at its centre was surrounded with empty glasses, an ashtray and packets of headache pills, their contents spilling onto the floor.

Dario Vitale’s debut collection dives into Gianni Versace’s archive: ‘there are so many layers to celebrate’

What followed was a collection rooted in the 1980s – and Gianni Versace’s work during the era – in a heady mix-up of pieces which captured the idea of liberated dressing and raw sensuality which has long been a part of the label (albeit in undone style). There were colourful slouchy bombers and vests sliced away at the sides to reveal the torso; boldly printed and striped jeans, worn high at the waist (backstage, Vitale said that this was the way he liked to wear his own jeans); body-clinging all-in-ones for men and dresses which scooped dangerously low at the back for women, revealing the line of models’ underwear beneath. Tailoring was baggy and oversized, and came in boldly coloured hues – evocative of those you might find on the rail of a vintage store.

Vitale, who is 42, said he gravitated towards the 1980s because of his mother, who was an avid Versace client when he was a teenager. ‘I remember looking at my mum wearing Versace,’ he said backstage after the show. ‘[There was] this kind of bold attitude, Italian fearlessness, but always in control – there was always this austerity to Gianni’s collections which I wanted to bring back’. This ‘austerity’ was figured in more sober, almost bourgeois, brown-leather footwear and ladylike handbags, but also in a black dress and matching tailored suit in black satin which had been creased across its surface – the latter capturing the mood of twisted glamour which ran throughout ‘[Versace] is not just about an evening gown to the floor,’ he said, though intricately beaded skirts and bra tops – evocative of the house’s signature chainmail – will no-doubt satisfy the Versace consumer’s desire for dress up.

But he was also thinking about his contemporaries: how would they wear Versace today? He settled on the embellished waistcoat which had been teased earlier in the day via a series of Tyrone Lebon-shot images, which has a distinctly vintage feel. ‘We [made everything] a little more real,’ he said. ‘I know a lot of friends who would die to wear an embroidered leather vest, but to go to the disco club, not to go to the Met.’

Another reference was Pasolini’s ‘Theorem’, in which the arrival of a mysterious ‘visitor’ at a middle-class home shakes up the family inside. ‘There is this very proper, perfect bourgeois family and then at a certain point this person comes and destroys their life,’ he said. ‘But he does not actually destroy it – it’s an awakening for those people, because at a certain point they start to have sex, they start to drink, they start to discover food.’ At Versace, Vitale hopes to be a similarly disruptive force, stripping back conceptions and ushering in an energetic new vision: sexually charged and ‘reckless’, one that harkens back to the dress codes of Gianni Versace without nostalgia.

‘When I went to Gianni Versace’s archive, it was more about the feeling of Gianni, the feeling of this company, the feeling of the legacy of Versace, more than the pieces themselves,’ said Vitale. ‘There are so many layers to celebrate, that’s what I wanted to do here.’

Stay tuned for more highlights from Milan Fashion Week S/S 2026 here.

There’s a new guard in town at Milan Fashion Week this season, as several of the city’s houses unveil newly instated creative directors. On Tuesday (23 September), subversive Georgian designer Demna (formerly of Balenciaga) kicked off proceedings with a soft launch of his Gucci tenure, inviting a select group of guests to a Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn-directed short film titled The Tiger (more on which in our MFW live blog). Debuts, indeed, have continued to be highlights of the week thus far. Following suit, Simone Bellotti stepped into the spotlight at Jil Sander on Wednesday: taking over from husband-and-wife duo Luke and Lucie Meier after their ten-year tenure, he laid down a new chapter for the label at the brand’s Milanese headquarters. Next up was ex-Miu Miu designer Dario Vitale, who showed his opening vision for Versace at a special event within the opulent Pinacoteca Ambrosiana on Friday, presenting a collection that dug into Gianni Versace’s 1980s archive.

Last night, all eyes were on Bottega Veneta as Louise Trotter presented her first collection for the Italian house (notably, Trotter is one of the few female appointments in the big fashion-house shake-up of 2025). Elsewhere, the city’s heavyweights – Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Ferragamo and Fendi – have delivered their typically high-production shows, while younger names have brought a buzz of new energy to the city, including London’s own KNWLS, which joins the Milan calendar for the first time. As well as new beginnings, there comes one poignant farewell – a runway show this evening in memory of the late Giorgio Armani, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 91. The presentation will honour an irreplaceable visionary who has shaped decades of Italian style and culture.

Here, reporting from Milan, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss and contributing fashion writer Orla Brennan pick MFW’s standout shows – as they happen.

Bottega Veneta

For her debut collection for Bottega Veneta – perhaps Milan Fashion Week’s most anticipated runway show – British designer Louise Trotter looked towards the figure of Louise Braggion, the house’s first female creative lead, who worked from the 1980s to early 2000s. The choice was pertinent: Trotter’s appointment was praised for making her a rare woman creative director at a major fashion house; here, she paid homage to a little-known female designer who never got her dues. Braggion, Trotter elaborated backstage after the show, was Italian, but moved to New York in the early 1980s to be a part of Andy Warhol’s Factory. ‘I was imagining her journey – her freedom of being an Italian woman, an archetypal Italian woman, moving to New York. And what that experience meant,’ she said. ‘It was a liberation for her. And that's really what I wanted to capture – a feeling of liberation.’

In the collection, this journey was imagined in what the collection notes described as capturing ‘the extravagance of Venice; the energy of New York; the essentialism of Milan’. Indeed, garments shifted between a feeling of rigour – broad-shouldered overcoats, high-neck shirts, plays on the tuxedo jacket – and flourishes of colour and texture, like a series of dresses and skirts constructed from a boldly-hued fabric comprising thousands of iridescent strands. Elsewhere, intrecciato – the brand’s signature leather-weaving technique – was used as a motif throughout, including across elongated epaulettes and collars. Trotter said that intrecciato was a metaphor for Bottega Veneta’s extraordinary craft abilities (she says working there as a designer is like being in a ‘candy box’), describing it as the ‘language’ of the house, a symbol of ‘collaboration and connectivity’. This was reflected in the soundtrack, an ‘audio artwork’ by Steve McQueen, which saw the voices of David Bowie and Nina Simone – each singing their version of Wild is the Wind – interwoven to arresting effect. Jack Moss

Dolce & Gabbana

The star guests of Dolce & Gabbana’s Saturday afternoon pyjama party were the cast of Devil Wears Prada, the sequel of which is currently filming in Milan. Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci) and Simone Ashley (an as-yet-unknown addition to the Runway team) arrived to the show at the Metropol theatre fashionably late, their appearance drawing an ovation from the gathered crowd (even Anna Wintour, the purported inspiration behind Streep’s fearsome Priestly smiled and waved across the runway; both wore their sunglasses throughout). As for whether the scene is being shot for the film or simply some clever marketing, the fictional team watched on from the front row as Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce presented a breezy summer offering that built on their menswear collection,‘Pyjama Boys’, shown earlier this summer. Bedwear continued to be the thematic thread here, moving from striped pyjama sets smattered with gobstopper jewels and crystals towards more sensually-charged lingerie silhouettes, from diaphanous sheer robes to lace bodysuits. This juxtaposition continued in the footwear, which was either a towering stiletto heel or a fluffy slipper – the duality of the molto glamoroso Dolce & Gabbana woman. A rye smile from Streep – who stayed in character until she walked off the runway and towards the backstage – signalled that the notoriously hard to please Miranda Priestly approved. Jack Moss

Ferragamo

Maximilian Davis’ latest collection for Ferragamo began with a 1925 photograph of silent movie actress Lola Todd wearing head-to-toe leopard print. It led the British designer to a consideration of the adoption of ‘Africana’ by Hollywood in the 1920s, a time period that has informed Davis’s recent collections for the house (partly because it was when founder Salvatore Ferragamo was working in Hollywood, a period of fertile creativity for the Italian shoemaker; partly because it was a decade which came with a sartorial freedom, especially for women). ‘I was interested in how certain materials, prints and textiles were imported from across Africa and the Caribbean into America and Europe to become a sign of status,’ Davis elaborated, translating this mood into devoré animal prints across sinuous, 1920s-inspired dresses, while fringing and bold leather jewellery featured throughout. Tailoring, for men and women, was particularly strong this season: Davis said he had been looking at the zoot suit – particularly those worn by figures of the Harlem Renaissance – which informed the louche, blown-up silhouette. Accessories, meanwhile, captured the liberatory mood of the 1920s in their broad strokes of colour and texture – from feathered handbags to vivid satin mules. ‘This was a moment where women were creating a new femininity,’ said Davis. ‘It was a celebration of freedom, a reclaiming of self.’ Jack Moss

Versace

Little was known of what to expect from Dario Vitale’s debut collection for Versace – even the show itself, which took place at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana yesterday evening, was secretive, confirmed just the day prior with a mysterious letter to attendees which instructed them to ‘wear something reckless, as though mocking propriety’. Indeed, on entering the intimate showspace at an opulent former private residence, there was evidence of a party in disarray: amid cabinets of antiques and curiosities, an unmade bed was surrounded with empty glasses, an ashtray and open packets of headache pills.

It was in this mood that Vitale – who was previously design director of Miu Miu – embraced in his first collection, one of liberated dressing, raw sensuality, and morning-after-the-night-before combinations, where glamour rubs up against reality. 1980s-inflected mini dresses scooped down the back to give a glimpse of models’ underwear beneath; vests were cut away at their sides to reveal the torso, and worn with boldly printed or striped jeans, while louche blown-up tailoring came in a multitude of brightly coloured hues. Meanwhile, Baroque prints, gold hardware and heavily beaded metallic skirts and bra tops – evocative of chainmail – were a nod to house codes.

Backstage after the show, Vitale said that he wanted to capture the spirit of Gianni Versace over direct references – as well as revealing different layers to the house beyond the glossy, va-va voom glamour with which it has become synonymous. ‘When I went to Gianni Versace’s archive, it was more about the feeling of Gianni, the feeling of this company, the feeling of the legacy of Versace, more than the pieces themselves,’ he said backstage after the show. ‘There are so many layers to celebrate, that’s what I wanted to do here.’ Jack Moss

READ: Dario Vitale makes sexually-charged debut for Versace, inspired by the ‘bold attitude’ of Gianni Versace

Tod’s

Since his appointment in 2023, Tod’s creative director Matteo Tamburini has been quietly building a wardrobe of modern, easy elegance for the Italian leatherwear brand. His show yesterday in Milan saw a pleasing refinement of his work thus far, unveiled with the help of a superstar cast that included Amber Valletta, Mariacarla Boscono, and Selina Forrest. Exploring the idea of ‘making your mark’, garments were made to fall and drape around the body without restriction, channeling what the designer described as an ‘essential lightness’. In practice, this saw wardrobe classics like blazers, trench coats and cabans cut in airy configurations that drew upon a springtime palette, punctuating neutral tones with saffron yellows and plenty of white. A highlight came in a series of wide-striped, asymmetrically-cut dresses and sets that referenced a 1970s sort of glamour, crafted with the formality of eveningwear in some looks and poolside ease in others. A special attention to the house’s signature material – leather – meanwhile, came in boxy leather jackets and slouchy hobo bags, while Tod’s beloved ‘Gommino’ car shoe was playfully reconfigured in a new toe-revealing sandal style. Smart, chic and wearable, it was a cohesive display from a designer fluent in the language of Italian style. Orla Brennan

Sportmax

Once an enormous refrigerated warehouse, for over 100 years the Frigoriferi Milanesi has been a place of preservation: first, for foodstuffs before electrical appliances entered the home, later, for precious objects like fur coats, fabrics and fur coats, protecting them from destruction by mildew and moths. This season, the Sportmax team (which is led by a series of anonymous designers) chose the location, which is now a multidisciplinary arts and culture centre, to stage a S/S 2026 collection which attempted a similar act of preservation – to create clothing with a ‘lasting beauty’. It made for a particularly strong outing from the Max Mara offshoot which largely diverted from the more experimental mood of recent seasons towards pared-back riffs on wardrobe staples, from plays on the trench coat (they came with accentuated storm flaps and a narrow belted waistline, while others were cropped in silhouette) to tailoring re-made in sheer organza, lending lightness. Earrings and bracelets adorned with bells which rang as models walked evoked the idea of precious heirlooms, while a mood of romance came in diaphanous silk dresses printed with illustrations derived from depictions of flowers painted using Japanese cosmetics, like lipstick and nail varnish. The design team called ‘a fantasy grounded in the practical realities of urban life’ – in the bright white showspace, it felt just that. Jack Moss

Giuseppe Di Morabito

Giuseppe Di Morabito isn’t afraid to bring a bit of theatre to Milan Fashion Week. Last season, he staged a futuristic tale with a talking humanoid sculpture called Ameca at its centre, offering up a display that ‘embodied the unsettling power of technology.’ Yesterday in Milan, the Italian designer staged yet another dramatic performance, this time telling the age-old myth of Icarus. Imagining the ‘perilous risk of the fall,’ dancers were suspended from the ceiling as a cinematic soundtrack created by AI played through the room. Beneath them came Di Morabito’s models, dressed in silhouettes inspired by relics of ancient times: porcelain corsets detailed with roses, macramé encrusted with glistening stones, crystal-adorned armour and dresses crafted from pearls. A few models wore wings forged from metal. Throughout, a close attention to the body appeared in various expressions – from fragile pieces crafted from stockings to frayed lace on waist-snatching bodices, grounding the collection in the designer’s love for the art of corsetry. The show, said the brand, marks a new chapter whereby each collection will be a continuation of the last, building a story that expands season by season. Where the tale turns next, only Di Morabito knows. Orla Brennan

MM6 Maison Margiela

Last night in Milan, the MM6 show was a reminder that often the best examples of style are glimpsed on city streets. In lieu of a runway, the anonymous studio team behind the Maison Margiela diffusion line painted a path on the pavement in the house’s signature white. Models came past in a flurry of Post-it note colours that shuffled up ideas of the contemporary wardrobe. Silhouettes were streamlined and hemlines short, while transparent inserts, trompe l’oeil cutaway shapes, and end-of-fabric roll raw hems nodded to the house’s deconstructed codes. The styling of the show leaned into a feeling of eclecticism, with 1960s-style twinsets, classic macs, shirting, and tailoring jumbled with denim – one of MM6’s strongest categories (this season, appearing in formal cuts that took after suit trousers). Accessories, meanwhile, added glimmers of the surreal, including shiny metallic flats, futuristic strip sunglasses, and jewellery that mimicked cocktail glasses. Channelling the idea that ‘impromptu is the law’ on the street, the display was a fresh love letter to city dressing, fittingly staged in one of the world’s great style capitals. Orla Brennan

Max Mara

Madame de Pompadour, the influential mistress of French monarch Louis XV, was the latest to be inducted into the ‘pantheon’ of Max Mara women, a series of notable female figures from history that creative director Ian Griffiths looks to for inspiration each season. Praising her intellect, power and wit – as well as her links with the great thinkers of the day – she inspired a S/S 2026 collection which the British designer called ‘Rococo Modern’. Drawing a link between the opulent flourishes of Rococo and the New Romantic movement of the 1980s (of which he was a part, as evidenced by a photograph of himself from the period on his moodboard for the season), the collection fused dramatic flourishes – a twisted ‘corona’ sleeve on a trench coat; fluttering ‘petals’ of organza; opulent floral brocades – with the sleek, reduced wardrobe of the Max Mara woman. Elsewhere, Madame de Pompadour’s signature coif was referenced in the hair, here held in place with a thick black band – a motif which also appeared on narrow black belts which looped around models’ waists, exposed by midriff-bearing tailoring. Jack Moss

Prada

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons continue to grapple with the information onslaught of contemporary living: how can we find freedom in our algorithmic age? A sequel to the house’s menswear show, presented in June of this year, the setting was the Deposito at Fondazione Prada, once again stripped bare of the usual elaborate sets and the upper windows revealed to let the light in. A vast lacquered floor, in vivid orange, provided the only adornment to the space, suggesting at once a feeling of uplift and something more industrial – it was close to international orange, the hue is used in air safety and engineering. The opening look was a riff on the uniform: a military shirt with epaulettes, pleat-front pants and black leather work shoes (albeit here worn with gobstopper, candy-hued earrings and a mock-croc handbag).

It was from this starting point – the uniform – that the pair diverted, seeking to build what Mrs Prada described backstage as ‘a new kind of elegance’. ‘In a uniform you are protected, you are neutral, it allows you to think,’ added Simons, the collection exploring the idea that you can feel as dressed up – or indeed as powerful – in a uniform as a dress, or vice versa. As such, moments of glamour were interjected – a juxtaposition to the sober working uniform – from opera gloves to flourishes of gems and crystals, or ballooning protusions of colourful taffeta. There was an idea of collage to spliced-together skirts that featured panels of ruffles and pleats, while others had straps that looped over the shoulder in what the pair called a re-examination of the perennial elements of a woman’s wardrobe (draped bra tops followed a similar rationale, seeking ‘shape without structure’).

‘The future is unknown. This collection is about reacting to the uncertain – clothes that can shift, change, adapt. In the combination of the different elements, in this idea of composition, there is a choice and freedom, authority and agency for the woman wearing them,’ said Mrs Prada of the collection, which came down to the idea of female autonomy – or indeed, human autonomy, to make a choice amid the noise of contemporary living. ‘There is the licence to combine different elements, to compose, and there is also a physical liberation, moving away from fashion as a sculptural imposition on the body of a woman,’ added Simons. ‘We shifted into the opposite – physical emancipation, but also freedom as a state of mind.’ Jack Moss

Read our full Prada S/S 2026 show report

Emporio Armani

In the first of two collections to be shown this week that were created by Giorgio Armani prior to his death earlier this month, aged 91, Thursday afternoon’s Emporio Armani show was an understandably emotional moment – a swansong for a designer who changed conceptions of Italian style and built a fashion empire (the future of which is still being decided: Mr Armani instructed in his will for it to be gradually sold off to a luxury goods conglomerate, his preferences being LVMH, L’Oreal, EssilorLuxottica or another of ‘equal standing’). Continuing his louche vision of elegance, inspired by the idea of travel (the set once again evoked his beloved Pantelleria), the collection featured breezy and diaphanous tailoring in hues of Armani greige, while obi-belt fastenings – worn over dresses – continued a lifelong fascination with Japan and its ritual dress codes. A glimmering final act, meanwhile, had a party spirit – crystallised bikini tops and sheer sequined T-shirts would not look out of place in an Ibiza nightclub. The show ended not with Mr Armani’s usual runway bow, but with the gathered attendees turning towards an empty runway exit where he once would have stood. From there, rousing applause and a standing ovation – one which will no doubt continue on Sunday, with the presentation of the designer’s final collection for Giorgio Armani, at Pinacoteca di Brera art gallery. Jack Moss

KNWLS

Usually an adrenalised highlight of the London Fashion Week calendar – showing in dimly lit underground car parks and warehouses – KNWLS has decamped to Milan for the first time in its history. Led by namesake Charlotte Knowles and her partner in work and life, Alexandre Arsenault, the move marks a defining step up for the brand as it joins fashion’s global heavyweights. KNWLS used the moment to debut a collaboration with Nike, merging its unabashedly sexy codes with the sportswear juggernaut’s breadth of technical resources. A collection of ‘fearless sensuality’ that moves from gym to club with ease, KNWLS signatures – corsetry and sensually cut cycling shapes – came in scuba-style tops, Nike Flyknit corsets, languid button-down dresses, and slinky tapered leggings crafted in Tencel fabrics. Accessories, meanwhile, saw models sling new nylon and leather versions of the popular ‘Razr’ bag – now finished with a rubber base inspired by Nike’s first waffle outsole – over shoulders, while vintage football shoes informed corset-laced reworks of the Air Max Muse. Elsewhere, severe leather outerwear with domed shoulders and cinched waists created an armour-like figure for the KNWLS woman this season, while a brown tartan storyline in floating dresses and strap-detailed, low-slung mini skirts reminded of the breakthrough designs that first put KNWLS on the map in the late 2010s. A celebration of the south London brand’s raw spirit at a pivotal point in its trajectory, the high-octane Milan display proved you can take KNWLS out of London, but you can’t take London out of KNWLS. Orla Brennan

Jil Sander

Simone Bellotti chose Jil Sander’s headquarters on Piazza Castello for his debut show as creative director, a choice which suggested a homecoming. It has been eight years since the brand has shown here, with Bellotti’s predecessors, Lucie and Luke Meier, choosing to show at other locations across the city. Arriving at the minimalist headquarters, which had been installed with a ramped black runway for the occasion, there was plenty of anticipation: over a short but impactful tenure at Bally, Bellotti has become known as the fashion editor’s favourite designer. He may not have garnered the column inches of some of his more well-known contemporaries, but he has an eye for great clothes (and accessories) with enough of a twist to keep them fresh.

This continued here: opening with Guinevere Van Seenus – a longtime face of the label, appearing in some of the brand’s most memorable campaigns – the collection was a streamlined offering for men and women that returned to the idea of reduction synonymous with the brand’s namesake designer (Sander was a master of stripping away the extraneous; as such, she remains forever linked with 1990s minimalism). Tailoring was a highlight: jackets and overcoats were cleverly constructed to nip the contours of the waist, or came with shortened lapels, while skirts were slashed across their front, Lucio Fontana style. Moments of vivid colour across shrunken, colour-blocked knitwear felt particularly Jil Sander, while accessories were strong: from intriguingly shaped lace-up shoes with tiny in-set kitten heels to crescent-shaped handbags, there was plenty to desire here.

‘[It’s] a balance between structure, tailoring, and classicism, and modernity and lightness,’ Bellotti said post-show. ‘Trying to reveal the body in a subtle way. I really think Jil Sander has always had these two elements.’ In this balance, Bellotti struck a note of rare clarity that seemed to resonate. Afterwards, the mood was buoyant: consensus was that these were clothes you wanted to wear, now. And in a sea of debuts, that’s enough to stand out. Jack Moss

No.21

Alessandro Dell’Acqua is something of a film fanatic – an obsession that has trickled into his cinematic ideas of womanhood throughout his years at Brioni, Rochas, and latterly at his own brand No. 21 (named after his birthday and lucky number). Last season, it was the evocative worlds of Sofia Coppola that inspired the Italian designer, with scenes from Marie Antoinette and The Virgin Suicides informing a collection that offset expressive bow-shaped motifs in heavy wools with the girlish naivety of pastel-hued slip dresses. This season, however, the designer’s thoughts were on real life. Listening to the news each day, he began to question the superfluous role of a fashion designer amid a world in crisis.

Not a political statement, but an affirmation of his love of his craft – and of carrying on when things feel meaningless – the resulting collection he presented in Milan last night dug down into his design obsessions. A desire for lightness came in heat-pleated duchesse silk, airy polka dot dresses of a 1940s feeling, sensual side-slit sheer chiffon skirts and sweet cotton poplin shorts and shirting. Layering up pieces in playful configurations, colours and textures, meanwhile, evoked a feeling of chic eclecticism – mixing various forms of tartan, nostalgic florals, shiny metallic skirting and soft cashmere knitwear, thrown around models’ shoulders with a sense of ease. ‘I chose to forgo all symptoms of nostalgia, transforming them rather into a choral tale of experiences of fashion and design,’ the designer said following the show. Orla Brennan

Fendi

Silvia Venturini Fendi continued to have fun in her second season overseeing Fendi’s men’s and womenswear collections with an uplifting S/S 2026 show at the brand’s headquarters on Via Solari (previously heading up menswear and accessories, since the departure of Kim Jones last year, she has taken over the women’s collection as well). Staging her show amid a playful runway set by Marc Newson, comprising stacks of colourful blocks on which audience members perched, the designer said she was thinking about the idea of a ‘future summer’, translating moments of nostalgia into a sleek, contemporary vision. It made for an eclectic outing, with sportswear elements coming to the fore: ladylike pleated skirts and dresses had been reconstructed with adjustable toggle fastenings, while the sweatsuit was instilled with new glamour (crafted from sheer fabric, it came with slices of shearling across the jacket and pants). Colour was also vivid – a psychedelic palette matched Newson’s set – meeting moments of embellishment and pattern, from clusters of paillettes and lace motifs to 1960s-style flowers, cut out of garments. Particularly appealing were the accessories: enormous woven totes came in primary hues, while a version of the ‘Peekaboo’ flipped open to reveal a sequin-lined interior – the kind of surprise that Venturini Fendi loves. Jack Moss

For more of the week’s latest happenings, see our Milan Fashion Week live blog

Welcome to Milan Fashion Week S/S 2026

Milan Fashion Week arrives in the Italian fashion capital this week with plenty of intrigue: opening collections from Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander and Dario Vitale at Versace begin the over-dozen creative director debuts which will unfold over the coming weeks (at the end of the month in Paris, there will be Jonathan Anderson’s first womenswear collection for Dior, as well as debuts from Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier and Pierpaolo Piccioli at Balenciaga). Also in Milan, new Gucci creative director Demna will host an intimate screening of ‘The Tiger’, a film by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, which reveals his vision for Italian mega-house ahead of his runway debut in February. He’s promised a vision that’s ‘unapologetically sexy, extravagant, and daring’ – the fashion world awaits.

Elsewhere, a poignant Giorgio Armani runway show on Sunday evening will pay tribute to the house’s namesake designer, who passed away earlier this month, aged 91. Taking place at the Pinacoteca di Brera, the black-tie event will no doubt celebrate his unique place in Italian culture – a designer with an unerring eye for beauty, who built a fashion empire. Other notable moments include a Milan debut from London-based label KNWLS, as well as shows from the city’s design heavyweights – among them Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Ferragamo and Fendi.

Alongside our daily report on the shows, to bring Milan Fashion Week to life this season, the Wallpaper* editors on the ground will be offering a real-time look at the weekend’s happenings – from behind-the-scenes glimpses to access to the shows, presentations and parties. Stay tuned.

Demna introduces his new chapter of Gucci with a screening of a new Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn-directed short

Yesterday, Georgian designer Demna (previously of Balenciaga) revealed an opening glimpse of his tenure as creative director of Gucci with a collection titled ‘La Famiglia’ presented via a Catherine Opie-shot lookbook. Conjuring a series of Gucci archetypes, from the bombshell ‘La Bomba’ to ‘La Principessa’, he promised a vision that’s ‘unapologetically sexy, extravagant, and daring’. This evening in Milan at the Palazzo Mezzanotte, guests gathered for part two of the reveal: an intimate screening of ‘The Tiger’, a short film by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn which celebrates the collection in lieu of a runway show (his first show will take place next February). Starring Demi Moore, Edward Norton, Keke Palmer, Alia Shawkat and Kendall Jenner, among others, the glossy melodrama features the fictional Barbara Gucci (Moore) ‘head of Gucci international and chairman of California’ coming unspun after an ‘unexpected turn’ at a family gathering for her birthday. We won’t give any more spoilers – you can watch from 12am CEST, or for now, watch the trailer below. Jack Moss

Simone Bellotti’s new dawn at Jil Sander

For his Jil Sander debut, Simone Bellotti took it home: the Italian designer, previously of Bally, chose the brand’s Milanese headquarters to stage his S/S 2026 collection, looping a ramped black runway through the modernist, white-walled interiors (prior to Lucie and Luke Meier, his predecessors, the Piazza Castello address was home to all of the brand’s runway presentations). Opening with Guinevere Van Seenus – a model long associated with Jil Sander, having appeared in some of its most memorable campaigns – the collection was an exercise in clarity and reduction, stripping away the extraneous in the way that the brand’s namesake founder was so adept.

Particularly strong was tailoring – jackets and overcoats were gently nipped at the waist or came with shortened lapels – while moments of vivid colour came in shrunken knitwear, some slashed away at the back (slashes also appeared on skirts, reminiscent of the work of Argentinian-Italian artist Lucio Fontana). Accessories were also a highlight: ladylike handbags in metallic silver, and colourful lace-up shoes – intriguingly sculpted at the front – with tiny in-set kitten heels. The mood in the room was buoyant: post-show chatter was emphatic in praise for the designer, who presented a collection at once palette cleansing and highly desirable (several editors were already making shopping lists). Jack Moss

Loro Piana stages presentation in the art-filled Palazzo Citteri

This past December, the 18th-century Palazzo Citteri in Brera reopened as a museum of contemporary art in a renovation by Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA). Today, its art-covered walls – including works by Boccioni, Modigliani, Morandi, and Picasso – provided the backdrop to an intimate presentation of Loro Piana’s S/S 2026 collection. Conceived as an interplay between the space and garment, the collection was inflected with a broad use of colour and amalgam of prints, rendered using Loro Piana’s superlative fabrics (the Italian house is best known for its ultra-fine cashmeres and merino wools). Accessories, which were a highlight, felt like objets d’arts in themselves – from necklaces hung with silver charms or giant shells, to sculptural millinery in boldly coloured hues. Jack Moss

Fendi has fun with accessories in vividly-hued new collection

A closer look at the bags from Fendi’s S/S 2026 show, which creative director Silvia Venturini Fendi – in her second season designing both the house’s men’s and womenswear collections – said was about imagining a ‘future summer’ (befitting the uplifting mood, the set was a series of colourful blocks conceived by the artist Marc Newson). Presented as part of a S/S 2026 collection comprising floral motifs, vivid collages of paillettes and candy-hued knit two sets, this season’s bags were equally as playful, from primary-colour woven tote bags to version of the Peekaboo which flipped open to reveal a lining made entirely of sequins. ‘Our aim is to innovate and maintain the Fendi vision while at the same time preserving our unique traditions and craftsmanship – always adding a fun touch,’ said Venturini Fendi. Jack Moss

Max Mara sees Ian Griffiths look towards ‘queen of Rococo’ Madame de Pompadour

In the bright morning light of the Palazzo del Ghiaccio, Ian Griffiths presented a Max Mara collection titled ‘Rococo Modern’, melding his streamlined vision of femininity with more dramatic flourishes – from organza petals to trench coats with ruffled ‘corona’ shoulders. As ever, Griffiths looked to a notable woman from history for inspiration (as he deems it, the ‘pantheon’ of Max Mara women) – this season, Madame de Pompadour, who the designer praised for her ‘power, influence and intellect’, as well as her purported wit. In the collection, she was conjured not only in the clothing – its ’barely-there’ palette was inspired by those favoured by the so-called ‘Queen of Rococo’ – but also a riff on her famed hairstyle, here held in place with a black hair band. Jack Moss

A first look at the Prada show set

Back in June, Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada uncovered the windows of the Deposito space at Fondazione Prada, where the house always stages its fashion shows, for the very first time (previously, the hangar-like building had only been artificially-lit). Closely echoing the airy feeling of its men’s show in the summer, sunlight streams through the building once again – though rather than an empty space covered with white fluffy flower rugs, as it was in June, this time the floor is painted in a lacquered sea of orange. Last season executing a ‘light, fresh’ and ‘human’ collection that the pair described as their ‘easiest’ to date, if the sister set is anything to go by, their women’s offering will likely be as instinctive and free. Stay tuned. Orla Brennan

Freedom, lightness and transformation at Prada

Clothes that can ‘shift, change [and] adapt’ described Miuccia Prada of Prada’s S/S 2026 collection, co-created with Raf Simons and shown on a glossy orange runway this afternoon at Fondazione Prada in Milan. As such it was a bold and colourful amalgam of elements, contrasting elements of the Prada uniform – from military shirts to boiler suits – with flourishes of glamour, often in a single look. Elsewhere, there was a re-exploration of the classic elements of a wardrobe – skirts were held up with straps that looped over the shoulder, while draped bra tops ‘had shape without structure’. ‘We started from a sense of freedom – of expressing this through clothes,’ said Simons. ‘There is the license to combine different elements, to compose, and there is also a physical liberation, moving away from fashion as a sculptural imposition on the body of a woman.’ Jack Moss

An emotional Emporio Armani show marks Giorgio Armani’s swansong for the label

Held at the Tadao Ando-designed Teatro/Armani, this afternoon’s Emporio Armani show marked the final collection from the label designed by Giorgio Armani before his death earlier this month, aged 91. Continuing a vision of louche elegance with references to world dressing which would define his career – like a series of obi-style belts which wrapped around dresses cut with his typically sinuous line – it marked the first of a pair of emotional farewells to the designer taking place this Milan Fashion Week (the second will take place on Sunday with the presentation of his final Giorgio Armani collection, a black-tie affair held at Pinacoteca di Brera art gallery). At the end of the show, instead of the usual runway bow, the runway exit was left empty – a poignant moment which prompted a standing ovation and rousing applause. Jack Moss

Catch up on the best shows of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2026 so far

It’s been a week of fresh ideas in Milan, with shows from fashion’s heavy hitters and a smattering of younger names unfolding across the city. So far, Simone Bellotti’s debut at Jil Sander stands as a resounding highlight, seeing him stamp down a sharp and highly desirable new era for the brand following Luke and Lucie Meier’s departure this year. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, meanwhile, presented a liberated S/S 2026 collection yesterday afternoon, positing a ‘new elegance’ for a world in flux. In between, Silvia Venturini Fendi had her fun with textures and colour in a playful S/S 2026 outing for Fendi, and London-based KNWLS launched a collaboration with Nike in its first display in Milan. The arrival of the weekend brings yet more debuts, including Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta and Dario Vitale at Versace. More to follow as Milan unfolds. Orla Brennan

READ: The standout shows of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2026

Sportmax S/S 2026: ‘a fantasy grounded in the practical’

For over a century, the Frigoriferi Milanesi has been a storage place for precious objects in need of preservation: from foodstuffs before the advent of electricity to fur coats, fabrics and carpets to ward away mildew and moths. Staging its S/S 2026 show in the formerly industrial space – now a multi-disciplinary arts and culture centre – Sportmax attempted to capture a similar act of preservation, seeking what the collection notes called a ‘lasting beauty’. Earrings and bracelets adorned with tinkling bells captured the feeling of treasured heirlooms, while diaphanous organza tailoring, hazy floral prints (taken from paintings created using Japanese cosmetics) and architectural riffs on bomber and biker jackets were what the anonymous design team called ‘a fantasy grounded in the practical realities of urban life’. Jack Moss

Santoni sails to Adriatic Sea with artist Lorenzo Vitturi

This morning in Milan’s Galleria Meravigli, Santoni presented an S/S 2026 collection inspired by the shores of the Adriatic sea. The brand enlisted artist Lorenzo Vitturi – who lives on the Adriatic coast – to craft a series of colourful sculptures for the occasion, which were made from textures of Murano glass, Venetian beads, and Peruvian wool yarn. Some of these creations occupied the carpeted space, while shots of others photographed out at sea hung on walls. The collection itself continued this story in noble leathers and with artisanal techniques, from knotted intrecci knee-high boots to shimmering pointed mules, adorned with hundreds of hand-stitched metallic paillettes. Orla Brennan

Amber Valletta and Mariacarla Boscono walk for Tod’s

With a line-up of supers including Amber Valletta, Mariacarla Boscono, and Selina Forrest, Tod’s runway presentation in Milan this afternoon leaned into a certain kind of star power. The collection itself explored the idea of ‘making your mark’, with creative director Matteo Tamburini cutting shapes that draped around his models without restricting them. Classic cabans, trench coats, and nappa jackets appeared in springtime tones, shifting from crisp white to saffron yellow, while a storyline of stripes came in a series of 1970s-inflected, asymmetrically cut dresses and sets. As ever, a love letter to leather – Tod’s signature material – ran throughout, from boxy burgundy jackets finished with hand-stitched seams to supple, slouchy shoulder bags in neutral shades. Altogether, it was an easy display rooted in Italian style and the brand’s long-standing commitment to craft. Orla Brennan

Dario Vitale’s first Versace show was one of liberated dressing and raw sexuality

A secretive Versace show, held in Milan’s Pinacoteca Ambrosiana last night, marked the opening chapter of Dario Vitale’s tenure at the Italian house. Formerly design director of Miu Miu and the successor to Donatella Versace, the Italian designer mined signature Versace prints and motifs for a men’s and women’s collection which sought to capture the essence of the house – one of liberated dressing and raw sensuality. ‘When I went to Gianni Versace’s archive, it was more about the feeling of Gianni, the feeling of this company, the feeling of the legacy of Versace, more than the pieces themselves,’ he said backstage after the show. ‘There are so many layers to celebrate, that’s what I wanted to do here.’ Jack Moss

Maximilian Davis looks to silent movies of the 1920s at Ferragamo

A ‘liberated elegance’ is how Maximilian Davis described his S/S 2026 collection for Ferragamo, which saw the British designer look once again to the 1920s for inspiration, beginning with a 1925 photograph of silent movie star silent movie star Lola Todd dressed in head-to-toe leopard print. ‘I was interested in how certain materials, prints and textiles were imported from across Africa and the Caribbean into America and Europe to become a sign of status,’ said the designer, who imagined devoré animal prints across sinuous, 1920s-inspired dresses, while fringing and leather jewellery featured throughout the colour-saturated collection. His men, meanwhile, were dressed in louche, expressive tailoring inspired by Harlem Renaissance zoot suits that proposed a wardrobe for the modern dandy. ‘[It is] the Roaring Twenties, refigured.’ Jack Moss

Louise Trotter makes a bold debut for Bottega Veneta

Louise Trotter’s debut collection for Bottega Veneta made for one of the most anticipated moments of Milan Fashion Week thus far. Soundtracked by an ‘audio artwork’ by Steve McQueen that spliced together two versions of ‘Wild is The Wind’ – one by David Bowie, the other Nina Simone – Trotter said the collection is designed to capture ‘the extravagance of Venice; the energy of New York; the essentialism of Milan’. Ultimately, though, this was a collection about craft, utilising the house’s intrecciato leather weaving technique and vivid, tactile fabrications. ‘Bottega Veneta involves the collective effort of craft; with craftsmanship, the people who make it, and the people who wear it matter,’ she said. ‘It’s where the hand and the heart become one.’ Jack Moss

At Durazzi Milano, a ‘contemporary nymph’ inspired by neoclassical paintings

Despite having been founded just four years ago in 2021, Ilenia Durazzi’s eponymous label, Durazzi Milano, has the feel and polish of a far more established brand (as evidenced by its impressive studio space-cum-gallery on Via Rosolino Pilo, which was built entirely to her exacting design). With a background working at Maison Margiela, Balenciaga and Tod’s, Durazzi’s collections have become a quiet Milan Fashion Week highlight, presented via a series of intimate showcases with clever mise-en-scène.

Yesterday, she staged a S/S 2026 presentation in her Porta Venezia studio, where models stood amid a series of hanging neoclassical paintings, designed to contrast with the otherwise industrial space. Titled ‘The Nymphs’, the collection imagined the women from the paintings coming to life: ‘they step out of the painting and rewrite history... the contemplated object becomes an active subject – a free spirit.’ Reimagining this ‘strength and grace’ of a nymph in contemporary fashion, tailoring was adorned with trails of metal trinkets, while clever twisted silhouettes had a painterly flourish. Jack Moss

Giorgio Armani’s 50th anniversary show marks the designer’s swansong

Taking place this evening in the cloistered courtyard of Pinacoteca di Brera art gallery, a special runway show marked 50 years since the founding of Giorgio Armani. It would also be the last from the legendary Italian designer, who passed away earlier this month aged 91. Watched on by guests including Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett, as well as designers Dries Van Noten and Sir Paul Smith, the poignant show was lit by hundreds of lanterns and accompanied by a live piano soundtrack. Afterwards, guests entered the museum for a career-spanning retrospective, which was meticulously curated by Mr Armani before his death. Placing his work against that of Italy’s great Renaissance masters, it was the first time the institution has hosted a fashion exhibition – a testament to half a century of shaping Italian style. Jack Moss

The first look of Demna’s debut collection for Gucci does not feature clothing, but a human-sized monogram trunk, immortalised in a gilded frame and subtitled ‘L'Archetipo’ – the archetype. The trunk, after all, is where Gucci began: after working as a porter in London’s Savoy hotel – and witnessing the growing need for luggage amid the burgeoning travelling classes – Guccio Gucci would return to Florence to begin the leather atelier which would become an empire.

The image is photographed by radical American photographer Catherine Opie, and introduces a catalogue of other archetypes that the Georgian designer and former creative director says encapsulate the ‘different facets of Gucci’s personas’ (one might imagine them having stepped out of the trunk, as if Demna is unpacking his vision for his tenure ahead). What unites them, he says, is that they are ‘unapologetically sexy, extravagant, and daring’ – a departure from previous creative director Sabato de Sarno’s more restrained vision, which focused on refining the everyday wardrobe over bold design statements.

La Famiglia: Demna’s first collection for Gucci

Some of Demna’s ‘La Famiglia’ are distinctly Italian: there is ‘La Bomba’ (legs bared and clad in a tiger-striped ‘fur’ coat), ‘Ragazzo’ (black Speedos, sunglasses, and a pair of Gucci sandals), and ‘La Principessa’ (a shimmering pink gown with ostrich-feather cuffs), while others capture more universal archetypes: ‘La VIP’, ‘Nerd’, ‘Gallerista’ and ‘L’Influencer’ all feature in the line-up. There are also moments of irony and irreverance typical of the designer: ’Miss Aperitivo’, who wears a micro sequinned mini and monogram tights, ‘is simply preoccupied with having the time of her life,’ he says.

Elsewhere, there are nods to the Gucci archive: a dress is adorned with a version of the house’s ‘Flora’ print, first featured on a silk scarf made for Princess Grace of Monaco after a visit to the Gucci store in Milan in 1960, while the Bamboo 1947 bag and the Horsebit loafer appear in new iterations. In its unabounded sensuality – several of the looks see models bearing skin – it recalls the tenure of Tom Ford in the 1990s, which would see the American designer reverse Gucci’s fortunes with his erotically charged vision of Italian glamour. Demna will, no doubt, hope he can perform his own turnaround of the label.

This is the first of the major creative director debuts this season: later this week in Milan we will see first collections from Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander and Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, with a slew of other big names to follow in Paris, including Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Jonathan Anderson’s first womenswear collection for Dior and Pierpaolo Piccioli’s debut at Balenciaga, where he takes over from Demna (the handover was more than amicable: Piccioli came out to support Demna’s final haute couture show for the house). Eschewing a runway show this season might be a canny move: with this release, the designer feels ahead of the noise.

That said, tomorrow in Milan, Demna will offer a further glimpse into his vision for the house: a presentation, heralding the start of the city’s fashion week, will take place at 7pm at Palazzo Mezzanotte. What this comprises of, Gucci remains tight-lipped, though a short film is expected (looks from the collection will also go on sale in ten Gucci stores worldwide). His debut runway show, meanwhile, is slated for February next year.

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It is set to be a definitive fashion season: with stops in New York, London, Milan and Paris, over a dozen designers will make their debuts as creative directors of some of the industry’s most well-known houses, among them Chanel (Matthieu Blazy), Balenciaga (Pierpaolo Piccioli) and Bottega Veneta (Louise Trotter). Add to that numerous sophomore collections – from Sarah Burton’s Givenchy to Jonathan Anderson’s first womenswear collection for Dior – and the S/S 2026 season looks set to provide our most comprehensive view of the future of fashion in some time, following a turbulent couple of years defined by a merry-go-round of creative director departures and arrivals. With these upcoming collections, the industry looks to settle the ship.

In anticipation, and ahead of New York Fashion Week, which begins tomorrow (11 September 2025), we straw-polled the Wallpaper* style editors about their most anticipated moments of the month. And, while the blockbuster debuts appeared in everyone’s lists, there remains an appetite for the under-the-radar – from Talia Byre’s first runway show proper in London (contributing fashion writer Orla Brennan says she’s one of a handful of younger brands in the city ‘gaining momentum’) to Diotima in New York, where founder Rachel Scott hosts her own debut runway show, made all the more of an event after her recent appointment as creative director of Proenza Schouler.

‘While I am of course looking forward to the big-name debuts – I was a huge fan (and shopper) of Matthieu Blazy’s Bottega Veneta, so I’m excited to see his vision for Chanel – I am most intrigued by a more under-the-radar appointment, Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander. He takes over from Lucie and Luke Meier at the house, coming from Bally, where his (brief) tenure was full of great pieces – his collections took wardrobe archetypes and transformed them with satisfyingly strange, off-kilter details, from asymmetric hemlines to flourishes of faux fur. From the few hints that we’ve seen so far (and some rumours from Milan), Bellotti seems perfect for Jil Sander, looking to bring back the mood of reduction and rigour that defined the house’s namesake designs. He’s showing on Wednesday (24 September) in Milan – I’m excited to see what this new chapter brings.

‘In Paris – which is full of great shows this season – my eyes will be on Celine, where Michael Rider will show his sophomore collection for the house (and first on the ready-to-wear schedule). I was really impressed with his first show, which was held during haute couture week earlier this year, all the more so when I went to the re-see the next day – taken apart from the runway, it was full of fashion hits, especially the accessories. My favourite? A version of the house’s ‘Phantom’ bag, complete with a smiley zipper face.’

‘There’s an almost overwhelming onslaught of newness this fashion month – as Orla outlines below, 15 creative directors will make their debut over the month, many of them at fashion’s best-known houses. While I am of course excited to see what these debuts bring – Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel will no doubt be a highlight – there is plenty more to fashion month from designers both emerging and established. In New York, I’ve enjoyed recent collections from Eckhaus Latta – it feels like the American label has hit its stride again – while I’ll be travelling to Brooklyn for Rachel Scott’s debut runway show for her label Diotima, which has previously only shown via presentation (it will be all the more exciting after the announcement that she is the new creative director of Proenza Schouler, taking over from founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who are heading to Loewe). Scott is a testament to taking your time: she worked for over a decade in Milan for brands like Costume National before returning to the United States to start her label.

‘In London, Talia Byre will host her first full-scale runway show – at the magazine, we've been big fans of her work for some time – while Paolo Carzana, currently part of Sarabande, has made a name with thoughtful, craft-focused collections shown in unexpected locations (one was held in the garden of his own Hackney home; another in a tiny Farringdon pub). I’m looking forward to seeing where he chooses next. There’s of course plenty to look forward to in Milan and Paris – as ever, Prada will be my highlight in the former (I have been a dedicated fan for decades – few fashion houses have such consistently thought-provoking collections), while at the latter I look forward to Duran Lantink’s debut show for Jean Paul Gaultier (the Dutch designer’s collections under his now-paused eponymous label have been a highlight of recent seasons – he will no doubt carry this energy to his new role). Hopefully, after what has felt like some seasons of stasis in fashion, with creative director positions now filled and in motion, this will be the one where a new vision falls into place.’

‘There’s a sense that this fashion month could be the most exciting in years, with no fewer than 15 creative directors unveiling their first collections. I expect the big house debuts will take up much of the conversation in the coming weeks, so I’d like to mention a few rising designers not to miss. In New York, FIT graduate Zane Li will stage his first runway show after two seasons of sharp, architectural collections under his label LII, until now presented only via lookbooks. Over in London, the perennial hub of fledgling talent, I’m most looking forward to seeing CSM graduate Oscar Ouyang’s off-kilter, earthy knits appearing on the runway as he joins the Newgen cohort.

‘It’s also nice to see designers with a few years under their belt gaining momentum. Talia Byre is joining the official schedule after hosting intimate shows in small London galleries and candlelit restaurants, and I’m looking forward to seeing whatever evolution of shadowy London cool Aaron Esh will likely produce this season. I’m also intrigued by the late-night spectacle Dilara Findikoglu is planning for Sunday – her invitation, a medieval brass choker with a lock and key, is the only (very on-brand) clue so far. As for the blockbuster shows, like everyone else, I’m curious to see what fresh ideas Matthieu Blazy will bring to Chanel. It’s the season’s closing event, and – with any luck – will be worth the wait.’

‘Despite Paris being the epicentre of designer debuts this season, the one I’m most excited to see is Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta in Milan. She’s been dropping hints as to what we can expect (see her first campaign pulling in collaborators of the house past and present) and so far, so very good in my opinion. Bottega has been one of the most influential fashion brands of the last decade under Daniel Lee and Matthieu Blazy and it’s fantastic to see a talent like Louise being handed the reigns. I have high hopes!’

‘In terms of fashion, I’m a big fan of the south London-based label KNWLS, so it will be exciting to see what designers Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault have planned for their debut show in Milan – rumour has it that they are plotting something special.

‘There are bound to be plenty of outstanding beauty moments over the month – there's always great hair and make-up at Simone Rocha in London, Prada in Milan, and Dries Van Noten in Paris. But even more intriguing will be how the slew of new creative directors address beauty in their opening collections – Pierpaolo Piccioli had some incredible beauty looks while at Valentino (the Kaia Gerber bouffant, for example), something he’ll hopefully replicate at his new role at Balenciaga.

‘Finally, beauty will no doubt be central at Louis Vuitton – the house recently launched its ‘La Beauté’ beauty line, led by Pat McGrath. I’m sure the show – which takes place during fashion week – will have an impactful look to show off these incredible products, and maybe even tease a few upcoming additions to the line.’

Stay tuned to Wallpaper.com for more from Women’s Fashion Week S/S 2026.

Amid the heady hedonism of the 1990s, fashion shows transcended from industry showcases to cultural touchstones. Designers became celebrities. Models became super. Fashion houses became global luxury brands. The fashion show, catapulted into mainstream culture thanks to the rapid advance of technology, was a powerful catalyst for image creation and dissemination. Against this backdrop, Alexandre de Betak founded his Paris-based production company Bureau Betak. Over three decades, he revolutionised the very concept of fashion communication.

Alexandre de Betak stepped away from Bureau Betak three years ago. The company is now co-helmed by Bénédicte Fournier Beckmann, Paco Raynal and Guillaume Troncy, and it’s very much business as usual (in so far as this business is ever quotidian).

How Bureau Betak transformed the runway show

‘We work as a collective with strong creative and production teams everywhere, made stronger by our shared experience,’ says Fournier Beckmann. For our interview, it’s fitting that the trio are beamed by a screen from their Parisian offices. A fashion show today is experienced live by a 1,000-or-so people, but it is devoured by millions virtually, via a plethora of media platforms and posts.

Today, Bureau Betak employs around 100 people across four offices in Paris, New York, LA and Shanghai. It is best known for the production of fashion shows for some of the world’s biggest brands, but its creative tentacles are far-reaching across events of all shapes and sizes, from brand activations and parties to exhibitions and keynote speeches. ‘We are like the fairies in the background,’ says Troncy. ‘We make ideas happen.’

It’s a modest statement because Bureau Betak is actually a meticulously skilled outfit that understands how all aspects of its involvement connect: first imagining, then creating and communicating the codes of a house, its designer and their collection. The volume of its productions has mushroomed. ‘When we started,’ says Fournier Beckmann (who, together with Raynal, has been at Bureau Betak since its infancy), ‘we would do four shows a year for a brand; now we do between eight and 12 a year – and they only get bigger.’ Until relatively recently, this was called fashion show production. Today, this is more like conducting the orchestra for a single track in the canon of a brand, and ensuring that it plays out pitch-perfectly to a febrile, global audience, first live and then in ripples that continue until the next show drops.

‘Our job does not stop at delivering a set,’ Troncy says. ‘In many ways, it’s just the start. The live event is when the magic happens and what will travel the world.’ A show must be impactful and memorable for its physical audience and professional photographer bank, but it must also translate effortlessly on to the phone cameras of everyone in attendance, too. Beyond the ‘owned assets’, this is how the majority of people see a collection for the first time nowadays. ‘We’ve been looking at our sets through our own camera phones for about 15 years,’ Fournier Beckmann says. ‘The feeling, the lighting, the staging – everything must look as good as possible from any angle. A show goes worldwide in five seconds.’

At the A/W 2025 shows earlier this year, the team transported us (metaphorically) to a louche weekend at an English country house for Burberry; through the dawn of time with artist Robert Wilson for Dior; into a maze of glossy red bathroom cubicles for Valentino; and inside a glowing onyx monolith for Saint Laurent. ‘The scale and speed may have changed, but the way we work is very similar to how we’ve always worked,’ Raynal explains. ‘We begin in conversation with the client and from this we interpret a brief. It is not always a precise one. It could be a single word, a picture, a conversation. We then present our vision of the interpretation of their brief to the client. Once we get approval for the vision, we work out how to achieve it. We are careful to work within an allocated budget. Every bit as important as the show itself, is what happens after the event – not just to the brand assets, but to the physical elements too. We take the eco-responsibility of our projects very seriously.’

Operating at the sharper edge of an industry not celebrated for its sustainability credentials, Bureau Betak has been a pioneer. In 2020, it was the first production agency to be awarded 20121 certification for sustainable event management. Better Betak launched in 2022 as an open platform for recording observations, sharing solutions and identifying commitments towards more sustainable event management within the luxury sector. It is an impressive core of the company’s mission rather than a green-tinged add-on, and is clearly heartfelt by the trio, who wax lyrical about ever-better practices being a key ingredient to their success.

Ultimately, though, they agree that certain primal, human qualities are what define their practice and reputation. ‘We are dealing with human relationships essentially: emotion, trust, support, passion and memory,’ Troncy says. Raynal adds, ‘Our currency is emotion and memory. These can never be delivered by a computer. A render might look beautiful, but it feels soulless – the emotional connection is absent. We believe wholeheartedly in the power of human creativity.’ That vital trust between brand and agency is hard-earned, not just by staging shows smoothly, but by creating magic. Troncy describes the feeling of Alessandro Michele’s S/S 2023 show for Gucci, where 68 pairs of identical twins were flown in to model. A wall divided the identically dressed twins for the show, and was only raised at the end when the twins took each other’s hands for the finale. ‘At first, there was a gasp and then the entire room was crying,’ says Troncy. ‘AI could never do this.’

Indeed, Raynal points out that event production is not simply confined to fashion, but is a fundamental part of humanity: we are, by our very nature, show-offs. ‘This job will exist forever,’ he says. ‘The need for ceremony and events is part of any empire, from the Egyptians to the Romans to Louis XIV – bringing people together to celebrate is a nothing new, it is part of life. Tools change and context evolves, but the need to stir emotion and create a memory [that] endures.’

A version of this story appears in the September 2025 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

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It’s the end of a busy – and very hot – menswear season in Florence, Milan and Paris. Over a packed-out schedule in the fashion capitals of Europe, designers across the board sought various modes of escapism, and a desire to unwind – largely via seeking the sunlit shores of a holiday – seemed to be the pervading mood.

Paul Smith’s love letter to European marketplaces made for a standout debut in Milan; Anthony Vaccarello imagined a nostalgic trip between Paris and Fire Island; Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons showed the ‘easiest collection’ they’ve ever made; and a theme of pyjama silhouettes at several houses, from Dolce & Gabbana to Armani, suggested many simply dreamed of going to bed.

Two debuts made for the most talked-about shows of the season – Julian Klausner’s sublime first menswear collection for Dries Van Noten, which offered up an insouciant portrait of summertime ease; and, of course, Jonathan Anderson’s landmark start at Dior, which, among various clever ‘decoding and recoding’ of the house’s vast archive of designs, went back to the reason he became a designer: the simple joy to be found in dressing up.

But between the blockbuster shows, a handful of quieter off-calendar presentations flew under the radar. Here, we look back at some of the best collections you might have missed from the S/S 2026 menswear season.

S/S 2026 menswear: the collections you might have missed

Martine Rose

There was a dearth of happenings in London this season after the British Fashion Council removed the city from the June slot (February and September fashion weeks are now co-ed). But there was one very, very good off-calendar outlier: Martine Rose. Showing ‘salon-style’ at the least glamorous of locations – a Job Centre off Lisson Grove, which she adorned with swathes of cream frilled curtains – her S/S 2026 collection offered up a love letter to Kensington Market and the unique mix of independent stalls and creative upstarts that have long called it home.

Strange, sexy, and every inch Rose’s ruefully original signature, the collection twisted high street uniforms and notions of British dress. Harrington jackets, electrician’s utility trousers, tracksuits, kilts and barber shop capes all got the Rose rework, so that they were either suctioned close to the body or chopped and layered into skewiff shapes. Inviting 20 local market stallholders to join the rows of fashion editors, the event felt – as ever with the designer – like a celebration of London and its eclectic pockets of life.

Post Archive Faction

If you haven’t heard of PAF, it’s probably because you’re not into technical gear. The South Korean brand is part of a new wave of designers pushing performance wear into avant-garde new territory. The brand is the brainchild of Dongjoon Lim and Sookyo Jeong, who studied industrial design and architecture respectively, and as such they do things a little differently. Their philosophy centres on a set of evolving uniforms that are divided into three distinct categories: ‘right‘ (conservative), ‘centre’ (intermediary), and ‘left’ (experimental). The kind of brand you might have spotted in the stands at Pitti Uomo in previous years rather than on the runway, the duo were the underdogs among the three guest designers selected for the annual display in Florence.

The display they produced, however, quietened any questions over their place at Pitti. Marking a surprising departure from their utility signatures, the collection was instead rooted in formality, opening with a series of sharp, contemporary tailored looks in inky blacks and mottled greys that gave way to lighter shapes in cutting-edge performance fabrics. Showing the pair can take on traditional menswear codes while still coaxing new beauty from a baseline of sportswear shapes, it was a grown-up, ambitious display from two designers working entirely on their own terms.

Our Legacy

This season, Our Legacy did away with the idea of a runway altogether, instead staging a Swedish Midsummer celebration in the heart of Milan. Blending Scandinavian tradition with Italian charm, the laid-back affair at Pizzeria Stella was complete with a leafy maypole and flower crowns for guests. Marking the brand’s 20th anniversary, the S/S 2026 collection it celebrated – released with a pared-back lookbook – emerged from a journey into the Our Legacy archives. Resisting nostalgia, creative director Cristopher Nying described the collection as a ‘mixtape of B-sides’ rather than a roll call of greatest hits through which he has subtly reflected on the ‘moments and memories’ that have shaped the past two decades. Sleek tailoring, slouchy knits, leather accessories and ‘cunning twists’ on wardrobe staples leant into Our Legacy’s language of understated style. Quietly marking 20 years of astute, wearable design, the collection seemed to say Our Legacy is more interested in what comes next.

Mordecai

‘It’s zen but make it technical’ reads the epithet found in Mordecai’s Instagram bio. It’s a mantra that perfectly captures the spirit of designer’s Ludovico Bruno latest collection, which explored his lifelong passion for martial arts. Highlighting the ways the combat sport of Judo balances both force and intimacy – where fighters embrace, hands dig into flesh, and bodies tumble as one – the resulting collection elevated the uniforms of the sport with a technical lightness gained from his years spent designing in-house at Moncler. Shown at a dojo in Milan on a cast of real athletes from wrestling and karate schools, the presentation was a display of the designer’s sensitive approach to bold design ideas – and a standout presentation of the week in Milan.

Magliano

A sabbatical is a period of leave most commonly associated with academia, where professors are granted time off after years of research or service to their department. Young designer Luca Magliano is neither an academic nor decades into his field, but even so, the fashion industry’s relentless churn can wear on designers’ energy and resources. Many are pushing back with creative answers to the official schedule, and the ‘sabbatical’ film the Bologna-born designer produced instead was one such of these solutions. Shown at a central Milan movie theatre dubbed ‘CineMagliano’ for the evening, the film was shot by British director Thomas Hardiman, best known for his 2022 breakout indie Medusa Deluxe – an offbeat thriller-comedy set within the chaotic world of a hairstyling competition. With a shared taste in stories of the surreal, Hardiman and Magliano made a perfect pairing.

Showcasing a character-led take on the designer’s ‘f-d up classics’ for S/S 2026, the film the pair produced told the story of a ragtag crew of fricchettoni – an Italian term for a bohemian, hippy kind of outcast – on a boat from Sardinia to Tuscany. Drawing on nautical themes old and new, the collection featured outerwear cut in 1950s noir silhouettes, roughed-up tuxedos that looked hastily packed, flag dresses, swim goggle-inspired sunglasses, and lace-up boots that took after the Titanic era. It was a fun, memorable alternative to a runway – and proof that Magliano is a designer with more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

Sanderlak

Sander Lak made the most low-key of debuts during the Paris shows this season. After a five-year hiatus following the closure of his cult Antwerp brand Sies Marjan in 2020, the Brunei-born designer is back with a label under his own name. Shown via a smattering of in-person appointments in Paris, Lak’s new venture hinges on a particular concept – one collection per year, inspired by one specific place.

Aiming to capture a ‘feeling of home’ through clothes that reflect the ‘mood, textures, and everyday rhythms’ of a given location, the first is a tribute to Los Angeles. With relaxed, unisex silhouettes in soft knits and well-cut denim made for year-round wear, the collection brought together cosy textures – cashmere, cotton, and shearling – in sun-bleached shades the show notes described as ‘corn masa, ocean eyes, desert sage, and strawberry milkshake.’

‘There’s something about the light in LA that always gets me,’ Lak said in a statement. ‘It’s soft yet harsh and dry, and it settles over everything in this quiet way.’ An easy, wearable offering crafted with heart, the understated debut was the work of a designer who knows exactly what he wants to make, and what he wants to wear.

Sacai

Eschewing the runway for a clean, studio-shot look book this season, Chitose Abe’s proposition for S/S 2026 was one of simplicity. Its name – ‘Everyday All Day’ – related the wearable ease of the offering, which fused everyday staples with the formality of tuxedo suiting. Bringing a deconstructed whimsy to collaborations with all-American brands Carhartt and J.M. Weston, the silhouette this season was billowing – Japanese-style barrel trousers, cleverly constructed voluminous sleeves, and oversized shirting – while Abe’s knack for fusing disparate modes of dress shone in outerwear that hackneyed workwear jackets with blazers. Worn with bohemian T-bar sandals, the collection tossed out ideas of formality and casualness in favour of simply wearing whatever feels good. Alongside the visuals, the brand has invited Canadian painter Geoff McFetridge – a New York Times contributor who got his start painting West Coast skate culture in the 2000s – to create a series of soft, cinematic artworks immortalising the collection on canvas.

The Prada show is always one of the most anticipated events of Milan Fashion Week. And, while the clothes take centre stage, much of the excitement is down to the set. Since 2018, the shows have been staged inside the hangar-like Deposito space at Fondazione Prada – a vast blank slate that’s set the scene for all manner of transformative world-building. Slime has dripped from ceilings onto sci-fi metal floors, a gigantic paper house turned guests into dolls in a playhouse, and last season, a dimly lit scaffolding structure had the distinct feeling of a rave. But for S/S 2026, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons seemed to declare: let there be light.

Revealing the usually hidden windows of the Deposito, the showspace was flooded with airy brightness – a stark contrast to the heavy, multi-storey structure of A/W 2025 – and guests were able to take in its raw, industrial beauty. The set was designed by the Rotterdam-based architecture studio OMA, led by Rem Koolhaas. The Milanese house has collaborated with the studio for over 25 years – a partnership that began in 1999, when Prada approached OMA to design its New York store on Broadway. The stark wooden steps down into the store, and its swooping manipulation of scale, have since become one of fashion retail’s most memorable statements.

‘Sometimes it’s good to reflect and be a little bit more calm’: Prada’s pared-back show set for men’s S/S 2026

Keeping things simple this season, only a handful of fluffy, flower-shaped carpets scattered across the floor – evoking vintage 1970s prints – gave anything away about the collection. Sheds of furry hair clung to guests’ shoes before they sat down to watch the show unfold, while KLF’s ambient 1990 album Chill Out, layered with the chirps of birdsong, played overhead. The clothes themselves were about ‘a shift of attitude – dismantling of meaning, and dismantling power’, said the brand in a statement.

In practice, this meant a surreal escapism, with clothing spanning micro-shorts, as if pulled upwards at the hemline, colourful raffia hats and tabard-style tops adorned with floral print. There were also tracksuits, shrunken in size and recalling sportswear of the 1970s. Accessories had a feeling of functionality, like a series of backpacks, bumbags and duffels, grasped by models in the hand, while other clothing riffed on masculine archetypes – from the double-breasted suit to military attire.

‘This is the first time the Fondazione is completely bare, with the light coming in,’ said Raf Simons backstage. When asked what prompted the change, Miuccia Prada added, ‘It’s out there. You feel it,’ no doubt referencing the unstable times in which we are living. ‘We wanted to show something in this moment that, hopefully, feels positive and balanced,’ Simons continued. ‘Sometimes it's good to reflect and be a little bit more calm.’

This lightness, the designer says, made the collection the easiest he has ever worked on in his career. ‘Often you have a very specific architectural proposition, a shape, a shoulder, a waist,’ he said. ‘From the start we said we don’t want that. We want everything to be human. We want everything to be light, fresh and colourful. When we started working, it was the easiest collection I have ever done. It's very free.’

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Read live updates from Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2026 and the standout shows of the season so far here

Menswear month continues with the S/S 2026 edition of Milan Fashion Week Men’s, unfolding in locations across the city. As ever, the powerhouses of Italian style will provide the week’s biggest moments, among them Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and Emporio and Giorgio Armani. Of the latter, news came on Friday that Mr Armani would be absent from his usual runway bow after a recent hospitalisation, though a statement from the house assured he ‘worked with his usual dedication on the collections that will be presented [and] although he cannot be there in person, he will closely follow every phase of the shows.’ Leo Dell’Orco, head of menswear design, took his place at the end of the Emporio Armani show and will do so today at Giorgio Armani.

Alongside the heavyweight houses, there’s fresh blood in Milan this season, too, with a handful of newer labels populating the week. Japanese designer Satoshi Kuwata of Setchu kicked off the Milan schedule with a fishing-inspired follow up to his Pitti Uomo debut last season, while young London native Saul Nash – known for his fluid, dance-inflected designs – is set to show in Milan for the second time. Nash included, there’s something of a British takeover in the city this season, with Paul Smith and Dunhill both making an appearance on the schedule. ‘I’ve proudly had my own showroom in Milan for 22 years and have great affection for the city,’ said the former. ‘I’ll be hosting a salon-style show which I know will be intimate and honest to who we are.’

Here, in an ongoing round-up, we select the best shows of Milan Fashion Week Men’s, as they happen.

The best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2026

Dunhill

Dunhill is one of several British brands to have migrated to Milan this season. Showing yesterday evening in a sun-dappled garden, creative director Simon Holloway was intent on bringing a rakish sort of British charm to the Italian city. Honing in on the brand’s classic tailoring codes, the collection merged the smart uniforms of English aristocracy with the louche wardrobes of British rock icons like Bryan Ferry and Charlie Watts – artists known for wearing ‘societal elegance with disobedient grace.’

In a summer palette of neutrals and navies – ‘various shades of British drab’ – classic car coats and driving blazers in supple lambskin drew on the house’s motorsports legacy, while candy-striped ties and linen summer blazers nodded to Wimbledon and the Chelsea Flower Show. A few flairs of English eccentricity appeared in 18th-century-inspired floral printed waistcoats and sun-bleached tailored linens in ‘neo-Gatsby’ hues of lavender and rose, worn with a striped silk flourish of a pocket hanky. Running the full gamut of the Englishman, the display was a celebration of Dunhill’s refined take on male glamour – and of Britishness, away from home. OB

Prada

Prada’s S/S 2026 menswear show took place at Fondazione Prada’s Deposito, the cavernous, hangar-like space stripped back this season to its bare walls, light streaming in from the high upper windows usually concealed by the house’s more intricate show sets (only a series of flower-shaped rugs, inspired by a S/S 2013 print, lined the runway). Backstage, Raf Simons – who is co-creative director with Miuccia Prada – said this was about an impulse to strip away the extraneous. ‘This is the first time the Fondazione is completely bare, with the light coming in,’ he said. ‘We wanted to show something in this moment that, hopefully, feels positive and balanced. Sometimes it's good to reflect and be a little bit more calm.’ More directly, Mrs Prada said it was about a rejection of ‘useless, complicated ideas’. ‘This was not conceptual, it was more instinctive,’ she continued, in an echo of recent seasons.

The collection itself posited a surreal escapism, as if models were marching towards a strange, concrete beach (a languid soundtrack, featuring ambient British electronic duo The KLF, captured a similar mood). Look one was a pair of tiny micro shorts, worn with a shirt adorned with waves and a faded sun. There were windswept raffia hats and more abbreviated shorts (this time tailored), military shirts worn as mini dresses, and colourful woven tops with tasselled hems. Other tabard-style tops were adorned with vivid prints of flowers and waves; alongside shrunken tracksuits, there was a distinct 1970s influence (Simons talked about the collection shuffling through some of the pair’s favourite eras). Elsewhere, there were riffs on more classic masculine attire, from double-breasted tailoring, mackintosh jackets to roll-neck sweaters and car shoes.

The collection notes said that this season was about ‘a change of tone’. Afterwards, both designers talked about the sense of ease that ran not only through the clothing, but the creation of the collection itself – a testament to the pair’s new rhythm of working, which tends towards a free association of ideas over strict thematics. ‘Everything worked with everything said Mrs Prada, while Simons said that it was the ‘easiest collection I’ve ever done’. ‘Often you have a very specific architectural proposition, a shape, a shoulder, a waist,’ he continued. ‘From the start we said we don’t want that. We want everything to be human. We want everything to be light, fresh and colourful. It's very free.’ JM

READ: Let there be light: a closer look at Prada’s stripped-back S/S 2026 show set

Emporio Armani

On Friday afternoon, news came from Giorgio Armani HQ that the house’s eponymous designer would not be taking his usual runway bow at either Emporio Armani or Giorgio Armani this Milan Fashion Week, choosing to recover at home after a recent hospitalisation (in lieu, head of menswear Leo Dell’Orco would greet guests at the end of each show). That said, a statement from the house assured Mr Armani had ‘worked with his usual dedication on the collections that will be presented’ and, at Emporio Armani – held at the Tadao Ando-designed Teatro/Armani on Saturday evening – the collection felt certainly typical of the designer’s oeuvre (indeed, he was purportedly FaceTiming the team moments before the show).

Set against billowing beige curtains and staged on a runway of sunbaked tiles, this collection was about the fantasy of travel and escape – a perennial theme of the designer’s summer collections. Spurred by ‘a genuine interest in other cultures’, as Mr Armani described, wrapped, scarf-like silhouettes, carpet bags, tasselled jacquard jackets and voluminous trousers, which ruched at the ankles, recalled the nomadic cultures of northern Africa, albeit in hyper-luxurious style (‘Moroccan mosaics and Berber tents’ were both references for the collection). In a similar vein, the collection’s sporty stream of opening EA7 looks – which came out so fast some guests had barely taken their seats – recalled a more contemporary desert wanderer, with sleek, technical-wear designed to protect its wearer from the elements. JM

Paul Smith

There’s nothing like wandering through the aisles of a European supermarket on holiday – everything familiar, yet different enough to spark intrigue – before picking up some fresh fruit, a few trinkets from a shop, and throwing back an espresso far later in the day than you’d dare to at home. It’s these little pleasures that punctuated Paul Smith’s first debut in Milan – a city where the 78-year-old godfather of British design has long based his HQ, but until now, had never presented a collection during fashion week.

As such, he wanted to keep things personal. Guests were welcomed down to the sleek, modern building Paul Smith is based, where blue crates from farmer’s markets made neat rows for seating and the designer’s voice softly recounted memories of his extensive travels. Eschewing the theatrics of a traditional runway, the show took on the charm of a nostalgic salon, presenting something of an album of his adventures. Bold prints and clashing textiles drew on vintage treasures from far-flung places, while a retro palette of green, fuchsia and coral radiated 1980s European heat. Silhouettes nodded to 1950s tailoring, with jackets cropped and trousers high-waisted, while Smith’s flair for pattern shone through in leather appliqué birds, florals, and photographic collages on shirts, outerwear and ties – a technique he pioneered in the brand’s early years.

Surprisingly intimate for a label of its scale, the salon format allowed models to meander through the space, offering a close-up look at accessories that winked at the art of souvenir hunting – such as hotel room key fobs that became charms dangling from leather belts, berets, and net bags filled with fresh veg. Few designers could pull off such a maximalist assemblage of ideas, but a bold eclecticism has been Smith’s first language since founding his brand in 1970. A Milan debut to remember, it was a celebration of the expressive sophistication that has defined his vision for more than 50 years. OB

READ: Paul Smith on his ‘lovely and simple’ Milan Fashion Week debut

Dolce & Gabbana

Before the Dolce & Gabbana show, held at the house’s Metropol venue in central Milan, a series of screens showed models lolling in bed in cotton pyjamas – a vision of Sunday-morning ease which permeated the collection itself. Titled ‘Pyjama Boys’, the playful S/S 2026 outing saw Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce riff on cotton pyjama pants and shirts, while oversized tailoring was gently crumpled as if models had just stepped out of bed (indeed, thrown-on jackets in mock croc and signature Dolce & Gabbana leopard print looked as if models were off on an early-morning milk run). The idea of softness was another theme – fluffy-edged parkas, cotton-jersey henleys, and a colour palette of gelato pastels all showed a sweeter side of Dolce & Gabbana – while the closing looks saw pyjama sets embellished with swathes of surface hand-finished embellishment, from glimmering crystals to floral embroidery. It made for a breezy summer offering which looked seductive in the Milanese heat – even more so when the models trailed out of the Metropol and onto the sun-drenched street outside, where the usual throngs of fans screamed in delight. JM

Setchu

Satoshi Kuwata knows a thing or two about patience. The Japanese designer waited nearly 20 years to launch his own brand, working his way from a job at Pret a Manger to a tailor in Angel before making it to Savile Row, later joining teams at Gareth Pugh and Givenchy. Knowing this, it’s less surprising that his other lifelong love, besides clothes, is fishing – an activity where those who are willing to wait will reap the best reward.

Shown yesterday evening at Galleria Ordet in Milan, Kuwata’s follow-up to his debut at Pitti Uomo found its starting point in a recent fishing trip to Zimbabwe. Here he met master weavers of the Batoka tribe, leading to theatrically woven baskets, hats, and skirts made in collaboration with local artisans – a partnership supported by LVMH’s Métiers d’Art initiative. These palm-fronded pieces – more like sculptures than clothing – were paired with designs that blurred savoir-faire tradition with the playful cuts of contemporary Japanese design.

Shirting was twisted and tied over the body in embracing shapes with sleeves left dangling, while ‘origami-cut’ tailoring – made to be packed and neatly folded – struck a balance between rigour and play (such as a safari jacket with tote bag-esque straps, seen slung over one model’s shoulder). Echoes of the trip to Zimbabwe ran through the collection without feeling heavy-handed, from a palette inspired by African sunsets to billowing chiffon cut with the water of Victoria Falls in mind. A display of authenticity and skill guided by the setchu principle – a ‘compromise’ or blending of cultures – these were the clothes of a designer who knows exactly where he’s going. OB

Stay tuned for live coverage of Milan Fashion Week Men’s here.

Welcome to Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2026

After a relatively sedate three days in Pitti Uomo – the twice-yearly menswear fair in Florence – the next stop on menswear fashion month’s grand tour is Milan, where the behemoths of Italian design will present their visions for the S/S 2026 season ahead. These include Giorgio and Emporio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada, the latter no doubt featuring a dramatic runway set created with longtime collaborators with OMA (we unpacked the 25-year partnership here). And, such is the power of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons as fashion soothsayers, the show will likely set the tone of the season ahead – all eyes will be on Fondazione Prada come the afternoon of June 22.

There is also something of a British invasion, with Dunhill returning to show on the afternoon of June 22, and Sir Paul Smith shifting from Paris where he has traditionally shown his menswear collections. Promising an intimate showcase, the collection will no doubt celebrate his longstanding love affair with Italy. ‘I’ve proudly had my own showroom in Milan for 22 years and have great affection for the city,’ he says. ‘I’ll be hosting a salon-style show which I know will be intimate and honest to who we are.’ Young British designer Saul Nash, whose shape-shifting sportswear is inspired by a personal history of dance, will also show for the second time in Milan this season.

Elsewhere, an array of presentations, launches and aperitivo will be hosted across the city, which is well-known for its rich history of design. Showcases from Brioni, Brunello Cucinelli and Tod’s will likely mine this heritage, the latter showing at the Piero Portaluppi-designed Villa Necchi Campiglio, an icon of Milanese architecture.

Alongside our daily report on the shows, to bring Milan Fashion Week Men’s to life this season the Wallpaper* editors on the ground will be offering a real-time look at the weekend’s happenings – from behind-the-scenes glimpses to access to the shows, presentations and parties. Stay tuned. JM

Meet the editors

Setchu’s debut at Milan Fashion Week

A first look at Setchu’s sophomore runway show and first on Milan soil, having held its debut as part of Pitti Uomo last season. Founded by Japanese designer Satoshi Kuwata and based in Milan, the label marks the culmination of a two-decade-long career in fashion, spanning stints at Savile Row, London upstart Gareth Pugh and Parisian powerhouse Givenchy. The result is sensitive and intelligent menswear where the technical rigour of Western tailoring meets the fluid line of traditional Japanese dress. For the Milan debut, Kuwata chose Galleria Ordet, where a series of disparate installations – including traditional woven fishing baskets and a station preparing sushi – recalled the designer’s Japanese roots. The collection itself was one of colour and play, seeing Kuwata’s de- and reconstructed silhouettes – like a safari jacket which hung off the shoulder like a bag – overlaid by intricately woven structures in raffia, while enormous hats used the same traditional technique. Jack Moss

C.P. Company’s ‘Behind the Seams’ project

This season, Lorenzo Osti, the president of C.P. Company – and son of founder Massimo Osti – invited a number of the brand’s loyal community to its Bologna headquarters, a historic site of clothing innovation, for a special project titled ‘Behind the Seams’. Speaking to Wallpaper* at the presentation in Milan yesterday, he spoke of a desire to see the company from an outside perspective, using a series of filmed conversations with these figures – which span various disciplines, from designers to musicians – as they explore both the Massimo Osti Archive and research and development areas. Alongside the videos, which in the exhibition space at the brand’s Milanese headquarters were played on a series of hanging screens, was an exploration of the processes behind its S/S 2026 collection: namely, new iterations of C.P. Company’s seminal ‘Goggle’ and ‘Mille’ jackets. This season, they were reimagined in the sci-fi sounding Bi-TM, Gore G-Type, Opal-C, and Rafia-R fabrics – a demonstration of C.P. Company’s technical prowess in fabric.

For those not in Milan, a Bologna exhibition – which opened earlier this month – marks 20 years since the death of founder Massimo Osti (a venerable figure in Italian streetwear, he was also the founder of Stone Island). Taking place at the Palazzo Pepoli, a sprawling display maps a path through the menswear pioneer’s career and extensive archive. Alongside a faithful reconstruction of his Bologna studio, the exhibition – titled ‘Ideas from Massimo Osti. From Bologna: Beyond Fashion’ – reveals how Osti’s love for military and sports uniforms, obsessive garment testing, and years-ahead experiments in fabric construction gave rise to some of C.P. Company’s most iconic designs. Perhaps the best known is the goggle-hooded Mille Miglia jacket, which he originally created for officials of the classic car race of the same name in the late 1980s (this year’s race fittingly concludes tomorrow in Brescia). Jack Moss, Orla Brennan

Ideas from Massimo Osti. From Bologna: Beyond Fashion is on view at Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna, until 28 September 2025.

Ralph Lauren Purple Label S/S 2026

A ‘modern voyager’ is how Ralph Lauren described his man for S/S 2026, presenting the Purple Label collection yesterday evening in the courtyard of the opulent Palazzo Ralph Lauren (originally Casa Campanini, the Mino Fiocchi-designed building now serves as a private member’s club owned by the American brand). As such, the idea of practicality was at the heart of the collection: riffs on safari jackets came with a multitude of pockets, while leather bombers recalled the aviator jackets of mid-century explorers. Fabrics, said Mr Lauren, were a focus – ‘our journey through the world’s finest textiles,’ he described – with airy silk-and-linen mixes looking particularly appealing in the sweltering Milanese heat. Elsewhere, belt buckles and jewellery crafted from silver and turquoise were a collaboration with silversmith Neil Zarama of the Chiricahua Apache Nation, part of Ralph Lauren’s ongoing Authentic Makers programme. Jack Moss

Dolce & Gabbana’s ‘Pyjama Boys’

It was out of bed and onto the street for Dolce & Gabbana’s S/S 2026 collection, which was aptly titled ‘Pyjama Boys’. Seeing the sleepwear staple elevated through flourishes of embellishment and embroidery, silhouettes were oversized and materials gently crumpled, while mock croc and leather overcoats were slung on, as if models had rolled out of bed for an early-morning milk run. The show ended with models exiting Dolce & Gabbana’s Metropol show space and onto the Milanese street – an echo of the house’s A/W 2025 womenswear show earlier this year. Jack Moss

Stone Island looks to the water for S/S 2026

At Stone Island’s Milanese HQ this afternoon, thoughts were – appropriately, given the sweltering heat – directed towards cooling off. The technical-wear brand’s S/S 2026 presentation was inspired by Mono Lake, a basin in the Californian desert that supplies Los Angeles with its drinking water. Using this relationship between nature and the city as a storyline, cool aqua tones and muddy desert browns formed the foundation of a wardrobe that updated cuts influenced by workwear and sailing. As ever, shapes were functional and fabrics were futuristic – including heat-reactive cottons, frosted chenille dégradé, enzyme-bleached denim, and down hand-sprayed with reflective micro glass spheres that mimic the shine of frozen water. The key item this season is a Marina sailing jacket cut with scuba trim. With outerwear as its most popular export, Stone Island is hoping the design makes a big splash in 2026. Orla Brennan

It takes a village at Jacob Cohën

It is 40 years since Italian denim brand Jacob Cohën was founded by the Bardelle family in Ponte Longo, Venezia. This evening in Milan, owner and collections director Jennifer Tommasi Bardelle opened the doors – or, indeed, a vast set of denim curtains – to a faux ‘village’, complete with bucolic cornfields, market stalls, and even a casino, constructed in a former warehouse and clad entirely in blue denim (‘it’s a small (JC) world’ quipped a copy of imaginary local newspaper The Jacob Cohën Voice). Populated with the ‘JC Community’ wearing the brand’s S/S 2026 collection as they whipped around on bikes or played in the ‘Jacob Cohën Village’ marching band, the mood was one of ‘décontracté elegance,’ as Tommasi Bardelle described. Later in the evening a performance came from French supermodel and musician Carla Bruni – a figure that Tommasi Bardelle called a ‘guest of honour and beauty who perfectly honours the Jacob Cohën aesthetic’. Jack Moss

Paul Smith’s Milan Fashion Week debut

The good thing about having an office overflowing with a lifetime of memorabilia like Paul Smith? You never know when something special from the past might pop up and inspire you next.

Recently, it was a souvenir book from Cairo that reappeared as if from nowhere that Smith had picked up while exploring the Pyramids with his wife, Pauline, many moons ago. Featuring scenes depicting the joy of travel in a hot-house palette with a healthy dose of nostalgia, the keepsake became the starting point for the S/S 2026 collection unveiled in Milan on Saturday afternoon.

‘One of the girls [in the office] must have pulled it out to look at it and as soon as I saw it, I thought it would be a great starting point for this show,’ enthused Smith during a preview with Wallpaper* ahead of the show. ‘Look at all these lovely colours and then look at my colours; we’ve got the green, the blue, the red, the yellow, the pink! This show is all about the colours you see when you travel.’

Read Scarlett Conlon’s full conversation with Paul Smith here.

Best in show: Wallpaper* highlights the standout collections of S/S 2026

Alongside on-the-ground updates from Milano, the Wallpaper* style team is spotlighting the strongest collections of the season throughout the week. So far, a yearning for sun-strewn escape has emerged as a unifying theme. Mr Armani’s absence was notable at his S/S 2026 Emporio Armani show yesterday following a recent hospitalisation, though his presence was felt in the sun-baked glamour of a collection that drew on the colours and textures of northern Africa. Elsewhere, Paul Smith made an intimate salon-style debut at his Milan HQ (where his brand has had a home for 22 years, but never shown) with a love letter to the markets of Europe and the bold textiles of Cairo. Travel was the starting point of newcomer Setchu’s Milan debut on Friday too, opening the week with a sharp, playful display inspired by a recent fishing trip to Zimbabwe. So far, it would seem the impulse in Milan is to relish in life’s simpler pleasures – holidays, pastimes, and the beauty of a sunset. Orla Brennan

Read our full Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2026 report here.

Prada lets the light in

A first look at the show set for Prada’s S/S 2026 menswear show, taking place in Milan this afternoon. Part of a continuing partnership with OMA (read about their 25-year collaboration here), the hangar-like Deposito space at Fondazione Prada has been stripped back to its essence, its high windows revealed to let the sunlight stream in. On the floor, a series of surreal flower-shaped rugs in hues of black and white, lining the vast concrete runway. Jack Moss

Prada’s S/S 2026 collection captured a surreal escapism

A surreal escapism permeated Prada’s S/S 2026 menswear collection, shown this afternoon in Fondazione Prada’s Deposito space. ‘A shift of attitude – a dismantling of meaning,’ said co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons of the collection, which featured micro shorts, colourful raffia hats and shrunken tracksuits and captured a feeling of summertime ease. ‘Often you have a very specific architectural proposition, a shape, a shoulder, a waist,’ said Simons backstage. ‘From the start we said we don‘t want that. We want everything to be human. We want everything to be light, fresh and colourful. It’s very free.’

‘This is the first time the Fondazione is completely bare, with the light coming in,’ Simons continued. When asked what prompted the change, Miuccia Prada added, ‘It's out there. You feel it,’ no doubt referencing the difficult times in which we are living. ‘We wanted to show something in this moment that, hopefully, feels positive and balanced,’ Simons added. ‘Sometimes it’s good to reflect and be a little bit more calm.’ Jack Moss, Orla Brennan

Tod’s pays homage to its Gommino driving shoe

The driving shoe is having a moment in Milan. On Sunday afternoon, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons showed various iterations as part of their S/S 2026 menswear collection (versions came two-toned, fringed, or in an intriguing leather which looked etched across its surface), while just hours later Tod’s staged an homage to its own car shoe, the Gommino, at the idyllic Villa Necchi Campiglio. As models lounged around the pool (the Piero Portaluppi-designed home is best known as the setting of Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love), the Italian house staged the ‘Gommino Club’, seeing Matteo Tamburini’s S/S 2026 collection displayed on a specially constructed tennis court in the grounds. The collection – which also drew inspiration from the Gommino – was one of ‘leisure and ease’, comprising languid tailoring, sporty striped sets, and checkered car coats, while accessories featured roomy totes and new riffs on the Gommino, including a lace-up sneaker with the driving shoe’s distinctive ‘pebbled’ sole. Jack Moss

Catch up on yesterday’s show highlights

Between presentations from Canali, Tod’s and Montblanc yesterday in Milan, two runway shows were the headliners of the day. In the afternoon, editors and celebrities – including Harris Dickinson and Riz Ahmed – milled into the Deposito building at Fondazione Prada (where the brand has shown since 2018) to see the space, for the first time ever, completely sparse save for a few flower-shaped rugs. With sunlight streaming through the never-before-opened windows, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented a collection that channelled an airy kind of escapism through an eclectic wardrobe of micro shorts, raffia hats, and classic masculine attire of a 1970s bent. Later in the day, Simon Holloway brought a British sensibility to an exceptionally beautiful evening in a Milanese garden, presenting a collection that enlivened the stuffy codes of English aristocracy with the tearaway glamour of rock stars like Bryan Ferry. Orla Brennan

Read our full Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2026 report here.

Giorgio Armani channels the ease of Pantelleria

The season’s escapist mood continued this morning at Giorgio Armani, where the Armani/Teatro had been transformed into the namesake designer’s beloved Pantelleria – the volcanic Italian island 60-miles-or-so off the coast of Sicily (Mr Armani spends each August on the island, where he has a home constructed from two renovated dammusi, Pantelleria’s traditional dwelling).

Featuring enormous black rocks – evocative of the island’s unique geology – and a serene ocean horizon across the walls, the island’s mood of relaxation and escape permeated the collection itself, which comprised languid silk tailoring, airy loose-weave knitwear and palm-tree prints across blazers and canvas bags. Head of men’s design Leo Dell'Orco once again took Mr Armani’s place at the end of the show as the designer continues to recuperate at home after a recent hospitalisation. Jack Moss

After a smattering of off-schedule shows in London this past weekend, including outings from Martine Rose and Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Men’s Fashion Week S/S 2026 officially commences today in Florence (17 June 2025) with the opening of the 108th edition of the city’s historic menswear fair. In surging mid-30s heat, this season’s guest shows will include a no-doubt colourful outing from Homme Plissé Issey Miyake at Villa Medicea della Petraia on the slopes of Monte Morello on Wednesday evening, before eyes turn to Milan on Friday, seeing the latest collections from Prada, Giorgio Armani and Dolce & Gabbana shown amid a slew of presentations, showrooms and (much-needed) aperitivo.

The final stop is Paris, where – despite a packed six-day-long schedule – it is Jonathan Anderson’s debut show for Dior which will absorb the fashion world’s attention (the former Loewe creative director is now overseeing Dior’s menswear, womenswear and haute couture). Indeed, when the Wallpaper* style editors and contributors were straw-polled on what they were most looking forward to this menswear month, everyone put his inaugural collection for the Parisian house at the top of their list. But there was plenty more – read on for everything the Wallpaper* editors are looking forward to at Men’s Fashion Week S/S 2026.

Men’s Fashion Week S/S 2026: what the Wallpaper* editors are looking forward to

Jason Hughes, fashion and creative director

Like most people in fashion, I’m most looking forward to Jonathan Anderson’s debut at Dior on the Friday of Paris Fashion Week – I was a big fan of his work at Loewe, where he created such a universe around his clothing. I own a lot of pieces he designed there, so I’m excited to see what he has in store. If it’s anything like his work at Loewe – or indeed his work at eponymous London label JW Anderson – it will shift the fashion needle, and have us all wanting something new.

In Milan, it's all about Prada: you can always expect the unexpected from Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, from the show set – which in recent seasons has included dripping goo, sci-fi tunnels and surreal officescapes – to the clothes themselves. Elsewhere, I've been impressed by London-based designer Kiko Kostadinov in the last couple of seasons. His idiosyncratic approach to pattern cutting and colour always veers towards the strange, in the best possible way. He’s showing his latest menswear collection on the final Sunday of Paris, closing out Men’s Fashion Month.

Jack Moss, fashion features editor

One of my highlights has actually already happened: a surprise off-schedule show from British designer Martine Rose this weekend in London, held among a maze of ruffled boudoir curtains in an empty job centre close to west London’s Edgware Road (on a lower floor, Rose had curated a market from her creative community of designers, record sellers and magazine publishers). Befitting the show set (‘our version of a salon’), Rose said that the collection was about finding beauty in the unexpected, seeing her trademark underground style (queer and cruising culture have been a longtime reference) softened with flourishes of lace, satin and silk, while silhouettes were shrunken to the body. ‘Everything feels a bit cinched or too tight, a bit awkward but still sexy, I hope,’ she said after the show, tequila already in hand. It was. Weird, sexy, desirable, and entirely on her own terms, it was my favourite collection of hers in some time.

Elsewhere, I'm of course excited for Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut (who isn’t?), while in Milan I join Jason in looking forward to Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ latest vision for Prada menswear (as ever, it will likely set the tone for the season ahead). An on-schedule Saint Laurent menswear show, on the opening day of Paris Fashion Week, is also on my highlights list, as is a duo of exhibition openings (also in Paris) from two of the city’s boundary-pushing designers: Demna, who will stage a retrospective of his work at Balenciaga prior to leaving for Gucci next month, and Rick Owens’ ‘Temple of Love’ exhibition, which opens at the Palais Galliera on June 28.

Scarlett Conlon, Milan contributor

The big reveal that I’m most looking forward to is, of course, Jonathan Anderson at Dior during the Paris leg of the shows. I’m fascinated to see how he brings the idiosyncratic charm that he has carved out a niche in to the storied French maison.

Elsewhere, with presentations outnumbering shows in Milan, I always love the opportunity that menswear provides to get up and close with the sartorial expertise of the clothes and talk with the designers; Brioni, Tod’s, and Brunello Cucinelli are always highlights, each finding new ways to make their super luxe offering feel relevant and fresh (and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t already planned what time I’ll be at the famous parmesan wheel at the latter).

Orla Brennan, contributing fashion writer

Besides seeing what Jonathan Anderson will do with his first collection for Dior – a moment we are all very excited about – I’m most looking forward to Prada. If Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ last few shows are anything to go by, I predict an intriguing show set and cast of interesting (possibly celebrity) characters coming down the runway – plus, of course, their usual agenda-setting fashion, guaranteed to shift what we find desirable.

I’m also looking forward to Wales Bonner’s return to the Paris Fashion Week schedule. The brand isn’t known for big spectacles, but the stories, music and clothes are always so clever and soulful – a testament to the eponymous designer’s superlative world-building ability.

Read the full Men’s Fashion Week S/S 2026 preview here.

Milan Design Week 2025 saw the fashion contingent put on its most comprehensive showing at the design fair to date, taking up residence in some of the city’s storied landmarks to do so.

From Gucci’s ‘Bamboo Encounters’ staged in the cloisters of San Simpliciano and Aesop’s ‘The Second Skin’ exhibition in the sacristy of the Chiesa del Carmine, to Loewe at the Palazzo Citterio and Prada Frames taking over the iconic Milano Centrale station, the showcase proved a heady melting pot of sensorial immersions and design collaborations.

Here, Scarlett Conlon highlights the standout fashion moments of Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2025 – from Loewe’s playful artist-designed teapots to a blockbuster Charlotte Perriand exhibition from Saint Laurent.

Georg Jensen’s ‘Gelateria Danese’

Danish design house Georg Jensen provided Milan Design Week’s most palatable pit stop: Gelateria Danese, an ephemeral ice cream parlour that drew inspiration from the interiors of Copenhagen’s Palace Hotel (opened in 1910, Georg Jensen provided furnishings and silverware) while referencing Milanese café culture. On the menu was traditional affogato (coffee was sourced from local roastery Prolog), while an array of ice cream flavours were dreamed up by Copenhagen-based Italian chef Chiara Barla. Each was served on Georg Jensen silverware, from coupes to tub-shaped cups, as well as spoons taken from ‘The Artisans Series’. ‘You’ll find pieces you’d typically associate with ice cream, but instead of being disposable, they’re crafted in silver,’ said recently appointed creative director Paula Gerbase. ‘Not only creating durable objects, but elevating the fleeting moments we use them in.’

The Row’s first homeware offering

In signature understated style, The Row launched ‘Home’ at Salone. Comprising a collection of three handwoven throws and a quilted blanket, the Olsens’ first foray into luxury home design was presented elegantly draped over steel and bronze rails by Julian Schnabel in the frescoed rooms of what will shortly become the New York-based brand’s Milanese HQ. Created with artisans in Kashmir, India, each blanket takes between 600 hours to craft and employs a different weaving technique from which they take their name: the Classic, The Row Weave, and the Himalayan Weave, arriving in four colourways – mink, ivory, brown and black. Lightweight at less than 14.5 microns and discreetly embroidered with the brand’s initials, they stand to become one of the year’s most coveted IYKYK home improvements.

Prada Frames boards a restored Gio Ponti train

As the city’s most majestic portal, Milano Centrale station proved the perfect location for the fourth edition of Prada Frames, ‘In Transit’. The annual event curated by Formafantasma that invites panellists from all areas of design, including architecture, engineering and environmental planning, into thematic dialogue has become one of the most popular attractions at Design Week, taking place in iconic landmarks around the city. This year, attendees were invited into the station’s Padiglione Reale that once served as the waiting room for Italian royalty and heads of state before boarding the Arlecchino train designed by Gio Ponti and Giulio Minoletti in the 1950s and recently restored by the Fondazione FS Italiane (out of the entire original fleet, this was the only one viable to be brought back to its former glory). Over the course of the week, discussions on digital, global, material and hacking infrastructures, along with interrogations of infrastructures of power, played out on board, seeking to examine ‘the impact of digital revolutions and global distribution networks on daily life’. Once again brilliantly introduced and contextualised by Alice Rawsthorn, several key takeaways included the necessity for infrastructure to collaborate rather than colonise, integrating ancestral knowledge to reframe industrial design, and the urgent need to re-evaluate industrial infrastructures to work in conjunction with the natural world rather than see them as separate entities.

READ: Aboard Gio Ponti's colourful Arlecchino train in Milan, a conversation about design with Formafantasma

Stone Island’s ‘sonic experience’

Stone Island invited visitors to its ‘sonic experience’ called ‘Friendly Pressure: Studio One’, staged in collaboration with Friendly Pressure, the London-based sound system studio founded by Shivas Howard Brown. A study of the textures of sound, the week-long programme of events took place in spaces that had bespoke hi-fidelity audio systems installed by Friendly Pressure in direct response to the precise dimensions of the space to rouse emotions akin to ‘the golden age of recorded music, treating sound as both a sensory and physical experience,’ the brand relayed. Studio One, where the events took place, was inspired by Carlo Scarpa, while inside soundproofing by Soundwave Jasmine and CC-Tapis rugs ensured the desired sound dispersion. Mirroring Stone Island’s sartorial approach to how materials respond to their environment, an allegorical experience emerged, parallelling reactions to touch and sound.

Louis Vuitton’s latest Objets Nomades series

Louis Vuitton revealed its 2025 home collection by staging a takeover of the neoclassical residence of Palazzo Serbelloni in the centre of Milan alongside its Objets Nomades series. Featuring designs from leading artists that the Paris fashion house has collaborated with over the years – including Patricia Urquiola, Jaime Hayon and Atelier Biagetti – it drew special attention to the work of futurist artist Fortunato Depero and Charlotte Perriand, whose textile work for the house was realised for the first time. Elsewhere, a special-edition trunk celebrating the house’s original design icon, the Malle Vaisselier, opened to reveal a service of refined porcelain and delicate glasses. It was the more whimsical items on display that drew the most attention: the Odyssée table football and a pinball machine inspired by the A/W 2025 fashion show by creative director Pharrell Williams were designed for Studio Louis Vuitton by Estúdio Campana and balanced the splendour with a cheeky wink.

Miu Miu’s ‘Literary Club’

The doors to The Miu Miu Literary Club opened once again during Salone, inviting guests into the Circolo Filologico Milanese that had been given a modernist Miu Miu makeover. Conceived under the direction of Miuccia Prada and curated by writer and researcher Olga Campofreda, the theme for this year was ‘A Woman’s Education’ and saw two days of panel discussions exploring the subjects of girlhood, love and sex education through the pages of Simone de Beauvoir’s 1954 coming-of-age novella ‘The Inseparables’ and Fumiko Enchi’s groundbreaking 1957 novel charting female desire, ‘The Waiting Years’. On day one, author Lou Stoppard moderated a panel discussion exploring ‘the power of girlhood’ in the context of De Beauvoir’s work with Lauren Elkin, Geetanjali Shree, and Veronica Raimo, and on day two Kai Isaiah Jamal delved into Enchi’s with through the lens of ‘love, sex, and desire’ with Nicola Dinan, Naoise Dolan, and Sarah Manguso, both championing the voices of female literary voices past, present and future.

Valextra’s ‘travelling sculpture’ with Zaven

Milanese leather goods brand Valextra is famed for sitting at the intersection of fashion and design with an archive dating back to 1937 that includes collaborations with AG Fronzoni and the first Compasso D’Oro award. For its Salone project this year, it continued its Vocabulario Project, inviting the Venice-based design studio Zaven to work with one of its most famous creations from the last century and recontextualise it through an idiosyncratic lens. The result is the ‘Costa 70 x Zaven’ suitcase, an identical re-creation of the Giovanni Fontana-designed luggage that dates back to the 1960s filled with a series of abstract resin objects that Zaven designed to be engineered into a build-it-yourself home sculpture. ‘Responsive and thought-provoking design has been at the core of Valextra’s DNA since 1937 and Zaven mirrors our own passion in realising objects of excellence in both a functional and meaningful way with this exceptional reinvention of an archival icon,’ says Valextra CEO Xavier Rougeaux.

READ: Valextra’s collaboration with Zaven is a ‘travelling sculpture’ with its own suitcase

Brioni bottles a rare fragrance with Lalique

If time is regarded as one of the greatest luxuries, then Brioni bottled it for Salone. A project four years in the making was unveiled at its Via Gesu flagship to mark Brioni’s 80th anniversary. Beloved for its exquisite attention to sartorial detail, the brand unveiled the Dualité Crystal Edition Perfume in collaboration with Lalique, an ode to artisanal craftsmanship and the art of olfactory. The glass bottle – of which only 18 are available – stands at nearly 40cm high and features an internal sculpture that was created using the cire-perdue method, the lost-wax technique first used by René Lalique in 1893 and passed down through generations of glassmakers. Inside, the Extrait de Parfum scent was created by master perfumer Michel Almairac over a seven-year-period and features notes of green apple, violet, Ambroxan, and rare iris butter. ‘This collaboration between our maisons became one of shared passion, representing everything we stand for: a dedication to time, the selection of precious raw materials, exquisite artisanry and the difference that human touch makes,’ says Brioni design director, Norbert Stumpfl.

Luca Faloni collaborates with Winetage

Luca Faloni partnered with Winetage, the fellow Italian brand that upcycles wine barrels into original design objects, to create a daybed upholstered in its exquisite brushed linen fabrics. Crafted from wood that still bears the red-wine stains and aromas from years of maturing the best Italian vintages, the daybed is furnished with padded tubes in fruity Bordeaux-red tones. Designed to spotlight the best of Made in Italy, the finished product combines fashion, wine, and design, providing the perfect resting spot to indulge in all three.

Missoni Home opens new Milan store

Missoni Home might be a mainstay in many a Milano dwelling, but it didn’t have its own spot in the city it calls home until this design week. Beside the brand’s Via Solferino showroom, the first dedicated Missoni Home boutique opened this week with its interior decor riffing on several of the brand’s most distinctive signatures, including degradé-painted pillars, zig-zag wallpaper, and its joyful rainbow colour palette, featuring a special curation of its expansive home offering.

Tod’s celebrates Made in Italy craft

As one of Italy’s most recognisable design icons, the Tod’s Gommino driving shoe holds a special place in the Made in Italy playbook. For Salone, the brand released a limited edition of the driving shoe (above) and unveiled a special coffee-table photography tome, ‘Italian Hands; Artisanal Stories From Italy’. A celebration of the processes and products that are exported all over the world, it features prominent Italian tastemakers alongside the artisans with whom they collaborate and promote – including master Murano glassblower Giberto Arrivabene, master of terracotta Rosario Spina, artisan of brass and bronze Ernesto Carati; and pesto connoisseur Christian Belforte. ‘This book is a tribute to those who, every day, with passion and commitment, contribute to keeping a fundamental part of our cultural identity alive,’ says Tod’s group president Diego Della Valle. ‘It is a recognition of those who know how to enhance craftsmanship, making it a symbol of authentic, timeless quality, even for new generations.’

Gucci’s Bamboo Encounters

Few materials are as synonymous with Gucci as bamboo. One of the fashion house’s defining motifs since it was first used on its iconic handbag in 1947, its legacy defines the innovation inherent to the Florentine brand. For Milan Design Week this year, the house invited seven artists to give their take on the material in their own mediums for its installation ‘Gucci Bamboo Encounters’. Curated by 2050+ founder Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli and staged in the cloisters of the Chiostri di San Simpliciano, works ranged from a sculpture by Swedish-Chilean artist Anton Alvarez and a collection of baskets featuring hand-blown glass accents by Palestinian architect, artist, and researcher Dima Srouji, to a jubilant collection of bamboo kites by the Dutch design collective Kite Club. They were joined by artists Nathalie Du Pasquier, Laurids Galleé, and Sisan Lee, each of whom explored the shapeshifting possibilities of this chameleonic material.

READ: Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli on curating Gucci Bamboo Encounters at Fuorisalone: ‘We didn’t want to produce commodities’

‘La Prima Notte Di Quiete’ by Loro Piana and Dimoremilano

Loro Piana may have staged its design week event in the Cortile della Seta courtyard of its Milan headquarters, but there was nothing familiar about this space. Realised in collaboration with design duo Dimorestudio (founded by Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci), the usually light-flooded space had been transformed into a decadent 1970s film set meets affluent Milanese penthouse accessed via a cinema foyer draped in red theatre curtains. Invited through the curtains, visitors were presented with a fully furnished home, featuring furniture designed by Dimorestudio for Loro Piana Interiors alongside exquisite vintage pieces upholstered in Loro Piana’s luxurious home textiles and art from Tornabuoni Art, Cardi Gallery, and Galleria Gracis e Secci Gallery. Immersing visitors in the space for four-minute intervals was a soundtrack curated by music composer and multimedia artist Nicola Guiducci that ranged from excerpted dialogue on a rainy evening to a phone ringing and a piano playing that both heightened the cinematic experience.

Saint Laurent’s homage to Charlotte Perriand

When it comes to the design world, Yves is never far from Saint Laurent. For its design week installation, creative director Anthony Vaccarello looked to one of the design heroes of the French fashion house’s founder, Charlotte Perriand, commissioning four pieces of furniture she conceived between 1943 to 1967 that have only existed as sketches or prototypes until now. Comprising the rosewood and cane sofa designed for the Japanese ambassador’s Paris residence in 1967; the rose and cherrywood Mille-Feuilles table that she made a reduced-scale model of in 1963; the Indochina Guest Armchair she designed for her own home in 1943; and the Rio de Janeiro bookcase she designed in 1962 for her husband Jacques Martin’s apartment, the collection has been produced in full scale for the very first time for Milan Design Week. Standing in homage to the design talents of both Perriand and Saint Laurent, each piece in the collection will be available on an exclusive made-to-order basis following the showcase.

Versace’s celebration of the ‘Art of Living’

The Versace brand may be undergoing creative changes following the announcement last month that Donatella Versace would be stepping down as creative director, but its extravagant proposition for home design remains steadfast at its Milan Design Week presentation, The Versace Art of Living. Described as a ‘universe that brings a fantasy of poise, extravagance and heritage to life’, the star of the show this season was the reinvention of the ‘Harem’ chair, its steel frame made bountiful with the addition of thick padded satin cushions and, of course, a large gold Medusa head, alongside an update the of the 1994 wooden chair the ‘Vanitas’, upholstered in velvet. The house referenced Versace’s last fashion show at the event, stating that, like its ready-to-wear offering, ‘to embody Versace is to embrace a way of living at once proudly historied and decidedly modern, and to live it – to wear it, eat from it, sit on it, sleep in it – with uncompromising intention.’

Dolce & Gabbana’s ode to ‘love and hospitality’

The master of Southern Italian charm, Dolce & Gabbana, brought the verdant coastal landscapes of its founders’ native Sicily to the northern design capital for Salone with Verde Maiolica, a porcelain service in green and white. Celebrating the handmade craftsmanship of the region, its botanical design finds its roots in the Mediterranean shrub, while the collection – comprising tea and coffee sets alongside tableware, flatware and glassware – ‘represents and narrates the tale of love and hospitality’, relayed the brand at its Via Broggi cocktail presentation.

Fendi Casa’s collaboration with Lewis Kemmenoe

Fendi Casa continued its Design Miami collaboration with British designer Lewis Kemmenoe in Milan, seeing him take over the windows of its Via Manzoni flagship with his large-scale abstract panels. Acting as a metaphor for the savoir-faire behind the Rome-based brand’s furniture, they encapsulated the duality of the new interiors collection that is at once sumptuous and minimal. New to its line-up this year was ‘Cover’ sofa, designed to be ‘dressed up or down’ – a sartorial reference to reliable wardrobe staples; the ‘Twist’ chair by Stefano Gallizioli, a wood structure upholstered in leather with armrests resembling the swirls of a ribbon; and the modular ‘Later’ sofa, designed by Ceriani Szostak and inspired by the rationalist architecture of Fendi’s iconic Rome HQ that is famously both imposing and inviting.

Issey Miyake’s ‘Type-XIII Atelier Oï’ lighting

Issey Miyake invited guests to its Milan flagship to unveil ‘Type-XIII Atelier Oï’, the fruits of its collaborative project between the Swiss design studio Atelier Oï and A-POC Able Issey Miyake, which explores the seemingly limitless possibilities of its iconic ‘A Piece of Cloth’ concept. Unveiling lighting prototypes that use one piece of wire and a piece of cloth in several formations, the house presented two distinctive series. The first, the ‘O Series’, draws inspiration from the Japanese art of Ikebana, with five sculptural lights designed to take on the same decorative presence as flower arrangements that can be easily moved around the home with the recycled polyester ‘Steam Stretch’ material used in A-POC Able’s clothes-making process appearing to blossom in spontaneous directions. The second, the ‘A Series’, pays homage to Miyake’s iconic 1997 APOC show that saw a formation of models take to the runway connected by one continuous roll of fabric. Here, a pre-knitted roll stretches out to create a three-shade interconnected light installation that can be cut to size to suit the space it is destined to take pride of place in.

READ: A-POC Able Issey Miyake’s lighting collaboration with Atelier Oï is based on its philosophy of ‘a piece of cloth’

Hermès’ brilliant white box

In a departure from the darkened rooms of recent years, Hermès turned its La Pelota venue into a brilliant-white box. ‘To design an object, to make it, a box is needed,’ visitors were told before stepping into the stark space. Designed by Charlotte Macaux Perelman, architect and artistic director of Hermès collections for the home, the cavernous box-like room presented four polyhedron shapes descending from the ceiling and emitting a fluorescent glow beneath.‘Like a sculptor's marble block, [the box] contains the object, the idea we have of it, and the dream it inspires,’ the house continued. Each of these suspended structures featured this year’s ‘Objects For The Home’, including the ‘Contrepoint Dinner Service’ by Nigel Peake and Pivot D’Hermès side table by Tomás Alonso alongside the ‘Double D’Hermès’ jugs and ‘H Partition’ throws by Studio Hermes. Positioned both inside the cavities and on cutout shelves along their surface, the intersection between an object of function and admiration was brought to the fore.

READ: A bit of all white: Hermès unveils its latest home collections in Milan

Armani Casa’s ‘Oriental Inks’

After two years of delighting Milan Design Week-goers by throwing the doors open to his historic Palazzo Orsini home on Via Borgonuovo, Giorgio Armani opted to redirect attention back to the sprawling Armani Casa flagship on Corso Venezia to mark 25 years of Armani Casa and unveil its new homewares collection, ‘Oriental Inks’. Working in collaboration with De Gournay, iconic items of furniture in the permanent Armani collection were transformed with exquisite silk and beaded embroidery and gold-leaf appliqué depicting bamboo, dragons and jungle landscapes, chosen for being ‘auspicious symbols of strength, flexibility and endurance’ designed to transport their owners – and admirers – elsewhere. The ‘Amedeo’ bed, in particular, took over 200 hours to embroider its monkey-inhabiting canopy scene. ‘The display and the new pieces, authentic examples of the highest level of craftsmanship, are visible through the windows to anyone passing by,’ shared Mr Armani. ‘I quite like the idea of a surprise that captures attention, a suggestion that broadens horizons, now that horizons are often becoming narrower.’

Loewe’s artist-designed teapots

Former Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson may have left the building, but one of his proudest legacies lives on at design week. Marking its ninth craft exhibition during the city-wide showcase, the brand presented ‘Loewe Teapots’ featuring 25 different interpretations of the ubiquitous vessel by 25 international artists and the last curation from Anderson to be presented by the Spanish house. From the coral-like glaze application of South Korean artist Jane Yang-D'Haene’s pot to the surrealist two faces of Spanish ceramicist Laia Arqueros Claramunt’s design, the collection ranged in depiction from classic ceramic to convention-defying proportions, with each piece representing the intimate ceremony in which a teapot takes the lead.

READ: 25 artists reimagine the teapot at Milan Design Week 2025

Dior expands ‘Ode to Nature’ collection with Sam Baron

Dior Maison worked with French artist Sam Baron to expand its ‘Ode To Nature’ collection with three one-metre-high glass vases that were every bit as intricate as one of the French fashion house’s couture creations. Each depicting its own garden of intertwining branches, petals and foliage, the bodies of the hand-blown and hand-constructed vessels were inspired by the first Miss Dior amphora perfume bottle from 1947. Starting as a ribbed glass tube, each was gently blown and fired over several hours to create the distinctive shape before the exacting process of applying the delicate decorative details could begin. Designed to conjure the bouquets of flowers that founder Dior insisted on having in his salon, each of the three designs is available in a limited edition of eight – Monsieur Christian Dior’s lucky number.

Stay tuned for more of the best fashion moments at Milan Design Week 2025.

Following a quiet week in London, Milan Fashion Week arrived in a state of flux: with two of its biggest houses, Gucci and Fendi, without creative directors (the latter for its womenswear collections, with Silvia Venturini Fendi still heading up menswear and accessories), there was the feeling of an in-between season as its major players reorientate themselves in the hunt for new creative leads. That said, Fendi had plenty to celebrate – 100 years, in fact – which it marked with a blockbuster co-ed show on Wednesday evening (26 February) designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi (afterwards, seats were pushed back for a party). Meanwhile, Gucci, who opened proceedings on Tuesday afternoon (25 February), also hosted a co-ed show, which took place on an enormous mirrored runway in the shape of the house’s Aldo Gucci-designed interlocking-G logo – a perennial symbol of Italian luxury.

Elsewhere, the city’s powerhouses Dolce & Gabbana, Emporio Armani, Ferragamo, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada each showed their latest collections (at the latter, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented a collection of ‘raw glamour’ amid a scaffold-and-carpet construction introduced at the house’s A/W 2025 menswear show earlier this year). Finally at Missoni, a new era awaits as Alberto Caliri – a longtime fixture of the Italian knitwear house – stepped into the spotlight as creative director on Friday evening (28 February).

Here, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss – with additional reporting by Orla Brennan – unpacks the best of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2025.

Giorgio Armani

A change in location this season saw Giorgio Armani swap the intimate showspace in his headquarters on Via Borgonuovo for the larger Tadao Ando-designed Armani/Teatro in south-west Milan, where the designer usually presents his Emporio Armani collections (as he did earlier this week). Inside, seating was evocative of restaurant booths or a particularly luxurious airport lounge, like that at the special show the house held in New York last year to celebrate the eponymous designer’s 90th birthday.

This latest collection, for A/W 2025, was described by Mr Armani as a return to his roots, ‘a reaffirmation of an authentic style that evolves, drawing on itself, while remaining firmly anchored in reality’. As such, it centred on louche silhouettes inflected with moments of glamour – including a particularly sparkling closing act, whereby diaphanous gowns and floating layers of tulle were adorned with thousands of light-catching crystals. Meanwhile continuing what has been a defining trend of Milan so far, ‘fur’ coats and stoles were actually crafted from specially manipulated shearling. Colours, Mr Armani elucidated backstage, were drawn from nature, a typically seductive palette of earthy, ‘volcanic’ hues and those evoking crystals and minerals, from quartz blue to emerald.

Afterwards, guests were ushered into another room for a ‘light lunch’ of sashimi, saffron risotto and champagne – another flourish of Armani-esque glamour and Italian hospitality. JM

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana’s latest show played out in two halves – the first, introduced with a short film starring the model Vittoria Ceretti in London, was inspired by the off-duty uniforms of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s favourite contemporary models (among them Ceretti, but also Mona Tougaard and Irina Shayk, the latter two who appeared in the show). The pair said it was about an ‘approach to dressing’ defined not by a ‘singular item’ but the way pieces are combined together, like a shearling trimmed parka over a negligee, knee-high-socks and boots, or a pair of slouchy cargo pants with a lace top and enormous furry bag. The second part was an expression of Dolce & Gabbana’s high-octane eveningwear, here largely comprising super-abbreviated mini dresses adorned with crystals and feathers, though still instilled with what the designers called a ‘cool girl’ attitude (several of the looks were worn with chunky leather boots, albeit adorned with gobstopper gems). As if to prove the collection’s real world appeal, models strode out of the building onto a special runway on the Viale Piave, where DJ Victoria De Angelis – a member of Maneskin – was crafting the booming soundtrack, which continued to reverberate streets away. JM

Ferragamo

The work of Pina Bausch and the Tanztheater – the German expressionist dance movement which began in the 1920s but found new international renown under Bausch in the 1970s – has proved fertile ground for fashion designers. Yesterday’s Ferragamo show saw creative director Maximilian Davis look towards Tanztheater’s ‘unbound expression’ and ‘liberated choreography’ for an A/W 2025 collection staged on a runway sprinkled with thousands of red rose petals (the visual impact was similar to that of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch’s productions, whereby an otherwise sparse stage might sprout with flowers, or be transformed into a vast pits of dust of mud).

In looking towards the medium of dance, it was a continuation of his S/S 2025 collection, which was inspired by ballet, though here that lightness had been replaced by a rawer sensuality – a nod towards Tanztheater’s experimental roots in Weimar Germany. Retaining the sharply defined wardrobe of his tenure so far (crisp tailoring and overcoats remain a highlight), Davis found new expression in sultry flourishes, from featherweight sheer knits to adornments of feathers, tassels, fur-like shearling and 3D flowers, while a visceral red ran throughout. ‘The twenties were a moment of freedom, of people rebelling and creating spaces for themselves,’ Davis explained of the liberated collection. ‘[I wanted] to create a sense of discomfort in the expected.’ JM

Versace

This season’s Versace show arrived with questions about the future of the Italian house: Capri Holdings, the company which currently owns Versace, is looking to sell, with parties from Renzo Rosso’s Only The Brave (owner of Diesel, Maison Margiela and Marni, among others) to the Prada Group expressing interest (Miuccia Prada said the deal was ‘on everyone’s table’ backstage at her own show earlier this week).

Despite the intrigue, the show – which took place on a marathon-length runway at a working tram depot – saw Donatella Versace remain steadfast in her vision of sensually charged glamour, drilling into house codes through the collection’s melange of colourful, baroque-inspired prints (one inspiration was Gianni Versace’s A/W 1997 collection, his last before his death). ‘Be yourself. Believe in yourself. Break the rules,’ said Donatella Versace of the collection’s mood, noting that the men’s and women’s collection ‘affirms the house’s eternal ethos’.

She noted an inspiration from Versace homeware – a series of duvet-like dresses and jackets appeared like the model had grabbed a set of Versace bedsheets for modesty – while studded black leather and distressed jeans provided a punky counterpoint to the all-out drama elsewhere. Tailoring swerved from nipped-waist to broad-shouldered and oversized, while looks in chainmail (one worn by Romeo Beckham) were an expression of the Versace vernacular. A trio of flared-waist mini dresses provided the show’s final tableau, as a smiling Donatella Versace took her place next to the models for her finale bow. Will it be her last? It’s hard to imagine Versace – or indeed fashion – without Donatella. JM

Tod’s

The model, musician and former French first lady Carla Bruni provided a surprising opening act at Tod’s, the star of a static artwork by Chicago-based artist Nelly Agassi. Stitched into a metres-long patchwork leather gown and brandishing an enormous gold needle, the slightly surreal tableau – which saw Bruni erected at its centre for over half an hour as guests trailed in – was titled ‘Artisanal Intelligence’, a nod to the house’s roots in craftsmanship. If aesthetically it didn’t have a whole lot to do with Matteo Tamburini’s third collection – a contemporary imagining of the Italian wardrobe – the idea of craft ran throughout, particularly in the collection’s textures, from buttery leather, suede and shearling to lightweight wool knits, fuzzy alpaca, and woven fabrics left purposely frayed at the edges. Other pieces had a uniform precision (crisp poplin shirts, pressed trousers, button-up cardigans) and felt fresh – it was the best iteration of Tod’s, a house which has occasionally struggled to find its fashion identity, in some time. JM

Missoni

After a number of seasons whereby Missoni has struggled to find its identity, Alberto Caliri – a veteran designer of the house who has been there three decades – stepped back into the spotlight with an astute collection which returned to the knitwear house’s roots. ‘The feeling was not one of radical change, but rather of return,’ he told Wallpaper* prior to the show, which comprised a series of layered-up looks which drew inspiration from the ‘instinctive and free’ vision of Ottavio and Rosita Missoni, the house founders. Knitwear, of course, was a focus, with silhouettes tending towards the enveloping – a series of oversized cardigans with enormous ribbed collars were a highlight – while patterns, a longtime hallmark of Missoni, largely centred on a melange of checks befitting the collection’s outdoorsy mood (a play on the Wellington boot was one of this season’s footwear offerings). Though it was the shimmering knits which came towards the end of the show which impressed: slouchy bell-sleeved cardigans, jackets dotted with crystal sparkle, and a play on the tuxedo in a lurex-like knit captured a mood of insouciant glamour. It was a great start. JM

READ: Alberto Caliri’s new vision for Missoni: ‘It’s about getting back to an essence’

Sportmax

Sportmax’s latest show took place in the light-filled Rotonda della Besana on Friday morning, introducing a collection of new focus for the label, which is the younger, more trend-driven offshoot of the Max Mara family. Led by an anonymous design team, the ideas-driven collections have tended towards the experimental, though here there was something more stripped-back, offering a highly desirable line-up of real-world clothing (albeit with satisfying flourishes of innovation and strangeness). The collection notes described it as one of ‘hyper-reinvention – where the ordinary become extraordinary,’ inspired by ‘the artisans, designers, colleagues, mothers and friends who infuse Sportmax’s intellectual design language with realistic intention’. Tassels were a feature – in extra-long lengths they transformed the silhouette of handbags and gloves – while clever faux fur jackets had been cut to give the illusion of crocodile skin. A series of dresses, meanwhile, were cleverly crafted to appear like a single roll of fabric had been wrapped around the body. JM

Giuseppe Di Morabito

Born in the mountains of Calabria, southern Italy, Giuseppe di Morabito grew up seeing nuns weave lace on looms – the art of tombolo – and local tailors craft beautiful custom suits for the village’s men. He founded his namesake brand with a respect for these traditions while drawing inspiration from the masterpieces of Caravaggio and Canova, whose frescoed ceilings and sculptures he pored over in Rome before studying at Istituto Marangoni in Milan. Informing a wardrobe of Italian glitz – corsetry, tailoring, and opulent evening gowns, his bread and butter – Di Morabito’s taste for the classics made the set of his A/W 2025 show all the more surprising. A cyborg positioned in the centre of the room introduced his latest collection with a surreal speech about technology and human life, after which model du jour Amelia Gray opened the show in a crinkly black bustier and matching scrunched leather trousers. Looking to ideas of armour through the ages, a series of high-voltage looks then followed. Silver breastplates sat atop shirting, and severe suiting cinched waists with hidden corsetry and mini crinolines. Heavy wool trenches and voluminous faux fur overcoats came in shades of deep brown and taupe, while head-to-toe glittering looks referenced the burlesque attire of the 1920s for women and the streetwear shapes of the 2000s for men. The designer dubbed the display ‘artisanal intelligence’ after the show. OB

Prada

Unfolding in the same scaffolding structure as the house’s menswear show earlier this year, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons titled their latest womenswear collection ‘Raw Glamour’. ‘Glamour was something we were attracted to, instinctively, and its connection to femininity,’ said Mrs Prada. ‘We asked ourselves – what is feminine? What is feminine beauty? What is femininity today? It is a constant questioning, an examining of femininity – what does it mean?’ These questions are foundational to Prada, a house which has long interrogated notions of conventional beauty. This season, though, there was new urgency: ‘It is not my job to be political but when you open a newspaper – oh my God!’ Mrs Prada exclaimed backstage post-show. ‘Our job is to think about what clothes a woman can wear, about what kind of femininity makes sense in this moment.’

What followed was a collection which, like the pair’s previous menswear and womenswear outings, was driven by their instinctual attraction to ideas rather than more defined thematics. After the menswear show last month, Mrs Prada cited ‘a liberating instinct… it’s the season of artificial intelligence, and this is our move again towards humanity. Towards instinct, passion and romance.’ This collection followed a similar track: Simons said that the collection began with the pair thinking about constriction, how women’s fashion has been defined by garments like the corset which are designed to narrow and reshape the body. So here they blew up 1960s-style dresses and sliced them raw at the hemline, their narrowed waist expanded into roomy proportions (other pyjama-like shorts were pinched and gathered at the waist, as if wearing something several sizes too big). Meanwhile suggestions of nostalgic glamour – like the fur coat or handbag – were here subverted, the former with protrusions of faux fur around the neckline, or reimagined through trompe l’oeil prints. A feeling of dishevelment ran throughout – not least the hair, which had been teased and ruffled, as if at the end of a long evening (or, indeed, rolling out of bed).

It felt like a provocation from the designers, a welcome jolt of dissonance in a fashion month which has largely skirted conversations of the tumultuous political backdrop on which these collections unfold. Here was their own pitch for liberation, though not without an undercurrent of danger (there was a kind of violence to the way garments were chopped and sliced). ‘Within feminine beauty, when you think of its archetypes, there is lots of restriction of the body – here, it is free,’ said Simons. ‘And ideas can be liberated also. In turn, we didn’t want to limit ourselves, with a narrative or a theme. We like to take a risk – we like to try to create something different.’ JM

Max Mara

For his latest outing at Max Mara, British designer Ian Griffiths transported attendees from Milan’s Palazzo del Ghiaccio to the Brontë sisters’ windswept Yorkshire moors – albeit in the elegant, reduced style which has become his signature at the Reggio-Emilia founded house. It was by no means period attire: instead, Griffiths imagined a contemporary protagonist craving the tempestuous passions of Jane Eyre or Catherine Earnshaw, ‘sleek, self-assured and elegant… but she cannot contain her passions forever. She craves romance, deep and dramatic.’

As such, the collection teetered between strictness and romance, whether fuzzy overcoats cinched at the waist with double leather belts, cloak-like knitwear, or a tendency towards the full-length silhouette, like a series of woollen skirts and coats which grazed the ankle (the latter also suggesting protection against the elements). Meanwhile, knitted wool tops were structured to evoke a Victorian corset or bodice, though without boning or structure they retained the feeling of ease which is synonymous with Griffiths’ work.

Textures, meanwhile, felt a return to the designer’s British roots (he was born in Windsor, Berkshire, before moving to London to study at the Royal College of Art), with worsted wools and tweeds adding satisfying tactility and weight. JM

Emporio Armani

Giorgio Armani titled his latest collection for Emporio Armani ‘All In’, a reference to the way in which he can use the label as a space for experimentation and play (a spritely finale bow showed the 90-year-old designer was in no danger of resting on his laurels). Playing cards were an influence, he said, becoming a motif on outerwear or abstracted into details like enormous heart-shaped pockets on a red velvet suit. But ‘All In’ also referred to the vast breadth of garments which fall under the Emporio Armani umbrella; since its founding in 1981, it has continually sought to create a comprehensive wardrobe for the demands of its customer, whether town or country, ski slope or beach. Here, he impressed through textural interest – rich layers of velvet and silk jacquards met shaggy yeti furs, tailoring wools and lustrous organza – while silhouettes drew inspiration from louche, fluid tailoring which interrelated masculine and feminine in typical Armani style. Meanwhile a closing section of looks in black saw Mr Armani explore new expressions of eveningwear: notably, a crinoline skirt dotted with buttons which closed the show – proof of the designer’s desire to continue to drive the label forward. ‘Dressing is always about taking risks,’ he said. JM

MM6 Maison Margiela

In one of the cosier setups at Milan Fashion Week so far, rows of sofas and armchairs draped in white sheets set the scene for MM6 Maison Margiela’s A/W 2025 show last night. The collection followed the anonymous fashion collective’s Pitti Uomo display in Florence this January – its first menswear-only presentation in the 30 years since Martin Margiela founded the diffusion line in 1997 – which paid tribute to the elusive Belgian designer’s strongest mens silhouettes through the decades. Last night’s show, however, took a more theatrical turn. Emerging from a circular spotlight, models stalked through the endless rows of couches, exuding a seductive energy in futuristic sunglasses, leather opera gloves, and pointed vinyl knee-high boots. Expressed in an earthy palette of deep browns, muddy greys, stark white and plenty of black, the collection itself twisted tropes of glamour into something more subversive. Dramatic cuts and exaggerated proportions saw overcoats and polos padded like duvets, sharply structured jackets paired with sultry leather mini skirts, and sheer shirting layered under lustrous black suits. As ever, Margiela’s deconstructed legacy was evident in the details – exposed silk panels on the backs of masculine wool coats, crushed organza second-skin dresses unraveling at the seams, and everyday staples pushed into sharp, dramatic new territories. OB

Fendi

Late last year, it was announced that Kim Jones was leaving his position as creative director of Fendi’s womenswear and haute couture collections. His replacement is yet to be announced, though the house’s current state of flux was not going to halt celebrations of Fendi’s 100th year in business (it was founded in 1925 by Edoardo and Adele Fendi in Rome).

Hosted at the house’s newly renovated Via Solari HQ – the runway showspace at its centre now nearly double in size – it was down to Silvia Venturini Fendi, granddaughter of the house’s founders, to design this season’s co-ed collection (prior to Jones’ departure she was in charge of menswear and accessories). Beginning with her twin grandchildren pulling open two vast doors – reminiscent of those on Via Borgognona in Rome, where the Fendi sisters had their atelier – the collection which followed signalled a return to the Cinecittà glamour long synonymous with the label, modelled by a cast of perennial Fendi muses, from Penelope Tree to Katen Elson. ‘Fur’ coats and stoles ran throughout (in a clever illusory trick, they were actually patchworked or intarsia shearling designed to recall fox, mink or sable), while hourglass silhouettes conjured a nostalgic elegance. Meanwhile moments of embellishment – from crystal and paillette embroidery to chantilly lace and plissé taffeta – reflected the evening’s celebratory mood (after the show ended, a stream of waiters with trays of champagne circulated to toast the occasion).

‘This show is so important to me,’ she told Wallpaper* after the show. ‘It is a flashback and a fast forward. It is about five generations of Fendis, from my grandparents’ historic store and atelier to my grandsons opening the doors to the show – a look to the future.’ JM

READ: Fendi celebrates 100 years with an all-out runway show at its new Milan HQ

Marni

In preparation for this season, Francesco Risso spent a month with the Nigerian artists Olaolu Slawn and Soldier Boyfriend in a ‘residency’ he dubbed ‘The Pink Sun’. Having met in London, Risso said that his collaboration with the artists – which culminated not just with the collection but a selection of artworks which decorated the showspace at Marni’s Milan HQ – was ‘never a decision, it was a pull, an inevitability’, citing a ‘shared language built on instinct, on movement, on rebellion’.

Taking place in a surreal recreation of a Milanese café (complete with Martini vermouth spritzes and bar tables daubed with swirls of grey paint), the show itself was about the moment when a work is taken out of the studio and into ‘the salon’, where the spoils of the creative process are put on show. As the show began – soundtracked with a live performance by longtime collaborator Dev Hynes – models emerged from a slice in an enormous white canvas at the end of the runway, slinking between the room’s tables and chairs as if navigating a nightclub or bar. Their clothing continued the liberated, instinctual mood of the S/S 2025 collection in dresses made from a bold patchwork of fabric, brightly coloured faux fur stoles and fuzzy striped knits, with 3D flowers and winged sunglasses serving as playful adornment.

It made for perhaps Milan Fashion Week’s highlight thus far, a testament to Risso’s desire to seek the ultimate self-expression through clothing. ‘We make, design, conceive, we fantasise, we romanticise, we push it to the maximum,’ he told Simon Chilvers in the March 2025 issue of Wallpaper*. ‘Making clothes is like making emotions. That is actually how Marni exists, to allow people to express themselves easily, and incredibly, and loudly.’ JM

READ: Inside the unexpected collaboration between Marni’s Francesco Risso and artists Slawn and Soldier

Jil Sander

For some months, rumours have swirled that Lucie and Luke Meier, the wife-and-husband duo who have been co-creative directors of Jil Sander since 2017, were set to exit the Italy-based house. Yesterday evening, the departure was confirmed by OTB – the luxury goods conglomerate which owns the label – meaning that their A/W 2025 runway show, which took place that morning, would be their last. ‘A bright metaphor for love,’ they coined the collection, which unfolded in a series of cocooning corridors clad with vast black curtains. From this near-pitch-black darkness emerged the Meiers’ glimmering figures: dresses and skirts were adorned with gleaming black tassels, shirts with rows of iridescent paillettes, while shoes and leggings were studded with silver metal – an expression at once of delicacy and protect. In the collection’s focus on texture, it was a continuum of the Meiers’ vision for the house, which was founded by its namesake in Germany in 1968. Wanting to instil the rigorous minimalism synonymous with Jil Sander with a poetic sensuality, tactility has long been at the heart of their collections – with this latest outing, they once again created garments that begged to be touched. Meanwhile a striking series of pieces featured a degradé print which saw a delicate floral print fade away into black – or perhaps, more hopefully, the other way round. ‘[This is] a collection which turns darkness – the hues that seem to soak our times – into light, into the brilliance they invite us to capture,’ they said, via the collection notes. That evening, they hosted a party to celebrate the last eight years alongside longtime musical collaborator Benji B. It was titled ‘It’s All Love’. JM

READ: Lucie and Luke Meier exit Jil Sander

Diesel

It's been a bittersweet 2025 for Glenn Martens so far. In January, it was announced he would make the career-defining move to Maison Margiela, succeeding John Galliano in the dream appointment as the house’s new creative director. But one man can only do so much, and a few weeks later the news came that Martens’ mainstay Y/Project would shut its doors after 11 years of singular, chopped-and-screwed design.

Yesterday, at Diesel in Milan – where Martens has held the title of creative director since 2020 – it was, however, business as usual. Guests were invited down to a cavernous warehouse space, where gargantuan figurative sculptures covered in graffiti set the scene for a full-throttle runway that pushed Diesel’s Y-2K language to extremes. Unveiled to a thumping soundtrack, models with painted hair and clown-like smiles became spray-paint caricatures, adorned in looks that shredded heritage fabrics like tweed, herringbone and (faux) fur. The designer described the vibe as ‘Coco Chanel goes to Balmoral and gets trashed on sherry with The Queen.’

As usual, sex simmered throughout the collection. It was there in impossibly short skirts and the waistlines slung so low that bums peeked out; the strange kinky sheen given to denim and the coils of chest hair printed on rubbery T-shirts. The show exemplified Martens’ mastery in taking that which we know so well – from the prim formality of tweed to the pair of jeans you sling on every day – and ripping up all that makes it familiar to offer up something provocative, playful and completely new. Martens never holds back – let’s hope that’s true of his anticipated Maison Margiela debut in September, too. OB

Gucci

It is 50 years since Aldo Gucci – son of house founder Guccio Gucci – designed the house’s interlocking G emblem, based on his father’s initials. Yesterday afternoon (25 February), the symbol was blown up in size, becoming a vast mirrored runway for the house’s ‘unified’ A/W 2025 collection, which combined womenswear and menswear in a single show (in clever theatrics, depending on which size of the double-G you were on, you saw the men’s collection then the women’s, or vice versa).

It marked the first show since the departure of creative director Sabato De Sarno earlier this year, meaning the collection was conceived by the in-house ‘design office’ and served as something of an in-between collection while the house confirms De Sarno’s replacement. As such, the return to the symbol – a perennial motif that has survived through Gucci’s various iterations, from the era of Tom Ford to Alessandro Michele – had a steadying quality, with the collection notes speaking of a return to Gucci’s ‘foundational’ values. Namely, a mood of insouciant Italian elegance and ‘sprezzatura’, ‘stylised and sumptuous, character-driven and individually adaptable, and here, they are brought together once more’.

It lent the collection a retro, 1970s-inflected glamour: for women, chubby faux-fur coats over lace slip dresses, colourful bejewelled tights and leggings, and ladylike flourishes, from headscarves to leather gloves, while the menswear riffed on classic tailoring in a range of hues and textures, from wipe-clean overcoats to a fluffy mohair button-up. Given that this is a house in flux, it made for a desirable and largely cohesive outing, infused with a feeling of dynamism that sometimes felt missing during De Sarno’s tenure. At the end, the ‘design office’ came out for a shy final bow – how long they will remain collectively at the helm remains to be seen. JM

No. 21

This season, Alessandro Dell’Acqua said his latest collection for No. 21 began with a ‘rereading’ of three memorable Sofia Coppola films: Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette. The first, he said, inspired the collection’s plays on the little black dress that provided the show’s opening act (here refigured as a micro-mini or with two black bows on the chest); the second, clashes of girlish lightness and heavier men’s fabrics; the third, playful pastel hues and delicate embellishments that adorned the collection’s closing looks. The bow was a motif throughout – one also evoked in Coppola’s work – whether expanded into an enormous twist on a skirt, or as ribbon-like leather bows on the collection’s high-heeled pumps (‘It’s an element able to create the allure of surprise,’ he said). With No. 21 always a quiet highlight of Milan Fashion Week – it feels as if Dell’Acqua’s vision gains more clarity season on season – Coppola provided a fitting counterpart to the designer’s vision of womanhood: both evoke the overtly feminine to subversive effect. Perhaps a collaboration is on the cards. JM

Stay tuned for more from Milan Fashion Week A/W 2025.

Milan Fashion Week Men’s arrived this past weekend in the Italian fashion capital with a somewhat depleted schedule: with Gucci and Fendi choosing to show co-ed during womenswear week next month, and JW Anderson sitting the menswear season out, there was plenty of chatter about the relative sedateness of the four-day-long event, and thus its future.

Despite this, there were enough highlights so far to retain a largely buoyant mood, not least the continuing pull of Prada, whereby co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons set the fashion agenda season-on-season with increasingly cerebral collections which are nonetheless rooted in the reality of clothing. This season, an eclectic collection celebrated liberated, instinctual dressing – from ‘primitive’ slices of faux fur to pyjama sets and cowboy boots – in ‘a move towards humanity,’ as Miuccia Prada described backstage.

Elsewhere, there was the usual run of Italian mega-brands: Dolce & Gabbana’s musing on red-carpet style took place on Saturday to a backdrop of flashing paparazzi (‘the public and private sides of cinema icons,’ described Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce of the La Dolce Vita-inspired collection), while at Emporio Armani the eponymous designer explored the idea of ‘seduction’ in typically louche style. Zegna, Giorgio Armani, Dunhill and rising Bologna-based label Magliano rounded out the week, alongside a slew of presentations, from Tod’s and Brunello Cucinelli to Our Legacy, Stone Island and C.P. Company.

Here, reported from Milan, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss unpacks the highlights from Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2025.

The best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2025

Giorgio Armani

‘Elegance to live in,’ described Giorgio Armani of a menswear collection which reflected fashion’s prevailing mood – an embrace of individual style and eclectic dress codes over what the designer calls a ‘pre-packaged formula’. It made for a strong collection, moving between fluid elegance and utility in typically Armani style, seeming to draw inspiration from the easy silhouettes of sweatpants and pyjamas (albeit in the so-called ‘noble fibres’ merino wool, silk and cashmere of – ‘softness reigns’, says Mr Armani). Tailoring came with pockets on the blazer and trouser – a luxurious take on the cargo pant – while a mid-way interlude of technical mountain-wear and skiwear was imagined in a gleaming iridescent fabric (and provided a through line to the outdoor mood at Emporio Armani earlier in the week). What was most striking about the collection, though, was the continuing singularity of Mr Armani’s vision: in recent seasons, his definitive collections of the 1980s and 1990s have been much referenced (and, indeed, the resale market for vintage Armani is booming, particularly among younger consumers). Here, the designer stamped his authority over that archive once again, showing that when it comes to the pragmatic glamour with which he is synonymous, Mr Armani knows best.

Zegna

It was 1963 that Ermenegildo Zegna first established the ‘Wool Trophy Awards’ in Australia, which, alongside New Zealand, has long been the home of the pinnacle in merino wool production. Yesterday afternoon in Milan, in a vast conference centre on the city’s outskirts, the house had erected a simulacrum of the undulating meadows on which these prime sheep roam, complete with vivid green blades of real grass (meanwhile enormous screens showed the sheep back in their natural habitat).

It set the scene for a celebration of Zegna’s work with the material, particularly Vellus Aureum, the ultra-lightweight wool fleece which has a world record for its lightness. Here, Vellus Aureum became wool shirts so light they could have been cotton, while heritage houndstooth overcoats and tailoring – cut in Alessandro Sartori’s easy, oversized proportions – nodded to both a countryside uniform and a traditional sartorial elegance, as if passed through generations. A series of shearling-collar jackets, double-breasted and satisfyingly cocooning, were some of the highlights of the A/W 2025 season so far.

Sartori said the collection was rooted in the dress codes of the northern Italian city of Turin, close to where Zegna was founded in the Biella Alps. ‘The man I have in mind has raided a wardrobe in which pieces have been collected over the decades, for their emotional and material value,’ he said. ‘Working with washed wools and Vellus Aureum we have been able to transfer lived life into the garments. There is something quintessentially “Torinese” to this collection, in the cultured attitude the shapes suggest and the insouciant manner they are worn, which is a particular way of being Italian.’

Dunhill

British heritage label Dunhill took over the Società del Giardino, a Milanese private member’s club housed in an opulent palazzo, to stage its second show in the city under current creative director Simon Holloway. Befitting the member’s club mood, guests sat around tables laden with champagne and cucumber sandwiches, a nod towards Holloway’s desire to revive traditional British dress codes (‘English classicism, casual elegance and consistently appropriate wardrobing,’ describes the designer of his Dunhill mission statement). It makes for collections which stand outside of trends or thematics, with Holloway instead choosing to design by refinement, taking existing menswear garments and perfecting them in cut and fabrication. This season, he looked towards the English Drape Suit – also known as the ‘London Cut’ – which is defined by a slightly more fluid silhouette with a nipped waist and sporting shoulder, rising to prominence in the 1930s. His interpretation – in pinstripes or plaids – captured the louche spirit of the decade. Wide-lapelled camel overcoats, high-waist trousers and ribbed knitwear also signalled a bygone glamour, as did the collection’s eveningwear looks, which were worn with velvet slippers. Holloway called these cocktail suits the result of ‘131 years of tailoring finesse’ – a facet of the house that the designer, who is now in his third season, wants to bring back to the fore.

Prada

Prada’s latest menswear show, staged on a monumental scaffolding show set at Fondazione Prada’s Deposito space – which stretched over several floors and featured an art nouveau carpet – continued the exploration of eclecticism and intuitive style which defined the house’s previous womenswear collection. Raf Simons, co-creative director with Miuccia Prada, described that show, which featured 49 entirely unique looks and was staged last September, as making the ‘individual a superhero – with their own power, their own story’.

The A/W 2025 menswear collection followed a similar track, with a series of freewheeling looks that Simons called ‘unconscious’, clashing suggestions of naivety and romance – floral motifs, hanging charms, pyjamas, boyish sweaters – with something more ‘primitive’ in tailoring constructed from patch-worked brown leather and raw-cut slices of (faux) fur across sweaters and overcoats. There was something cinematic in looks that referenced Americana, like twisted, turned-up-at-the-toe cowboy boots or jumpers sliced open at the chest to recall the yoke of a Western shirt. ‘We do not want to limit ourselves,’ said Simons.

Backstage, after the show, Miuccia Prada elaborated that this was a collection of ‘romance’ and ‘passion’, capturing ‘a liberating instinct’. She called this instinct ‘crucial’ at this current moment, referencing the rise of both artificial intelligence and conservatism (the show took place the day prior to Donald Trump’s inauguration). ‘This is our move towards humanity,’ she said.

Magliano

Luca Magliano evoked Italy’s Adriatic coastline with his latest show, running a slice of sandy beach through the underground show space. Though as is typical of the Bologna-based designer’s style, this was not all Edenic white sands and blue skies, but rather a trip to the darkened beach in the dead of a windswept winter’s night, where techno revellers engage in hidden trysts or lonely wanderers search for solace in the waves (a dramatic soundtrack by Berlin-based Aase Nielsen set a cinematic tone). As such, Magliano imagined clothing turned inside out, as if pulled on in haste – knickers stretched over a handbag, trousers turned down at the waist, faux fur slouching off the shoulder – while the garments themselves continued the dishevelled mash-up of Italian bourgeois style and queer clubwear which has run through his oeuvre so far. ‘I love the underground,’ he previously told Wallpaper*, with Magliano the label rooted in Bologna’s history of protest and revolution. With this collection, he continued to draw inspiration from those living life on society’s edges.

Dolce & Gabbana

Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce are well-versed in red-carpet dressing: they have outfitted pretty much every Hollywood power player since they founded the Italian maison in the mid-1980s, their clothing a mainstay of premieres and award ceremonies the world over (including dressing a coveted Best Actress Oscar winner in Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking in 1996). For this season’s menswear show, housed in Dolce & Gabbana’s Metropol space (fittingly, a former cinema), the pair turned the runway into a burgundy-hued red carpet flanked by hordes of sharply-dressed paparazzi, whose cameras flashed and whirred as the models made their way onto the runway (the show’s title, as printed on the crimson invite, was ‘Paparazzi’).

The inspiration, they said, began with Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, a longtime touchpoint for the designers and the film in which the word ‘paparazzi’ was first coined. Its influence was felt particularly in the latter half of the collection – a series of riffs on the tuxedo, nipped at the waist with a cummerbund or adorned with glimmering crystal brooches and buttons – though the collection largely played with a more contemporary imagining of a leading man, recalling D&G collections of the early 2000s in bulked-up faux-fur jackets, slouchy denim jeans and cargo pants, baker-boy hats, and flourishes of leopard print and sequins. ‘The public and private sides of cinema icons... an actors’ lifestyle from dawn to dusk, from the comfort of free time to the elegance of the red carpet,’ the pair described of the collection, which in its undone glamour continued their astute return to the codes which defined Dolce & Gabbana in the 1990s and 2000s.

Emporio Armani

Giorgio Armani said that he was thinking about the idea of ‘seduction’ this season at Emporio Armani – the power of clothing to ‘draw people in, to captivate’. He largely did so through a rich and tactile catalogue of fabrics, from molten velvet – used for typically fluid tailoring – to shimmering lurex knitwear and patchworked brocades. The latter conjured a mood of travel, which continued in pieces which looked set for traversing mountainous realms, from enveloping yeti faux furs to puffer jackets and hiking backpacks. To describe these shifts between the functional (crossbody–bags, technical outerwear, utility pockets) and more typical moments of Armani-esque glamour, the designer said he was interested in exploring the interplay of ‘extremes’. It made for a satisfyingly eclectic outing, continuing Emporio Armani’s raison d’être – to create a truly all-encompassing (and here, all-weather) wardrobe for men. As ever, it ended with a rapturous reception for the designer, who will continue his celebratory 90th birthday year with his latest collection for Giorgio Armani on Monday morning (20 January 2025).

Stay tuned for more from Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2025.

A slight shift in scheduling saw Milan Fashion Week move a day earlier this season, the extension giving some much-needed breathing room to an always-packed programme. ‘I’m very satisfied with this synergetic effort by the four main players on the fashion circuit,’ said Carlo Capasa, president of Camera della Moda, the week’s organising body. ‘[We] had for some time been asking for an extension of the Milan Fashion Week, given its calendar of over 200 appointments.’

Roman house Fendi began proceedings on the afternoon of 17 September, seeing Kim Jones look back to the 1920s – the decade the Roman house was founded – followed by Marni, whereby Francesco Risso presented a collection of idiosyncratic glamour which riffed on mid-century silhouettes and would prove one of the week’s highlights. Elsewhere, there were blockbuster shows from Gucci, Versace, Ferragamo, Bottega Veneta and Dolce & Gabbana – where the designers paid homage to Madonna as she watched on from the front row – while an eclectic show from Prada celebrated individual style.

Those not showing this season included Tom Ford – new creative director Haider Ackermann will debut next year – and Giorgio Armani, which will show in New York in October, part of the eponymous designer’s 90th birthday celebrations. Missing too were MSGM (the brand hosted a more intimate presentation in its HQ) and Blumarine, where David Koma will present his first collection next season.

Here, reported from Milan, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss picks the best of Milan Fashion Week, as it happens.

The best of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2025

Bottega Veneta

‘I was interested in the power of “wow”,’ said Matthieu Blazy after his latest Bottega Veneta runway show, which marked the closing act of this season’s Milan Fashion Fashion Week. ‘The wonder you have as a kid when you try on your parent’s clothes; it’s almost primal,’ he elaborated, noting that he had been thinking about a moment in Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age classic ET when the titular extraterrestrial hides himself in a closet of full of colourful soft toys. In the showspace, a former warehouse, he recreated the scene: in lieu of traditional seating were bean bag chairs, crafted from leather and shaped like different animals, from bunnies and killer whales to foxes and cats. It set the stage for a collection of unadulterated play and creativity, which alongside the clever, luxurious riffs on quotidian garments which have become Blazy’s signature – here, blown-up corporate tailoring, handbags evocative of supermarket bags, T-shirts and jeans with purposeful creases – were joyful, almost childlike flourishes, whether tasselled wigs, animal motifs, or vivid shots of colour. ‘[This collection] encompasses the joy of looking, discovering and dressing,’ he said, noting that the collection began with him imagining a man in a suit dropping his child at school, carrying their colourful pink rucksack over their shoulder. ‘Last season was maybe more contemplative,’ Blazy continued. ‘But at the same time, we need beauty. We need joy. We need this moment for ourselves, and continue to play.’

Dolce & Gabbana

The rumours of Madonna’s appearance at Dolce & Gabbana’s latest runway show had swirled since the opening day of Milan Fashion Week, and were all but confirmed when the artist posted on her Instagram she had touched down in the city the day before the show. Indeed, as the 1000-strong crowd took their seats at the Metropol venue – where Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce hold their runway shows each season – she did indeed appear, clad in a Dolce & Gabbana black veil and crown, her arrival prompting a spontaneous ovation as guests clamoured to get footage of the star. It was the type of mega-watt moment that Milan – or indeed London and New York – has so far lacked, the frisson of excitement continuing as the show began, a loving homage to the queen of pop which saw models clad in curly blonde wigs, pointed bra tops (a nod to design contemporary Jean Paul Gaultier) and lace-up corsets which evoked of the wardrobe of the artist’s ‘Blonde Ambition’ era of the early 1990s. ‘Madonna has always been our icon. It’s thanks to her that a lot of things in our lives changed,’ they said, referencing a close collaboration which dates back to 1992, when the pair designed costumes for her ‘The Girlie Show’ tour. To finish, an emotional Madonna – who recently completed her latest tour, ‘Celebration’, comprising her greatest hits – embraced the designers as they took their final bow, a moment which had everybody in Metropol venue on their feet once again.

Ferragamo

Maximilian Davis staged his latest collection for Ferragamo on a circular runway, lushly clad in off-white carpet and surrounded by curtains in the same hue (as the show began, they were closed to envelop the audience in the vast, cocoon-like space). It seemed to signal a move towards softness from the British designer this season, seeing Davis look towards two clients of house founder Salvatore Ferragamo, ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and American choreographer Katherine Dunham (the pioneering dancer has been called the ‘matriarch and queen mother of Black dance’). Signalled by a historic Ferragamo illustration of a ballet shoe on the invite, Davis evoked the tropes of dancewear for a collection more rooted in the rehearsal room than the blousy glamour of the stage. Indeed, a series of looks comprised layers of leggings, dance tops and leotards, while ribbon-tie fastenings on footwear recalled those found on ballet slippers.

Elsewhere, silhouettes wrapped the body or were louche and oversized – a nod, said Davis to Nureyev‘s wardrobe in the 1980s – while fabrics had a sense that they had been worn in, whether the opening creased outerwear or frayed edges to shorts and handbags, which the designer said was a reference the relaxed, beachside dress codes of his own Caribbean heritage. ‘I’ve always incorporated different historic eras in my work, periods in which I can recognise myself,’ said Davis, who is astutely bringing Ferragamo’s rich history into the present day. ‘I looked for similarities with Ferragamo, and the beauty of this brand is that there are so many stories that you can relate to. Every shoe has its own meaning; every shoe has a story.’

Gucci

The invitation for Sabato De Sarno’s latest Gucci show was a reissue of Enzo Mari's perpetual calendar for Danese Milano, its curving plastic design reissued in Ancora red, the deep, oxblood tone which has run through his tenure as creative director so far. The choice of object was intentional: this, said De Sarno, was a collection about ‘a precise moment in time… a moment to seize to live to the fullest… a moment the sun dives into the sea at the end of the day.’ As such, the semi-circular runway – which ran through Milan’s Triennale museum, a temple to design – echoed the tones of the setting sun, moving from yellows and oranges to, finally, Ancora red through the various ‘rooms’. It made for a collection which saw De Sarno celebrate life’s ephemeral joys, proposing quotidian garments instilled with moments of pleasure – from glimmering metal paillettes and delicate lace to shots of neon colour, headscarves and bold prints inspired by the house’s horsebit motif. In his words, this was a ‘casual grandeur that takes shape through my obsessions… always with an irreverent attitude.’ It ended with the models dancing away down the runway, followed by a bouncing De Sarno, who seemed to embody the collection’s easy, uplifting mood. ‘A year later, this collection shows an accomplished journey of construction,’ said the designer of a confident outing. ‘Moment after moment, I have built my ideas for Gucci.’

Missoni

Filippo Grazioli is a designer unafraid of the bold and colourful, a trait which sets him in good stead at Missoni, where graphic flourishes and a free-spirited approach have been central to the Italian knitwear label since its founding in 1953. Grazioli said that this season, in lieu of a rigid inspiration point, he was instead thinking about ‘the energy of chaos through the endless dance of colours and shapes’ (though he did name check the modernist wire sculptures of American artist Ruth Asawa). Largely, this meant honing in on Missoni’s signature zig-zag, whether emerging on what he called ‘millefeuille’ on front of a top (a three dimensional layered zig-zag which jutted outwards in shades of red, white and black), or blown up into chevrons which decorated dresses and overcoats. A sense of textural play, meanwhile, came in the colourful fronds of tassels, spiky knits, or a fluffy fabric which almost had the appearance that the model had stepped out of a bubble bath. It made for a freewheeling, instinctive collection, continuing a mood of experimentation which has given new energy to Milan this season.

Sportmax

The central courtyard of Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan’s historic art gallery, provided a dramatic backdrop for Sportmax’s latest show – all the more so for the way its entire surface had been covered with yards of bright, optic white carpet. It was a surreal trick: in some ways it seemed to evoke snow, though it also gave the ornamental 18th-century space a futuristic sheen. The Sportmax team revel in these strange juxtapositions, a mood which continued through the collection, where moments of sharp precision – sculptural box-shaped bra tops; trousers sliced at the hem; nipped-waist overcoats and blazers – met the fluid and the embellished, whether clattering crystals trapped under a layer of sheer fabric, beaded dresses, or the sinuous gowns which wrapped cleverly around the body. It fit well into the season’s already-prevailing mood, where designers are channelling a new eclectism and paying ode to an individual sense of style. As such, the design team said this was a collection of pure intuition – an experimental way of working that they have always flourished.

Tod’s

‘Artisanal Intelligence’ was the playful title of Matteo Tamburini’s sophomore collection for Tod’s, which was backdropped by an enormous installation by Italian sculptor Lorenzo Quinn erected for the occasion in a former warehouse on the outskirts of Milan. It comprised of an enormous pair of hands and twisting loops of ‘leather’, through which models – a starry line-up including Naomi Campbell, Mariacarla Boscono and Mona Tougaard – walked, before circling the cavernous space. Though if the focus was craft, Tamburini cleverly avoided the heavy or the overwrought, instead attempting to capture a sense of Meditteranean ease in lightweight poplin cotton shirts and parkas, narrow-strap sandals, and gently draped silhouettes in tones the designer described as shifting between warm ‘stone, sand and bronze’ and ‘the vibrant colours of Italian landscapes: the green of the meadows, the blue of the sea, and the red of the earth’. It also included a new riff of the Gommino driving shoe, here adorned with a row of metal rings (a motif that reappeared on the neckline of a draped layered gown worn by Boscono), while structured, elongated bucket-style bags met ladylike handbags in mock-croc and faux ostrich, the latter with an elegant metal band along their closure. On the way out, guests passed rows of artisans stitching the Gommino shoe by hand, a reminder of the handwork – and human beings – behind every piece.

Emporio Armani

With no Giorgio Armani show this season – the collection will instead be shown in New York this coming October as part of the Italian designer’s ongoing 90th birthday celebrations – it was left to Emporio Armani to carry the torch for the brand in Milan. It is a buoyant time for Emporio, evidenced this evening by a party which unfolded straight after the show, with guests ushered next door for spritzes, champagne and dancing to celebrate the renovation and reopening of the Emporio Armani store in Milan (it would go on until the early hours of the morning). The show was titled ‘Future Perfect’ and captured a similarly uplifting mood, with Mr Armani looking towards perhaps his most famous look: the men’s blazer and tie, the latter languid and oversized (it is a look that is having a moment, evoked by Anthony Vaccarello in his A/W 2024 Saint Laurent menswear collection, which recalled the Armani-dressed American Gigolo). Here, he made a version for women – ‘an elegant and provocative declaration of gender equality,’ the notes described – juxtaposing it with fluid, feminine looks in featherweight fabrics, which like all his summer collections was rooted in a mood of travel and escape. The feeling of ease carried on down to the footwear, a soft, lithe version of the boxing boot. For his final bow, as with recent seasons, Mr Armani shared the runway with his team – including Leo Dell'Orco, head of design for menswear and Silvana Armani, head of design for womenswear (she is also the designer’s niece). As ever, the applause was rapturous.

Moschino

Adrian Appioloza began his sophomore collection for Moschino with the humble white bed sheet, using it as a jumping-off point for a musing on the creative process, and how we use clothing to define who we are (befitting the inspiration, the Milan warehouse was hung with clothes lines of washed white linen). Twisted into gowns, morphing into trench coats, or scribbled on with biro drawings, the opening looks captured a mood of adolescent experimentation, setting the stage for a collection which saw the ‘ordinary made extraordinary’ (in the same vein, the opening looks were accompanied by playful handbags shaped like tea bags and laundry detergent bottles). The energetic collection which followed saw Appioloza draw inspiration from various subcultures, from bikers to the grunge movement to Buffalo, the 1980s British collective referenced here in bold typographical graphics by Terry Jones, the founder of London’s i-D magazine, as well as original archival jewellery by Buffalo member Judy Blame (Trust Judy Blame, set up in the late creative’s memory, also collaborated with Moschino on reissued pieces). The show ended with perhaps the collection’s highlight, a trio of gowns stitched onto the back of otherwise plain black suits. They were both beautiful and surreal – a fitting denouement to a collection which saw Appioloza confidently hone his vision for the house, which like its founder, Franco Moschino, revels in the playful, but is grounded in the real.

Prada

There was a simplicity to the OMA-designed Prada show set this season, which comprised a series of snaking benches that had been covered with sheets of satin, sliced and raw along their edges (it meant a departure from the ‘fairytale ravescape’ of last season’s menswear show). Though it was to prove something of a red herring. Because this was a collection which hit a mood which has already prevailed this season: one of a new eclecticism, collections which favour heady juxtapositions and individual expression over tidy thematics. Indeed, as the collection notes described, this was ‘a rejection of the derivative and expected’, a response, said co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, to the idea of the internet algorithm, the constant delivery of information tailored to each person’s reality. ‘We are driven by algorithms,’ said Mrs Prada succinctly backstage. ‘We like things because people tell us to like them.’

Instead, the designers celebrated what they called the ‘unpredictability’ of human nature, the desire to constantly shift between moods in the way that we dress and express ourselves. ‘Today is a period of endless information, driven by algorithms where each person sees their own version of the present, their own reality curated for them,’ elaborated Mrs Prada. ‘We wanted not to critique but to engage with this idea, to open a dialogue inspired by our cultural moment. We examine its core meaning and find our own reactions – the idea of choice, of unpredictability as a measure of human creativity, of Prada for each individual.’ This was a collection where no two looks were the same, and opposing elements – largely a shift between the prim and ladylike and the surreal and fetishistic – made for a collection where ‘infinite options proffer infinite opportunities,’ as the house described.

So there were trompe l’oeil elements (‘fur’ collars, belts overlaid onto trousers) which reflected the men’s collection shown this past June, as did shirts and dresses which were cut to be purposely skewiff (then, the pair talked about an ‘instinctive’ approach to dressing, with ‘clothes that have lived a life, that are alive in themselves’). Elsewhere, ideas clashed: a conservative Argyll jumper was worn with a tough leather skirt, covered in hanging metal rings; a feathered dress with an neon-coloured anorak; a worn-in long-sleeved T-shirt with a full-length satin skirt decorated with appliqué flowers. Eyelets, meanwhile, were blown up to enormous size, while accessories came in futuristic visor-like hats or sunglasses in-built into headscarves. The result was dizzying and disorientating, the equivalent to whizzing through the Instagram Explore page at speed.

‘We thought of each individual as a superhero – with their own power, their own story,’ said Simons. ‘That reflects an idea of transformation – through your practice, your actions, or through the clothes you wear. They’re all means to express a message, about your own authority, your own personal strength. They can transform your own perception of yourself.’

Max Mara

During his two-decade-long tenure as creative director of Max Mara, British designer Ian Griffiths has established a rich and eclectic canon of women from history – oftentimes lesser-known or overlooked – which he draws on for inspiration. This season, he cast his net back to the time of antiquity – specifically, the 4th century and the Alexandrian mathematician and astronomer Hypatia, an influential speaker and teacher who was a rare female voice in ancient Egypt. It led to a collection Griffiths titled ‘Science and Magic’, paying homage to mathematicians as those who ‘reduce the messy old universe to a series of sleek equations’, something which could also be said for Griffiths’ approach to clothing, which simplifies dressing with sleek but pragmatic propositions for a woman’s wardrobe. It could be the perfect outerwear (here, a full-length but lightweight riff on the classic single-breasted overcoat), or crisp white shirts, sinuous ribbed knits or gently oversized blazers, which were all on offer. Meanwhile origami-like folds, which emerged on the waistline of dresses and jackets, referenced the work of Hypatia, who, as a follower of Pythagoras, focussed on the proportions of triangles – a task which Griffiths likened to that of the Max Mara dressmaker, who also works in intricate lines and folds.

Jil Sander

The work of Canadian photographer Greg Girard inspired Lucie and Luke Meier’s latest Jil Sander collection, which unfolded in dimly lit corridors of brown velvet curtains erected in a warehouse space on the northern reaches of Milan. In particular, the ‘colour and emotional gradients’ of his photographs, which have largely focussed on the transformation of Asian cities – and the life of those on their margins – from the ‘hidden nightlife’ of Hong Kong to the neglected neighbourhoods of Shanghai, where he has lived since 1998. It made for a moody outing from the pair, where decidedly eclectic combinations were designed to evoke both ‘romantic seediness’ and ‘urban sophistication’, referencing glimpsed scenes in cities after dark. Of the collection’s eclectic mood – garments spanned iridescent tailoring, cowboy denim, floral-adorned vinyl overcoats, riffs on the bowling shirt, doiley-like crochet and ribbed knits with twisting beaded edges – the wife-and-husband duo said they drew on ‘whatever sparked their imagination, from any time or place’. It made for an unexpected but liberated collection, one which evoked ‘a tender desire to be beautiful, glamorous, and pleased’. As a final flourish, Girard’s photographs appeared across garments, whether a lit-up car at dusk or constellations of flowers, mirrored by those which appeared across the white carpeted floor.

No. 21

Alessandro Dell’Acqua said he was inspired by the optimistic spirit of the 1960s for his latest No. 21 collection. It was an era he had come to via the photographs of Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger, who is known for capturing the rebellious, subcultural scene of the time – particularly those in Europe influenced by Americana (as such, his images have long been a reference point for designers working in denim and leather). Though this was not a literal reinterpretation; instead, Dell’Acqua – whose work has always captured a fierce, dishevelled glamour – instead wanted to evoke the creative spirit of the young women, who often found rebellion in unexpected, mismatching combinations which opposed the conservative dress codes of their parents. So there were skewiff floral cardigans worn with shimmering brocade skirts, pearls and messed-up beehive hair, furry leopard-print collars and checkerboard print pointed pumps, as well as billowing sheer layered dresses which revealed colourful underwear beneath. Elsewhere, buttoned-up swing coats and shrunken tailoring recalled the distinct silhouettes of the 1960s. ‘I took their creative spirit, which, in my opinion, came from their urge to put different fads and fashions, mode e modi together,’ said Dell’Acqua. ‘They reinvented themselves day after day.’

Marni

Following a world tour that included stops in New York and Tokyo, Marni’s Francesco Risso returned home to Milan last season, with the designer choosing to stay in the city for S/S 2025. In fact, this was just about as close to home as you could get: Risso selected Marni’s headquarters on Viale Umbria to stage the show, which unfolded in a vast concrete hall entirely covered with wooden bistro chairs at alternating angles. In the centre, three pianos – led by the musician Dev Hynes – started to play as the show began, seeing models emerge in threes and weave their way through the chairs on seemingly random paths (when the lights came up at the end of the show, they had, in fact, been following different coloured lines along the floor).

It set a theatrical stage for a revelatory collection from the designer, who eschewed the raw creativity of recent seasons for an exercise in glamour and polish – albeit in Risso’s offbeat style. It largely centred on plays on midcentury silhouettes: narrow-waisted dresses were adorned with floral prints, opera coats were slung gently off the shoulder, while dramatic headwear was adorned with ‘feathers’ recalling cut-out paper (a similar technique was used to create a play on the feather boa). Meanwhile, a masculine slant came in broad tailoring, leather jackets and high-waisted trousers, recalling 1960s greasers. Make-up saw arching Divine-style eyebrows on men and women, the look becoming more exaggerated as it reached the final looks: a flurry of flared, couture-like gowns, adorned with crystal flowers. It was a collection that Risso said was about a pursuit of beauty, an act he likened to 'chasing a white rabbit across your yard’. ‘This is the romance of Marni: the ephemeral, lingering desire to go chasing rabbits,’ he said.

Fendi

As renovations of Fendi’s Milan headquarters on Via Solari continue, it was out to a vast soundstage on the city’s outskirts for Kim Jones’ latest ready-to-wear collection for the Roman house. Marking the beginning of a centenary year – Fendi was founded in 1925 as a leather goods manufacturer – the British designer looked for inspiration in the house’s founding decade, seeking to channel the liberated modernity of the 1920s with a feminine collection that spanned diaphanous, flapper-inspired dresses, sinuous sheer layers, and flourishes of crystal embellishment (Jones said the intricate craft on display was a bridge to his couture collections for the house, extending all the way to crystal-decorated pop socks). The languid glamour was contrasted with the near sci-fi white of the runway set, which centred on an enormous box (as a final trick, it opened to reveal a glimmering tableau of models inside).

‘The foundations of how women dress today and, in many ways, how we think are in the 1920s. It’s about modernity in style and attitude,’ explained Jones, who noted 1925 was also the year that Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby were published. ‘There’s a modernism in dress, design, decoration and thought. We approached the collection with these things in mind, as an amalgam of epochs, moods and techniques – then and now.’ This intermingling of eras was reflected by the soundtrack, which saw a soaring Max Richter composition interrupted by extracts of a conversation between house scions Anna Fendi and Silvia Venturini Fendi (the latter is also artistic director of accessories and menswear), in which they discuss Adele Fendi, who founded Fendi with her husband Edoardo. ‘I wanted something romantic, something with a debt to the 1920s from the 2020s,’ said Jones. It was a leap between centuries which made for perhaps his strongest Fendi collection yet.

Stay tuned for more from Milan Fashion Week S/S 2025.

A new injection of energy came to Milan Fashion Week Men’s this season thanks to something of a British invasion: Martine Rose, who is largely inspired by underground subcultures in her idiosyncratic menswear collections, made her debut week on Sunday afternoon (16 June 2024), while heritage house Dunhill also joined the Milan schedule, seeing Simon Holloway present a collection he described as ‘radically classic’. Elsewhere, London-based label JW Anderson continued to show its menswear collections in the city, this season creating a collection titled ’Real Sleep’ inspired by the slumber state of hypnotherapy.

Other talking points of the weekend included Sabato De Sarno’s sophomore menswear collection for Gucci, which this season shifted to Monday morning (17 June 2024) and took place at Triennale Milano, the design gallery first constructed in the 1930s (it continued De Sarno’s desire to foster a link with the arts, having shown his Cruise 2025 collection at London’s Tate Modern last month). Prada, meanwhile, took over the timeline with a typically transporting set created alongside OMA/AMO – this time, a ‘fairytale ravescape’ featuring a cabin on stilts that had been erected in the Fondazione Prada space – backdropping what was one of the season’s defining collections. 

The schedule was rounded out by the titans of Milanese style: among them Dolce & Gabbana, Zegna, Fendi and Armani, while Massimo Giorgetti celebrated 15 years of his Milan-based label MSGM.

Here, Wallpaper* selects the highlights from Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2025. 

The best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2025

Zegna

A field of linen had been recreated in an enormous sound-stage-like venue on Milan’s outskirts, close to the city’s Linate airport, for Zegna’s latest runway show. Artsistic director Alessandro Sartori said that he wanted it to feel like the blades of linen – here constructed from featherweight strips of metal – were invading the otherwise industrial space. This shifting between man and nature was the catalyst for the collection, said Sartori, which was at once precise and organic, seeing sharply defined tailoring meet natural earthy hues of terracotta, beige and warm yellow and languid silhouettes. Much of the collection was crafted from linen – ‘Us, in the Oasi of Linen’ was the collection’s title – making use of the house’s near-unrivalled production and innovation with the material, which is also far more sustainable that other natural fibres like cotton. ‘[Linen is] as malleable and sensual as the idea of summer dressing we are prompting,’ the designer said, noting that it ‘moulds to individual personalities… [for men] who play buoyantly with their own appearance.’ This included the Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, something of a house muse for Sartori, who closed the show with an elegant runway turn.

Gucci

This season, Sabato de Sarno shifted Gucci’s menswear show to its final Monday, choosing the Triennale Milano, the city’s 1930s-built design gallery, as a new venue. The clean white lines and light-filled atrium of the Giovanni Muzio-designed space provided something of a fresh slate for De Sarno, whose sophomore menswear collection felt like his strongest vision for the Italian house yet. There was an optical clarity to the season’s looks, which had been inspired by surfing, here figured in graphic short-and-shirt sets, swim slippers and luminous wraparound sunglasses which sat around the neck on Gucci-adorned straps like chokers. The mood was youthful: super-abbreviated shorts (an ode, perhaps, to house ambassador Paul Mescal, who sat front row in his own pair of Gucci short shorts), sheer net polo shirts and the poppy colour palette all skewed younger than the winter season (befitting this mood, 400 students were in attendance for Milan’s fashion and design schools). As has become a signature of De Sarno, flourishes of embellishment were used to elevate everyday garments, like the extraordinary beaded polo shirts or dangling tassels of beads across shirts and jackets, which lent a feeling of material richness to an otherwise streamlined collection.  

Giorgio Armani

Mr Armani presented his eponymous menswear collection this season without any accompanying notes, preferring to let the clothing speak for itself. It is something that the designer – who turns 90 next month – has done across his five-decade-long career as a figurehead of Italian design, preferring to eschew seasonal gimmicks and complex runway sets for a mood of considered design and quiet elegance. Watched on by a Hollywood front row (another thing Mr Armani is synonymous with) which included Russell Crowe and La La Land director Damien Chazelle, this was an exercise in Armani-isms: unstructured tailoring in louche, generous proportions, diaphanous shirts and waistcoats, and a simple palette of Armani greige and navy. A mood of travel also permeated the collection – another hallmark of the designer – here figured in hazy palm-tree-frond prints and straw or cotton sunhats. Joined for his bow by team members Leo Dell’Orco and Gianluca Dell’Orco, the designer known as ‘Il Maestro’ received a warm standing ovation from the Teatro Armani crowd.

JW Anderson

The slumbering between-state of hypnotherapy was the starting point for Jonathan Anderson’s latest collection, a free association of ideas that saw the Northern Irish designer at the peak of his creative powers, balancing the strange and seductive in polished style. Looks emerged at first in threes: three duvet-like quilted jackets, three oversized utility gilets, three blown-up knit cardigans. Their play on proportion continued throughout – other silhouettes were stretched or shortened, and an enormous tie was gleefully oversized – while protrusions of coloured satin, or a series of bulbous padded T-shirts, lent a sculptural feel. Elsewhere, surreal motifs emerged like repressed memories or dreams, whether Guinness-adorned sweaters (Anderson said he remembered its unexpected advertisements growing up in Northern Ireland) or knitted dresses adorned with images of houses, as if lifted from a children’s storybook (on one, a tiny three-dimensional bird sat on the shoulder). Part of the inspiration for the liberated, freewheeling mood was a recent trip to Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival: ‘The experimentation with clothing among younger generations is incredible,’ said Anderson. ‘The eye has changed within menswear and within womenswear. People want something that is really challenging.’

Martine Rose

Prior to the Martine Rose show – which happened just after Prada, and just a few hundred yards away – people questioned just how the London-based designer might bring her idiosyncratic, underground-infused brand of menswear to Milan, in what would be her first showing on the city’s fashion week schedule. Would she succumb to the city‘s sartorial polish? Presented in a former industrial building, the floor scattered with Martine Rose flyers – like those you might have found for a 1990s rave – the answer was a resolute no. Models stomped and slithered around the space with prosthetic noses (purposely haphazard) and wearing matted wigs so long they almost dragged along the ground. Men wore pencil skirts and fishnet stockings, or tailored trousers cut to appear like chaps (the crotch part was leather, an inversion of the expected), while for women the padded protection of a motorcycle jacket became the bust of a dress. Martine Rose signatures recurred throughout – shrunken football shirts, warped tracksuits, zip-away denim – alongside the requisite nods to nightlife and its dress codes. ‘When you’re young, you think that when you grow up your tastes are going to mature with you,’ she told Wallpaper* prior to the show. ‘This is the sort of irony.’ 

• Read our exclusive interview with Martine Rose

Prada

This season, the Fondazione Prada’s Deposito space had been installed with a new dwelling – a small white hut, raised on stilts, and with a long walkway leading down to the curving white runway below. From its windows and door, left slightly ajar, pulsated the sound of Faithless’s Insomnia, while flashing lights suggested a party was happening within, just out of sight. Here in this ‘fairytale ravescape’, said co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, was a collection which mused on ‘freedom, youthful optimism and energy’, something the former reiterated backstage after the show. ‘Youth is the future… it is hope,’ she said ‘We wanted to do something that would express youthful optimism because the times are so bad.’

The pair did so in pieces which appeared to have ‘lived a live, that are alive in themselves’. Silhouettes were dynamic: purposely creased, warped, shrunken and exaggerated, ‘like clothes you already live with,’ said Simons. Sleeves were short, as if garments had been borrowed or swapped between people. Shirts were skewiff and twisted around the body – like after a long night – while narrow trousers sat low on the waist and pooled at the ankle. Other pieces were made to question the reality of what you were seeing, demanding a second look. Like trompe l'oeil Breton T-shirts, where the stripe was warped and distorted, or low-slung leather ‘belts’ which were actually set into trousers. Enormous visor sunglasses – their lenses decorated with photographs of raves, Roman statuary and American highways – and prints by the artist Bernard Buffet, the latter appearing ‘like a concert T-shirt’, added a surreal, disorientating edge. 

The pair said that it came down to working with intuition, of following what they were drawn to without asking why. ‘Sometimes when you are older you start to overthink, and you limit yourself. When you are young, you just go,’ said Simons. ‘We wanted to create clothes that have lived a life, that are alive in themselves,’ the pair concluded. ‘There is a sense of spontaneity and optimism to these clothes - they reflect instinctive but deliberate choices, freedom.’

Dunhill

A serene Milanese garden, close to the city’s rarefied shopping street Via Monte Napoleone, provided the setting for Simon Holloway’s sophomore collection for British heritage brand Dunhill, here shifting to the Italian city after showing last season at London’s National Portrait Gallery. This was a continuation of that debut, seeing Holloway once again explore the tropes of British dress – particularly those over a summer season of sporting and society events – in pursuit of what he called ‘radical classicism’. As such, he ran a gamut of typically British looks, from the casual – a suede utility jacket worn with driving gloves, cable-knit sweaters and pleat-front jeans – to the sporty – rugby shirts and shorts, striped varsity socks – and the unapologetically grand, like the collection’s final look, a black morning suit worn with an ivory silk scarf and cane. ‘These are not basic clothes for going into the office,’ said Holloway. ‘These are clothes for enjoyment, for a life well-lived.’

Emporio Armani

Unbridled horses frolicking in the surf, purple fields of lavender: the projections on the wall of the Teatro Armani showspace set the scene for an Emporio collection titled ‘Freedom in Nature’ which saw Mr Armani supplant his man for the season from his usual urban sprawl and into the wilds. The mood was one of adventure and abandon: shirting was plunging and worn with voluminous pants and heavy boots – the latter a nod to equestrianism – while superfine tailoring recalled safari jackets and kimonos. A focus on the waist ran throughout, whether in the belted utility jackets or the loops of leather which narrowed the waist of the designer’s louche, lightweight tailored blazers. It ended with the scent of lavender as a stream of lederhosen-clad men promenaded the space with baskets full of the springtime-blooming flower. Here, nature might have been somewhat tamed, but it nonetheless made from a transporting closing milieu, with the models surrounding Mr Armani – this season joined by Leo Dell’Orco and Silvana Armani, who look after the house’s men’s and womenswear collections – for his usual ovation, this year all-the-more celebratory in anticipation of his 90th birthday next month. 

Fendi

Fendi left behind its usual showspace in the house’s Via Solari HQ (renovations and an expansion are currently underway), transporting guests to a studio lot-like showspace on Milan’s outskirts. It lent the presentation a grander scale, a feeling mimicked by the enormous mirrored blocks which danced around the runway as if operated by remote control, reflecting both audience and models across their spinning surfaces. Silvia Venturini Fendi, who heads up the house’s menswear and accessories collections, said that this season she was inspired by a deep dive into the Fendi archive. The Roman house will turn 100 this year, and the designer created a celebratory crest comprising four of the house’s motifs, including the famed double-F emblem, which here adorned sweaters and shirts. It lent the collection a varsity feel – Venturini Fendi talked before the show about wanting Fendi to feel like a team, or club – where striped knit rugby sweaters and ties met plaid jackets, school blazers and a playful riff on the football shirt. This was a uniform for the Fendi clan – and its wide-reaching international fanbase – to sport with pride in its centenary year.

Dolce & Gabbana

‘Italian Beauty’ was the title of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s latest menswear collection, which saw the duo make a subtle gear-shift from the sharp, reduced line of recent seasons towards something softer, inspired by effortless Italian summers and actors like the louche Marcello Mastroianni. Raffia, a distinct hallmark of Italian furnishings, was one such motif, used here to create airy summer jackets and oversized polo shirts, while ever-astute tailoring – here largely double-breasted and worn with pleated trousers which narrowed towards the hem – harked back to the 1950s. Elsewhere, the collection was enlivened with flourishes of embroidery and embellishment, like the sprays of delicate red flowers which aodrned crisp white trousers and jackets.

MSGM

It was 15 years ago that Italian designer Massimo Giorgetti founded MSGM, a landmark celebrated with his latest menswear show held in a former industrial garage on Milan’s outskirts on Saturday morning. The crisp, optical collection, which looked towards the sea for inspiration, was backdropped by explosions of primary-colour paint against a series of Perspex boxes which lined the runway. They were an ode, Giorgetti elaborated, to an early collection he drafted an artist to daub with paint after fearing it was too safe. It also referenced the broad strokes of colour and graphic motifs the designer has evoked over the last decade and a half, here conjured in a vivid array of pattern, from riffs on nautical stripes and colourful daisies to painterly prints of seaside scenes. Indeed, Giorgetti said it is in his cliffside home in Liguria, close to Portofino, where the ideas for the collection percolated. As for the mood, this was a Mediterranean summer at its most evocative: ‘the rocks, Mediterranean pines, agaves, the scent of salt and resin,’ he listed, transporting guests – in Giorgetti’s typically uplifting fashion – from a cloudy Milan to the Italian riviera. 

Stay tuned for more from Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2025.

Yesterday, Martine Rose presented her first collection on Milanese soil, hot on the heels of Prada and just a few hundred yards away in a former industrial space which here saw colourful flyers – like those distributed for raves and parties in the 1990s – scattered across the floor. While not her first time in Italy – the Jamaican-British designer took on Pitti Uomo in Florence in 2023 – it's a milestone and statement about the future of her London-based brand. 

• See more Milan Fashion week S/S 2025 highlights

‘There was a very clear choice last time we went to Italy for us to pay homage to Italian culture,’ says an upbeat Rose a week-or-so prior to the show, video calling from her London studio. ‘I think this is actually pushing against it and finding beauty in the cracks between.’ Indeed, Rose has always operated on the margins, leaning away from convention and into the outcasts, be that in kink, clubland, or street culture, inspiration points at odds with the sartorial polish of Milan. The inspiration? Digging through her old shows, she was reminded of how she turned neutral spaces into something strange, or bizarre. This could be by plastering the floors with party flyers or simply adding domestic touches to otherwise commercial spaces.

Martine Rose on her Milan debut

‘In the current landscape, which is very saturated, very product-led, very commercial, is there still a way to find fashion dynamic, interesting and relevant?’ she asks. In her attempt to answer this, she made careful use of prosthetics and wigs, adorning each of her 15 street cast Londoners – plus the rest of the lineup, who are largely Milanese – with latex noses. Jibing on the fact that this is one of the first features people notice on another person, and also the first they change when it comes to aesthetic nips and tucks, Rose’s characters both familiar and obscured, a theme which has long run through her collections. 

Where last season she put men in women’s undergarments, this time round, she took a less direct approach, placing guys in tailored pencil skirts. For her, it’s a curious, but 'quite chic’ proposal, questioning dressing ideals. The same holds for another decision she’s made this season, whereby protective motorcycle elbow pads become ladies’ bust cups. Rather than delving into gender theory, Rose is explicit in stating that this is her asking what clothing is and what it can be. 

Does she worry it’s all going to be too much for the old-school world of Milan? No. ‘People are not stupid,’ she affirms. ‘Whilst you have to consider if it’s going to be relatable, at the same time, you just have to do what you believe in.’ It speaks to the way that Rose’s work has always and will always be a reaction to fashion’s status quo, rooted in the everyday characters she encounters in day-to-day life, tweaked for the runway. As she sees it, the very strictures that define menswear as a craft are the same reasons it’s so creatively rich. She can bend the rules or find the delicate friction between opposing things. ‘I trust that people will come with me, that people are curious enough,’ says Rose.

The show itself was unapologetically Martine. Nightlife nods? Check. Subcultural cues? Double-check. ‘When you’re young, you think that when you grow up your tastes are going to mature with you,’ she smiles. ‘This is the sort of irony.’ 

martine-rose.com

As Salone del Mobile 2024 and the wider Milan Design Week got underway this week in the design capital, one thing quickly became clear: the majority of the fashion contingency among the schedule was in a reflective mood.

While some brands looked to design masters past, others mined their archives: Bottega Veneta worked with the Le Corbusier Foundation to re-interpret its LC14 Tabouret Cabanon stool; Yves Saint Laurent collaborated with the Gio Ponti archive to create an exclusive porcelain collection; and Gucci presented archival re-editions in its now-signature Ancora red from the likes of Tobia Scarpa and Venini.

Elsewhere, Hermès and Armani placed their new furniture and design creations beside the sartorial objects that inspired them (with Giorgio Armani sharing personal photographs that span his career) and Loewe worked with its Craft Prize alumni to create 26 unique lamps that spotlighted the time-honed craft techniques that still exist around the world.

It’s a move that reflects a recent trend in their primary medium of fashion, where reminders of iconic codes are increasingly served up to highlight the importance of respecting the signatures that stand the test of time.

Here, in our comprehensive round-up, is the Wallpaper* edit of the best fashion moments at Milan Design Week 2024.

Fashion moments at Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2024

Armani Casa

Held once again in Palazzo Orsini on Via Borgonuovo (also known as Armani HQ), Armani Casa’s Salone installation took visitors on a journey of the places founder Giorgio Armani has been most inspired by during his illustrious career. His travels have taken him far and wide – all over Europe, as well as Japan, China, Saudi Arabia and Morocco – and over the years, homages to the craft and skill he has discovered in each have appeared in his ready-to-wear collections. For this installation, called ‘Echoes From The World’, he placed his exquisite couture creations and his own personal collection of souvenirs (from Samurai swords to kimonos) alongside new pieces of furniture such as the Venus console with a hand-painted lacquered glass top backed in gold-leaf to give a luminous shimmer in the room dedicated to China and the blue velvet bed in the room celebrating Morocco that took months to make (only seven centimetres of this fabric can be woven in a day and this bed took 12 metres of material). A highlight waiting at the end of the show was a room with supersized images from Armani’s private photo album in a few of the locations celebrated here. ‘For this edition of the Salone del Mobile, I imagined a “cinematic” journey to the countries that have always inspired me: places and cultures that spark highly personal reworkings,’ shared Armani, adding: ‘I like to present myself to the public in the most authentic and direct way possible.’

Hermès

Taking over the sprawling La Pelota space for the week, Hermès presented ‘Topography of Material’, an installation conceived ‘to create a dialogue between roots and movement, between materials and know-how’, shared the brand. Suspended below foot-level on a diagonal catwalk of sorts, guests were welcomed by 16 intersecting floors that brought together 16 different types of stone, ten types of earth, four types of wood and many variations of terracotta brick all sourced from either Italy or France arranged in intricate ways to celebrate the skill of timeless handcraft. It formed a powerful introduction to the presentation of objects itself as this year Hermès made a point to highlight its own enduring codes. Behind a 35m-long and 6.m-high suspended black wall lay objects from the house’s archive juxtaposed with recent masterpieces and objects making their debut. For example, the silver Timour choker necklace from 2002 sat beside the new Diapason D’Hermès chair designed by the Hermès Studio this year in homage to the piece of jewellery; the original Mangeoire pouch from 1949 (used to feed horses) stood beside the new Derby leather buckets, also launched this year; and the Drag travel bag from the 2010s was presented next to Jasper Morrison’s Equilibre chair for Hermès from 2020. As intended, it effectively presented the virtues in time-honed skills and luxurious designs that retain a forever relevance.

Valextra

Valextra worked with Bergamo-based Studio Temp (with whom it also collaborated for Casa Valextra) on its Valextra Vocabolario concept that transformed its John Pawson-designed Via Manzoni flagship into the Valextra Spa. The idea was to highlight the exceptional care that goes into each of Valextra’s leather goods, from the hands that craft them to the after-care that the brand offers its clients. Inside a huge, simulated sauna, guests were invited to sit and observe the brand’s artisans hand-painting its signature black lacquered Costa edging onto handbags in real time. In the pink-carpeted space around, the brand’s new Assoluto collection – a three-piece capsule crafted from Econyl – was unveiled as machines worked in real time to 3D-print the new Iside Onda handbag. Combining state-of-the-art handbag development and best-in-class customer service through a radical architectural lens, it beautifully captured the DNA of this Milanese brand.

Bottega Veneta

Bottega Veneta presented ‘On The Rocks’ at the Palazzo San Fedele, a special location for the house as it was the setting for creative director Matthieu Blazy’s first show and is its soon-to-be HQ. Partnering with Cassina and Fondation Le Corbusier, the brand honed in on the iconic LC14 Tabouret Cabanon stool that it described as ’a timeless icon of Le Corbusier that embodies the excellence of the Cassina carpentry workshop’. First conceived by the designer for his Côte d'Azur cabin, it was inspired by a washed-up whisky box he found on the shores beneath the residence, hence the title of the installation, which saw several iterations piled high, one on top of the other, reminiscent of a jagged coastline. This isn’t the first time Blazy has affiliated himself with the object; at his recent A/W 2024 womenswear fashion show set, guests sat on bare wooden versions. For Salone, they came in the same rendering but also covered in the brand’s famous intrecciatio leather to create 160 limited editions.

Loewe

Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson primarily worked with alumni from the brand’s prestigious Craft Prize on his first-ever lighting installation at Salone del Mobile. Staged at Palazzo Citterio in the heart of the Brera Design District, the presentation featured one-of-a-kind lighting designs from 24 artists who the brand has either worked with or supported in the past. Remarkably, it was the first time that any of the featured makers had worked with light, which accounted for the originality on display. From Enrico David’s curved Onyx table lamp that features the face of a woman on closer inspection and Dahye Jeong’s spherical structure using an ancient weaving technique using horsehair, to Young Song Lee’s hollowed-out calabash fruits covered in twisted mulberry-tree paper and Dame Magdalene Odundo’s cinched leather hanging lamps (above), each captured the celebratory spirit of Loewe in the world of craft and design that promotes and helps preserve the most exquisite techniques from all over the world. While each of the 24 pieces was for sale at the start of the week, by 5pm on the second day the majority were – predictably – all snapped up.

Gucci

Gucci’s creative director Sabato de Sarno’s ‘Ancora’ campaign continues to thrive in Milano as the brand unveiled Gucci Design Ancora in its newly reopened flagship on Via Montenapoleone. Entering through a carpeted staircase surrounded by lacquered walls in the dark red ‘Ancora Rosso’ hue that is a signature of the De Sarno era at Gucci, visitors were presented with an antidote in acid green when they reached the top. Inside this starkly saturated mini maze, architected by Guillermo Santomà, were five objects De Sarno had chosen from several Italian masters over the years that had been re-issued in the Ancora-red hue for the occasion. The Le Mura sofa by Mario Bellini for Tacchini from 1972; the Clessidra rug from an iconic design of Piero Portaluppi made by CC-Tapis; the Storet tallboy by Nanda Vigo for Acerbis in 1994; the Opachi vase by Tobia Scarpa for Venini in 1960; and the Parola lamp by Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni for FontanaArte in 1980 each stood in their own space to be admired from all angles. ‘Through Design Ancora, Gucci doesn’t simply celebrate old icons, it creates new ones,’ said Michela Pelizzari, founder of P:S Agency, which co-curated the project. ’The aura emanating from the brand spotlights five pieces by Italian masters that are perfect from a design standpoint but less known to the general public.’

Thom Browne

For his Salone del Mobile debut, Thom Browne took over the Palazzina Appiani to unveil his collaboration with the 160-year-old home textiles expert Frette with his performance, entitled Time To Sleep. True to his reputation for subverting traditional settings and concepts into unexpected scenarios, Browne placed six identical beds under the frescoes in the Hall of Honour and had models undress themselves before getting into bed. In the models’ getting dressed, rather than undressed, to sleep, Browne intended to ‘challenge the audience to question the role of dress in public life’, highlighting that the act of sleeping is just as important as the hours we are awake. ‘I think it's so much more interesting, and it elevates the product launch, when you create an installation that transcends the specific world that it’s in,’ Browne told Wallpaper* during rehearsals for the performance. The collection, which is available immediately, comprises sheets, blankets, terry-towel and cashmere robes, bath towels, and a quilted bath mat in crisp white cotton-sateen. ‘The reason I wanted to work with Frette is because they’re the best at what they do,’ added Browne.

Saint Laurent

The Paris-based house turned the clock back to 1953 and the private collection of Anala and Armando Planchart who commissioned the legendary architect Gio Ponti to mastermind their hilltop Venezuelan villa overlooking Caracas. On finishing the project, Ponti commissioned artisans from his native Italy to help furnish the space and turned to Ginori 1735 to create a collection of porcelain plates featuring motifs from around the villa and the couple’s initials. It is these plates that creative director Anthony Vaccarello curated and had reissued by the ceramic experts for Saint Laurent’s special installation in the cloisters of the Chiostri di San Simpliciano. Displayed in oscillating tubes on a raised platform that mirrored the height in which they originally lived in Villa Planchart Segnaposto, the presentation marked a coming together of multiple design icons.

Prada

Once again collaborating with FormaFantasma (above), Prada staged its Prada Frames seminar discussions on the theme of Being Home. Throughout the week, luminaries in different fields came together – including Paola Antonelli, Brigitte Baptiste, Kate Crawford, Jack Halberstam and David Van Severen – to cover myriad topics that were contextualised by Alice Rawsthorn. Each of the 17 sessions took their leave from different rooms around the home: for the bedroom, Gulsum Baydar and Philippe Rahm discussed the bedrooms role as a comfort zone; for the living room, Jayden Ali and Jack Halberstam were in conversation with Andrés Jaque exploring the rituals of diaspora communities in architectural spaces; and in the library, Isabella Rossellini and Mary Kuhn examined the relationship between humans and nature in the home, past and present. Staged each year to invite people out of their everyday lives and explore new and alternative analysis of familiar situations, it continues to be a highlight. Read more about Prada Frames.

Issey Miyake

60,000 bamboo skewers were used to create the one-of-a-kind carpet collaboration between Issey Miyake and the Dutch collective We Make Carpets. Famous for transforming everyday objects into artistic works of beauty, the artisans channelled Issey Miyake’s own skill at finding the sweet spot of robust-delicacy with the piece that was created by inserting the skewers one by one by hand into a thick piece of foam. The resulting patterns emerged organically as their dipped ends started to create surface patterns. Issey Miyake praised the group’s tenacity in making something meaningful without the need for ‘fancy gadgets and advanced technologies’, praising their labour-intensive and synchronised teamwork in bringing the piece to life. Transported flat to Milan city centre from where it was crafted in the Netherlands, in a nod to the national emblem it was presented resting on wooden beams crafted from tulip trees at the Via Bagutta flagship.

Versace

‘If These Walls Could Talk’ is an apt name for Versace’s Salone del Mobile presentation staged in its original atelier, the Palazzo Versace on Via Gesu. As many a fashion aficionado will know, it is at this residence that many of the fashion house’s famous catwalk shows have taken place over the years (including that 1991 show that birthed ‘the supermodel’) and where many of its globally recognised logos and icons were first designed, including the Medusa, Barocco and Greca emblems. They were omnipresent through this presentation that guided visitors from room to room, with even more opulence around each corner – an experience heightened by an audio experience created in collaboration with Radio Raheem for each space. They featured pieces new and reworked including The Medusa ’95 Conversational Sofa, the La Greca Bed and the Lady Desk, each a conversation starter in the space they stood.

Loro Piana 

Paying tribute to the late Milanese designer and architect Cini Boeri, Loro Piana showcased the most iconic pieces from her archive and presented them in its famously luxurious interiors fabrics. The collaboration with the official archive of Boeri, marks not only what would have been the year of Boeri’s 100th birthday, but the year Loro Piana also celebrates its centenary. Honouring Boeri’s insistence that furniture should be engaged with at all times, visitors to the presentation were encouraged to touch and sit on the pieces as they moved through the space. ’The thinking of Cini Boeri is extraordinarily contemporary,’ shared Francesco Pergamo, Director of Loro Piana Interiors. ’Just as extraordinarily contemporary remain the pieces we have chosen to exhibit together with Arflex and Archivio Cini Boeri, and to dress with our fabrics.’ Featured in the presentation are the famous modular Strips system, that won the prestigious Compasso d’Oro in 1979, the corresponding bed, the Bobo and Boborelax armchairs and the Botolo Chairs that have been covered in the brand’s ‘cashfur’ and made in a limited edition of 100. ’The dual centenary of Cini’s birth and the founding of Loro Piana has offered us the opportunity to contribute to the appreciation of the architect's figure,’ added Pergamo, who revealed plans to work with the archive on additional projects over the next three years.

Fendi Casa

Welcome to the world of Fendi Casa where the family keeps growing. This year, the Via Manzoni space was masterminded by Silvia Venturini Fendi and realised by Controvento creative collective. Together, they kept the house’s ‘double F’ logo of the house front and center, creating intimate spaces that invite people to cosy up, much like the emblem. The perfect example lies in the new Fendi F-Affair sofa by Controvento that is an interlocking platform of seats and suspended tables presented with a champagne bucket and glasses. It was joined by other collaborations in the sumptuous sofa department, the F-Stripes by Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palomba and the Sohoft by Toan Nguyen. Existing families grew their brood, too: Thierry Lemaire’s Parsifal sofa was joined by the Mrs Parsifal armchair; Stefano Gallizioli’s Adrianand’s Audrey chair was complemented with square-shaped Audrette chairs; and Cristina Celestino's Ottavia chair was delivered of a sister, the Lazy Ottavia armchair.

Zegna

Zegna staged something of a takeover of Milan as it released its new Rizzoli tome, Born In Oasi Zegna. Named after the 100km of forested land north of Milan in the Biella Alps where its founder Ermenegildo Zegna initiated a reforestation programme in 1910, the book marked a moment for the brand to celebrate both its values and association with the city of Milan. In celebration, mini Zegna-branded newsstands (‘edicolas’) that are famously found on most corners were giving out limited-edition tote bags, while over in the piazza in front of the landmark Duomo, tulips transported in from the area were being planted in the square’s new flower beds. ’The project aims to convey the value and urgency of respect for the Earth and nature, as well as the importance that urban green spaces can bring people closer to natural ecosystems and the protection of biodiversity and social responsibility,’ shared the brand, ’concepts that are fundamental to Oasi Zegna.’

Dolce & Gabbana

Fresh from setting the city alight with its extravagant Milanese exhibition, ’From the Heart to the Hands’, Dolce & Gabbana staged an intimate reveal of its new interiors offering, The Dreaming Collection. Here, it was all about sitting comfortably, as the Moss Curved Sofa, which sits on a polished metal base in black nickel, and the DG Casa Moon Island armchair (above, which the brand said was ‘reminiscent of a warm embrace’) were joined by the Moon Island Sofa – designed to steal the spotlight in any room it’s in, much like everything this brand turns its heart and hand to.

Lanvin

Parisian house Lanvin looked towards its heritage for its installation at Milan Design Week; specifically, Lanvin Decoration, a furniture and decoration line which was first introduced by founder and couturier Jeanne Lanvin in 1920. Lanvin united with Rooms Studio – founded by two Georgian designers Nata Janberidze and Keti Toloraia in 2007 – for the project, which saw the pair curate a number of their pieces, including a series of sculptural chairs and benches, which were displayed at Lanvin’s Milan outpost.

Milan Fashion Week A/W 2024 – which took place in the Italian city last week – was a season of debuts. Tod’s and Blumarine both welcomed new creative directors: the former saw ex-Bottega Veneta designer Matteo Tamburini take the helm, while at the latter, Walter Chiapponi (formerly of Tod’s) replaced Nicolas Brognano. Moschino also welcomed new creative director Adrian Appiolaza, formerly of Loewe, where he was ready-to-wear design director for ten years. Other notable moments included a return to Milan for Marni, which has in recent seasons shown in Paris, Tokyo and New York.

Elsewhere, Prada’s arresting A/W 2024 collection saw Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons mine ‘fragments of the past’ to create a collection of the future, while Matthieu Blazy’s latest outing at Bottega Veneta saw the designer seek to exalt the everyday. ‘In a world on fire, there is something very human in the simple act of dressing,’ he said. Rounding out the schedule were the titans of Italian fashion; among them Giorgio Armani, Max Mara, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Dolce & Gabbana.

Here, reported from the shows, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss picks the best of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2024 (also see beauty & grooming editor Hannah Tindle’s stand-out A/W 2024 beauty moments from the runway). 

The best of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2024

Giorgio Armani

It was left to Mr Armani to close out Milan Fashion Week on Sunday morning, a fitting final act from a designer who for close to five decades has been defining Milanese – and indeed Italian – style. Presented in the intimate Via Borgonuovo space in the house’s longtime headquarters, the designer crafted a collection of languorous glamour which the designer said was inspired by the idea of ‘renewal’. Titled ‘Winter Flowers’, the collection began by looking towards flowers that bloom even in the coldest months and ‘herald beauty and regrowth’ (in this, there was a link to Matthieu Blazy’s Bottega Veneta collection shown the evening before, which looked towards the resilience of desert plants and cacti for his own exploration of renewal). Here, it made for a collection of extraordinary surface embellishment – whether the painterly floral prints which decorated diaphanous layers of organza or dainty beaded dragonflies – in hues of pale blues, rich greens, and the intense nocturnal blacks and navies of the closing looks.

Bottega Veneta

After last season’s round-the-globe ‘odyssey’ – which saw models traverse an enormous tiled map of the world in garments inspired by their imaginative travels – there was a sparser mood to Matthieu Blazy’s latest collection, which took place in a wood-floored show space throughout which giant Murano glass cactuses bloomed. Blazy said the desert plant was a symbol of resilience against the elements; the ability to survive and regenerate even in the harshest landscapes, a mood which was infused into the collection itself. ‘In a world on fire, there is something very human in the simple act of dressing,’ he said, noting that he imagined his figures emerging as if from a burnt and barren landscape to start again. ‘The idea of rebirth is beautiful. These are the flowers that bloom after the earth is burnt – they give a sense of hope. They come back stronger than ever.’

He did so with an exaltation of the everyday, noting a desire to make the quotidian wardrobe ‘monumental’, capturing a ‘sense of allure and confidence in the pragmatic, utilitarian and purposeful’. It made for a typically extraordinary line-up of clothing which saw the recognisable – trench coats, collared shirts, knitwear – energised in new proportions (largely expansive and enveloping, like the cocooning silhouette of the curved seam overcoats which opened the show) and fabrications, which will no doubt require closer inspection to reveal their secrets. Twisted gowns appeared to have been created instinctively, held in place with shiny gobstopper fastenings, while fronds of bouncing pleats at the hems of gowns suggested flames and fire (so too the final slew of dresses, where the fabric looked destroyed and remade). Others were decorated with faded motifs of maps, as if his wanderers were seeking new worlds. ‘We all watch the same news. It is hard to be celebratory at this point,’ said Blazy, noting that getting dressed to begin a new day is an act of human dignity. ‘Here, elegance is resilience.’ 

Jil Sander

A collection rich in colour and texture saw Lucie and Luke Meier continue to eschew the idea of seasonal ‘themes’ towards a more wide-ranging evolution of their vision for Jil Sander – one rooted, as the pair describe, in a ‘constant search for a balance between sensitivity and form, intimacy and presence, image and intention, concentration and humour’. Taking place in a green-hued ‘smooth and immersive capsule’, decorated with a collection of enormous cobalt-blue horns, the A/W 2024 collection loosely began with the idea of sound and music, and the way it shapes ‘our emotions; desires and needs’ (a live soundtrack was provided by American singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Mk.gee). There was certainly a feeling of emotion to the collection itself, which shifted from the brightly-hued moulded dresses and tailoring of the opening looks, towards more dramatic silhouettes, like a series of caped gowns which recalled mid-century haute couture in their abundance. Elsewhere, texture and fabrication remained key, whether the quilted down or diaphanous chainmail which suggested protection, or the more whimsical flourishes of floral jacquards, fuzzy handbags, and the long fronds of tassels which trailed from knitwear. 

Dolce & Gabbana

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana looked towards the tuxedo, a symbol of enduring sartorial elegance, for their latest collection, drafting in a blockbuster era-spanning cast – which included Naomi Campbell, Amber Valletta, Mariacarla Boscono and Eva Herzigova – to bolster the collection’s timeless mood. ‘The tuxedo is the ultimate symbol of pure style,’ the designers noted. ‘For us, only style transcends fashion: the simpler a piece, a classic like the tuxedo, the more perfect it is, eternal, free from the constraints of time.’ Alongside a multitude of riffs on the garment – cropped to the navel, blown up in proportion, or elongated into an overcoat – were the requisite flourishes of glamour and sensuality synonymous with the house. These included a series of lingerie-inspired looks (a counterpoint to the rigour of the tuxedo), as well as enormous feathered coats, glimmering crystal chainmail dresses and profusions of lace and polka dots. ‘[It’s a] union of contrasts,’ continued the designers. ‘Masculine and feminine, austerity and seduction… allowing every woman the freedom to express her idea of style.’

Ferragamo

Maximilian Davis moves from strength to strength with a deeply desirable A/W 2024 collection for Ferragamo, which saw him translate past to present in astute style (‘the goal is to be timeless,’ he recently told Scarlett Conlon in a tour of the house’s archive in Florence, Italy). Here, it was the liberatory mood of the 1920s that provided the starting point of the collection, with Davis noting that it was a decade that ‘used clothing as a way to celebrate freedom.’ ’That expression of freedom is something which resonates with me, with my heritage, and with Ferragamo.’ There was certainly the fluidity of the era’s dress codes, the feeling of casting off restriction and restraint: a silk halterneck gown fell away into tassels at its sheer hemline (a restrained riff on the flapper dress), while layers of transparency ran throughout. 

Elsewhere, Davis drew inspiration from Hollywood figures like Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo, noting the way they would adopt elements of masculine dress; here, this meant a series of brilliant wide-shouldered overcoats and tailoring with wide buckled waistbands. For men, a super-abbreviated mini short provided the collection’s defining silhouette, worn with elements which the designer said suggested protection: military-hued tailored jackets, chunky knitwear, riffs on the workwear jacket. A similar line of thinking inspired the cape-like silhouette or the elongated, face-covering collars on outerwear. ‘In the 1920s, as a response to the world that surrounded them, people created their own spaces through speakeasies,’ explained Davis. ‘They were hiding what they were wearing until they were safe.’ Befitting the house’s history, completing the line-up was some terrific footwear – whether elegant T-bar pumps (a stripped-down riff on a style Davis found in the house’s archive), thigh-high wader boots, or those adorned with fronds of colourful sprouting feathers.

Versace

Donatella Versace closed out Friday evening’s proceedings with a stomping co-ed collection infused with a rebellious, punkish spirit – albeit in the Italian house’s hyper-glamourous style. ‘The woman is a good girl with a wild soul,’ said the designer, who formulated this juxtaposition in prim collared dresses, gold-button blazers and riffs on the tweed suit (here elongated to the point the jacket trailed along the floor) opposed with lashings of eyeliner, distressed leopard print sweaters and chainmail-covered jeans sliced open along their front. Elsewhere, a slew of molten dresses, which contoured the body into a narrow corseted waist, had requisite Versace va-va-voom (so much so, actress Anne Hathaway chose one of them to wear while she watched on from the front row). Nods to archival prints, meanwhile, appeared across both the men’s and womenswear collections. ‘This is a collection with a rebel attitude but a kind heart,’ elaborated the designer. ‘Pure lines, innovative fabrications, considered wildness. This is us. This is Versace.’

Marni

After a sojourn around the world, hosting shows in New York, Tokyo and Paris, Marni creative director Francesco Risso returned to Marni this season for a show held in the railway arches on Via Ferrante Aporti. Here, they had been entirely covered in crinkled white paper – one fellow attendee described the effect as feeling as if inside a papier maché igloo – providing a symbolic link to the collection itself, which had begun with a blank slate. Titled ‘Bring No Clothes’ (a reference to Virginia Woolf’s instructions to those visiting her home in the British countryside), Risso said that reference images were banned from the walls of the studio this season, inviting his design team to instead work by instinct and through play. ‘By casting out the idolatry of mirrors, filled to the brim with conquering dreams, we have returned to an almost animal state,’ he wrote in the show’s accompanying letter of intent. Indeed, the collection did have a primitive air: sliced panels of fur slung around models’ necks or trailing in their wake, moments of animal print, and fuzzy, enveloping textures. A mood of childlike creativity, meanwhile, was captured in a series of naively painted garments, their texture raised like an oil painting.

‘For some months now, I’ve been asking myself what it would mean to return to that original state of creation,’ elaborated Risso. ‘In a letter inviting her friends to the countryside, Virginia Woolf once wrote “bring no clothes”. I came to understand that she wasn’t suggesting they arrive naked, but simply encouraging them to strip back the punitive structures of clothing, and all their symbolic implications, because here, it’s just us. It’s a sentiment familiar to my early days in the studio – a sense of community that extended deeper and beyond our titles and roles... because here, it’s just us.’

Gucci

Sabato De Sarno’s sophomore womenswear collection continued in much the same vein as his debut, seeing the Italian designer attempt to capture the essence of his native country’s style in contemporary manner – all the while infused with a mood of insouciance and romance. ‘My dreams, as with my fashion, always converse with reality,’ he elaborated in a brief note circulated prior to the show, which was held in the industrial Fonderia Carlo Macchi. ‘Because I am not searching for another world to live in, but rather of ways to live in this world.’ For him, this means an exploration of the quotidian wardrobe enlivened with the flourishes of glamour and embellishment made possible by the Gucci atelier: mannish overcoats were adorned with a waterfall of sequins and paillettes, intricately layered lace cami tops and dresses recalled lingerie, while slouchy knit cardigans came with shimmering crystal-decorated collars. Elsewhere, tailoring was nipped and worn with abbreviated shorts (the silhouette seemed to recall the 1960s), while an impressive array of leather jackets punched with the double-G monogram showed off the house’s expertise in the material. It ended with a duo of carved strapless gowns, which were seductive in their simplicity, though with enough pizzazz to please his celebrity-filled front row (this season, it comprised Solange Knowles, Kirsten Dunst and De Sarno’s house muse, British actress Daisy Edgar-Jones). ‘[I want to] capture the extraordinary where the ordinary is expected,’ he said.

Sportmax

This season the Sportmax design team diverted from the futuristic austerity of S/S 2024’s all-white collection, looking instead towards underground icon Nico – in particular, her final 1985 album Camera Obscura – for inspiration. On the collection notes, a quote from Gerard Malanga (a poet and assistant to Andy Warhol) about the album’s imagery was chosen to encapsulate the collection’s mood. ‘Nico’s eyes seem to guard a great mystery which, hidden in aloofness, they do not want anyone to know exists,’ it read. ‘Whether or not a mystery is there, the eyes with the enigma of their absence from what surrounds them eclipse the perfection of features and form to add great magnetism’. 

So the woman for this season was steeped in sensuality and intrigue, seeing models stalking the dimly lit upper corridors of the Triennale di Milano contemporary art museum on a curving mirrored catwalk (on which the season’s vertiginous heels pounded). Plunging black mini dresses rose up above the shoulder into spikes, while sharp, wide-shouldered tailoring and a recurring cinched waist (often achieved through clever layering) was designed to recall the ‘resolve of a Helmut Newton muse’. Meanwhile, Nico’s 1980s contemporaries – Grace Jones, Debbie Harry, Annie Lennox and Siouxsie Sioux – were also celebrated in the nostalgic album cover-inspired prints, dotted across the collection like a collage.

Tod’s

Matteo Tamburini chose the Messina Tram Depot in northern Milan to present his debut Tod’s collection, a symbolic gesture that this was a brand in forward movement (indeed, a number of the yellow Milanese trams had been adorned with the Tod’s logo for the occasion). It linked with the collection’s inspirations, which the designer said was rooted in a search for contemporary Italian elegance – one at once inspired by the energy of the street (here epitomised by the presentation, where models appeared to be rushing to catch the tram on a misted morning) and a deep-rooted appreciation for local craft. So for men and women, Tamburini attempted to create a comprehensive everyday wardrobe in luxurious style, from layers of ribbed knitwear and roomy trench coats to more dramatic leather gowns adorned with tassels (in these, there was an echo of Bottega Veneta, where Tamburini worked from 2017 to 2023). The designer was at his best, though, with the narrow, streamlined looks which opened the show, comprising sharply cut overcoats, double-layer striped shirts and gently flared tailored trousers with wide folded hems – a convincingly contemporary silhouette. As for footwear – which remains the bedrock of the brand – a version of the Gommino loafer for men with a minimal metal bar in lieu of the usual tie fastening had definite appeal, while for women the style was adorned with playful fronds of leather tassels.

Prada

‘An instinctive attraction to history.’ So began the description of Prada’s A/W 2024 show, which was presented in the same OMA/AMO-designed space as the house’s menswear show in January, where vast Perspex tiles revealed a simulacrum of a forest floor beneath attendees’ feet (this time, the twisting lines of spinning office chairs had been removed; so too the desks and Prada-screensaver computers which had stood in the space’s entranceway). Though still striking, the set felt less prescient here – in the menswear show, its clash of the great outdoors and the corporate office was reflected in the clothing itself – with co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons instead looking towards ‘fragments’ of historical dress as the collection’s starting point. (Read more about OMA/AMO and Prada show sets in our Rem Koolhaas interview on 25 years of the collaboration.)

But this was not about misty-eyed nostalgia – something Miuccia Prada asserted, in typically plain-speaking style, that she ‘hates’. Rather, it was what the pair deemed an ‘emotional’ exercise – an exploration of the way clothing holds onto memories, even romance. ‘History, for me, is always connected to the lives of people,’ explained Miuccia Prada. ‘There is a sense of romance to this collection – of values of love and caring embedded in the clothes… it is not so much a theoretical statement, but a conversation about emotions. For me, these are vital ideas, they are always present in what we create. Creating beauty, creating things with love.’

So there were dresses decorated with a multitude of bows, petticoat-style slips revealed beneath sliced-away skirts, or sculpted tailoring recalling a midcentury silhouette. ‘[They] could be Victorian, 1920s, 1950s,’ said Simons of the references, which were shaken up to create the richly imagined collection. ‘This is not about a narrative history… it’s an attraction to different moments in time which now feel new.’ Other pieces worked in the other direction: a series of technical anoraks, for example, were reshaped using a historical line, imbued with new elegance. 

But there was a sense of warning here, too. The profusion of feminine adornments, from bows to ruffles, had an uncanny effect (‘Why do they persist? Why do they attract?’ asked the pair via the collection notes), while suggestions of military attire lent the collection an undercurrent of lingering darkness. As one expects from Prada, this felt purposeful. ’Reflecting on history teaches us our mistakes, our strengths. The past is the only thing we have,’ said Miuccia Prada. ’This is a collection shaped by history… who we were, why we dressed like that. It’s about remembering our past, using this knowledge to move forwards.’ 

‘In this moment, which is such a complicated moment, it is vital to know your history. Who you are, where you come from,’ added Simons. ‘You can only realise your future if you know your past.’

Emporio Armani

Starting backwards, Emporio Armani’s A/W 2024 show ended with a flurry of snow (a micro-trend in Milan, with Jacob Cohën’s presentation earlier in the day at Teatro Lirico complete with its own blizzard of faux-snow). Through it Mr Armani’s models marched, umbrellas overheard and seemingly unfazed by the change in weather, clad here in a series of eveningwear looks in lieu of more temperature-appropriate wear – from sequinned tuxedos and shimmering crescent-moon adorned suits to crystal bra tops and sculpted evening gowns. They captured the mood of the collection, which was titled ‘Night Glow’, seeking to evoke the ‘luminous night sky’ and its changing tonal hues (the colour palette spanned midnight black to mauve, violet, jade green and tones of grey). Silhouettes, meanwhile, were designed to capture the feeling of freedom which remains at the heart of Emporio Armani – whether billowing trousers with sweatpant-style gathered hems, diaphanous organza skirts, or the boldly coloured flourishes of chubby faux fur. 

Max Mara

During his three-plus decades at the helm of Max Mara, Ian Griffiths has established a canon of notable women from history to provide the inspiration for his collections. Such was the case for his A/W 2024 offering, presented on a drizzly Milanese morning in a brightly lit former industrial space on Via Giovanni Battista Piranesi. This season, it was the turn of rebellious French author Colette, who is best known for her sensual prose that at the turn of the 20th century provided a then-rare glimpse into the interior life of a woman, her passions and desires. In this spirit, what followed was a seductive collection which suggested moments of pleasure: typically enveloping overcoats in soft-to-the-touch textures, ribbed knit bands which gently cinched the waist, or asymmetric skirts draped and folded onto the body. The subtle juxtapositions which have become a signature of Griffiths’ tenure ran throughout – between weight and lightness, glamour and ease, the masculine and feminine – like his riff on a military officer’s coat or fisherman’s sweater, a nod to the way Colette would defiantly dress between genders. At the end of the press notes, a quote from the author seemed to define the liberated collection: ‘Beautiful? For whom? Why, for myself, of course.’

Fendi

The Fendi showspace on Via Solari was divided into various rooms, their partitions constructed from enormous drapes of coloured silk. Indeed, the collection itself – which creative director of couture and womenswear Kim Jones said began by looking at archival looks from the mid-1980s – was full of such impressive contortions of fabric, whether the cinching day-glo strip of fabric which was layered over a simple black roll-neck, or the variously complex knits, which were crisscrossed over the neck or became slinky, colour-blocked ribbed dresses. The drapes also recalled those found in Roman statuary – a nod to Fendi’s home city – which also appeared as prints or as intricate embroidery on the garments themselves, part of a continuing exploration of the Italian city’s unique brand of elegance (a fascination of Jones since he started at the house, who takes particular inspiration from the personal style of house scion Delfina Delettrez Fendi, who in 2020 became Fendi’s artistic director of jewellery and in 2016 was a Wallpaper* Design Awards judge). 

But delving into the archive also reminded Jones of the dress codes of his native London in the 1980s, particularly the vivid, subversive uniforms of the New Romantics and figures like performance artist and club impresario Leigh Bowery. Here, the liberated mood of the era was expressed in flourishes of polka dots (a Bowery signature) and moments of piercing colour, which contrasted rigorous, sculpted black tailoring elsewhere. ‘The sketches reminded me of London during that period: the Blitz Kids, the New Romantics, the adoption of workwear, aristocratic style, Japanese style,’ Jones explained. ‘It was a point when British subcultures and styles became global and absorbed global influences. Yet still with a British elegance in ease and not giving a damn what anybody else thinks, something that chimes with Roman style.’

No. 21

Alessandro Dell'Acqua’s always intriguing vision of womanhood at No. 21 – where underneath his clothing’s exterior beauty something darker lurks – continued this season with the Italian designer’s riff on bourgeois dress codes. He used the expression ‘bon ton’, a byword for elegance and good taste that was first used to describe British high society in the 19th century – and later reemerged during the haute couture revival of the 1980s – to encapsulate the collection’s mood. The latter era emerged here in plunging black gowns that tied at the shoulders with bows, cocooning double-breasted overcoats, or nipped tweed suiting, all of which drew inspiration from the decade’s outré haute couture collections (‘It’s as if I had cast my gaze deeply into a fashion story [and made it] come alive again,’ said Dell’Acqua of the nostalgic mood). But it was the designer’s eye for juxtaposition that continued to enchant: whether the functional, harness-style fastening which sat in the side seam of an otherwise ladylike dress dripping in crystals (and exposed the body beneath), the men’s brogues worn with a satin strapless gown, or the combination of a slouchy Fair Isle jumper with an embellished sheer skirt and pointed pumps, each combination captured the disruptive sensuality which pulsates through his work. ‘[I wanted] to capture and express a very conscious form of bourgeois eroticism,’ Dell’Acqua concluded. 

As your eyes adjusted to the veil of dry ice which hovered in the former industrial space on the outskirts of Milan which played host to Stone Island’s first runway show on Friday evening, you realised the presentation had already begun.

Strapped onto an enormous three-storey scaffold structure which ran the length of the space, models stood, stock still, looking outwards to the rows of bleacher-style seating in the front-on pose which reminded of Stone Island’s memorable campaigns (here, they were framed with squares of scaffolding, rather than the usual stark white backdrop).

Stone Island makes its runway debut in Milan

As the main presentation began, a blaring industrial techno soundtrack – loud enough to make the seats vibrate – recalled Stone Island’s longtime links with the underground. First founded in 1982 by C.P. Company’s Massimo Osti, the Italian label, initially best-known for its outerwear, has since become synonymous with various subcultures, from the Milanese Paninari to British ravers and football fans.

The show’s looks – which were taken from the A/W 2024 collection, as well as the brand’s archive – were then illuminated with a light show which featured glitching spotlights and laser-like beams which were projected into the audience. The final flourish was the drop of an enormous black curtain, momentarily obscuring the models until they were revealed at the show’s end. The curtain was projected with the Stone Island logo, an enduring symbol of street style, best known for adorning patches on the brand’s signature pieces.

Indeed, the symbol – which features the arms of a compass – provided the impetus for the show itself, which was titled ’The Compass Inside’. As a booming manifesto, read at the beginning of the show, asserted, the brand sees itself as ’an outfitter for inner worlds, for those who follow their own path’. It also heralded a new chapter of sorts, with Stone Island now led by CEO Robert Triefus since June of last year, having previously worked at Gucci. 

’The Compass Inside‘ was also the title of a new campaign from the brand, revealed the same day and featuring the house’s S/S 2024 collection. Celebrating the Stone Island ‘famiglia’, it features 16 Stone Island devotees from pop culture, including actor Jason Statham, musician Dave, and upcoming British tennis player Henry Searle. With the show and campaign, Stone Island hopes to both cement its status as a cult streetwear brand, while courting a new generation through the social media views they generate. 

’Our vision for Stone Island is expressed in The Compass Inside, [which] establishes our core values in a tangible way,’ says Triefus of the campaign. ’Relentless innovation, self-reliance, solidarity and material obsession are the cardinal directions of our compass. We design for the real world, and so our new creative narrative features notable figures from the global Stone Island family.’

stoneisland.com

Last week marked the arrival of Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2024, a four-day event which as ever promised a blueprint for how men will dress in the season ahead – from the richly sartorial to the boldly experimental. On the first day, all eyes were on Sabato De Sarno – the Gucci creative director showed his debut menswear collection for Gucci, infused with an easy sensuality – and Stone Island, the cult Italian label holding its own first runway show, despite being founded in 1982. 

Elsewhere, JW Anderson returned to Milan to show a menswear collection which looked to Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 thriller Eyes Wide Shut for inspiration – including a collaboration with Kubrick’s wife Christiane, an artist – while Prada followed up its viral slime-drenched runway with another equally transporting show set which clashed the corporate office with the great outdoors. Shows and collections from Dolce & Gabbana, Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani, Tod’s, MSGM and Zegna (among others), rounded out the week, the latter closing the week on January 15, 2024.

Here, the very best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2024, as it happened. 

The best of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2024

Zegna

The centrepiece of Zegna’s latest show – held at the sweeping Allianz MiCo convention centre in Milan – was an enormous mound of saffron-orange cashmere. Cashmere is a fabric at the heart of Zegna’s output; for winter, Alessandro Sartori wanted to give it particular focus, deeming it the ideal fibre for the particular demands of the season. Titled ‘In the Oasi of Cashmere’, the collection’s name referred to Oasi Zegna, the house’s nature park on the site of its first-ever wool mill and the spiritual home of the house. ‘As both a physical place and a mindset [it is] the centre of our world, a veritable lab: a place in which we can tirelessly explore new fabrications, develop new forms,’ said the designer.

As such, in the garments themselves, Sartori thought about the idea of transformation and experimentation, though evolution might be a more apt word: his languid silhouettes, which meld a feeling of ease with the luxurious fabrications each look is crafted from, build piece by piece on the season prior. A through line could be drawn from S/S 2024 (where befitting the season, linen was the central fabric) to this latest collection in the gently oversized and minimally adorned garments, built by clever layering. Highlights for A/W 2024 included a slew of beautiful double-breasted overcoats, amplified in proportion to envelop the body, while suiting came with elegant wide-legged trousers which nonetheless recalled sweat pants in their ease. Though it was Sartori’s use of colour which remained the collection’s most seductive element, a rich and evocative palette of grey, browns and whites with flashes of blue and pink, the latter inspired by the pink walls of Alba cathedral in Piedmont.

JW Anderson

In the run-up to the show, Jonathan Anderson had been posting stills from Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 movie Eyes Wide Shut, the director’s final film. Its erotic charge provided the impetus for the designer’s latest menswear collection; in particular, the paintings of Christiane Kubrick – the director’s wife – which appear amid the film’s interiors (and have prompted much commentary about their potential secret meanings and codes). A number of these works were used in the collection itself, adorning elongated knit dresses or printed onto handbags, a project undertaken with the artist’s involvement. ‘I thought it was interesting to bring something into the foreground that ultimately doesn’t want to be there,’ he said. It lent the collection the underlying strangeness which pulsates through the movie; here, models were largely stripped from the waist down, wearing just fine denier tights, while shorts and cardigans had bulges of rolled satin emerging from beneath. Poinsettia decorations adorned several of the looks (Anderson admitted the Christmas plant provokes a kind of disgust from him), while womenswear looks wrapped elegantly around the body in tones of red and black. It made for a seductive, intriguing offering from the designer: ‘Everything is off,’ read the collection notes.

Tod’s

Tod’s chose to present its ‘Pashmy’ project as part of men’s fashion week – a selection of garments which comprises the ‘most exclusive and precious’ materials that the Italian house uses. As such, the presentation itself marked a celebration of craft (through one window a disembodied pair of hands created one of the brand’s signature loafers). The collection itself, meanwhile, comprised the ‘Pashmy’ bomber, a clean-lined style complete with water- and stain-repellant treatments, while other pieces riffed on men’s wardrobe archetypes, from ecru collared cardigans and louche tailoring to shearling and leather bombers. Accessories, meanwhile, included the 90s-born ‘Di Bag’ in sheepskin leather, a long-fur version of the Bubble Gommino driving show, and a new pair of sneakers which draw inspiration from saddle-stitching. 

Prada

The invitation for Prada’s latest show – which opened like an enormous book – comprised a silk tie encased in an image of a forest. It was a symbolic dichotomy which ran throughout their latest collection: the clash between man and nature, the office and the forest floor. Indeed, after walking through a simulacrum of a nondescript office space (complete with spinning desk chairs and computers which buzzed with the Prada logo), guests entered the main runway where a vast perspex floor hovered over an expanse of grass, fallen leaves and babbling brooks of running water. Conceived alongside Rotterdam-based AMO, the effect was extraordinarily surreal – backstage Miuccia Prada noted she found the effect to be ‘scary’ – and captured the strange juxtaposition which ran through the collection itself. ‘Office and nature, inside and out, the instinctive change of people shifting between these opposite spheres,’ explained Raf Simons, the brand’s co-creative director. 

So here, the pair melded a distinctly Prada-esque riff on the corporate uniform – during their joint tenure, the uniform is something that Miuccia Prada and Simons have returned to most often – with moments that suggested being out of doors, from enormous double-breasted sailor coats to plays on the tweed overcoat and trench (the latter narrow and zipping high up the neck). The heady shift between the elements, enlivened by an electric use of colour, suggested an underlying tension at the heart of the collection. As our environment changes, how much do seasons matter? In a quote sent out prior to the show, Miuccia Prada referenced Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’, a work of music which heralded such a moment of change that when it was first shown, the audience purportedly rioted. ‘The changing of seasons enables human beings to continue to look at the world with fresh eyes,’ she said. ‘“The Rite of Spring” has inspired generations of musicians to reinvent themselves… the seasons have been the most consistent theme in all schools of painting. Fashion aspires to the same effect of renewal.’ 

‘It was meant for going outside,’ she elucidated further backstage, noting that amid the thrum of contemporary life, there was a desire to return to something more tangible. ‘Normally I don’t do seasons – naked in winter – but now, there’s a need to connect with reality, with human nature.’

Emporio Armani

As the lights went up at the Tadao Ando-designed Armani/Teatro, an enormous lighthouse was revealed, its spinning lamp drifting across the gathered crowd. Giorgio Armani – who made his Emporio Armani collection co-ed this season, showing a mix of men’s and womenswear – said that for this latest collection he had been thinking about the ‘impetuous’ sea in winter. As such, the designer noted a mood of adventure to the collection, an ode to ‘sailors, cabin boys, engineers and officers’ who take the high seas even at their most treacherous. As such, nautical hallmarks ran throughout, whether sailor hats or shirts, galosh-style gloves and boots, or cocooning, broad-shouldered navy overcoats (indeed, the strong shoulder ran throughout). A more sedate vision of ‘harbourside elegance’, meanwhile, provided opportunities for Mr Armani to indulge in the louche glamour for which he is known: the collection’s climax was a series of richly bejewelled or embroidered capes and tailoring. The ‘decorative flavour’ of these pieces, said Mr Armani, were inspired by the building layers of incrustations found on the underside of ships, here transformed in arresting style.

Neil Barrett

Neil Barrett continued his welcome return to Milan Fashion Week – he held his first show in some time last June – with a collection which demonstrated the British designer’s aptitude for sharply defined minimalism. Finding inspiration in heritage garments, particularly military uniforms, he strips the extraneous to create a precise, comprehensive men’s wardrobe (this time, the show’s title was ‘Heritage Innovation’). For A/W 2024, he riffed on traditional British outdoor wear and Harris tweeds (he called his version ‘techno tweed’) in clean-lined single-breasted overcoats, tones of khaki, camel and beige, and tab-fastening leather gloves and riding boots. Elsewhere, he once again looked to what he called ‘the uniforms of modern menswear’, ‘remixed, redesigned [and] rethought’ by the designer, like one particularly desirable camel overcoat with epaulettes and folded military-style pockets. A clean-lined riff on the flight jacket, it encapsulated the fusion of heritage and modernism at the collection’s heart.

Fendi

Princess Anne was on the mood board for Silvia Venturini Fendi’s latest menswear collection, which once again mined the feeling of levity and play which defines the designer’s menswear offering. She was an apt muse: the collection was a riff on British outdoor wear, a mode of dressing the royal is well versed in, presented here through takes on the pleated kilt (it became a long culotte-style short), wax cotton jackets and a use of various plaids throughout. But there was also the feeling of idiosyncrasy associated with Princess Anne’s style (often, she wears near-futuristic wraparound sunglasses with the most classic of British looks); one unexpected accessory was a pounding sphere-shaped speaker, a collaboration with Devialet and naturally adorned with the house’s double-F logo. The designer said that it was a collection which straddled town and country, noting that alongside the outdoorsy looks was a mood of ‘Roman decadence’, in reference to the house’s home city. Cue trompe l’oeil bombers in soft shaved shearling, perfectly cut leather overcoats, and of course a slew of beautiful tailoring (the final suits imbued with a glimmer of shine).

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana continued a mood of reduction which has been evident at the Italian house in recent seasons, with designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana expressing a want to get to back to the essence of the house they founded in 1985. For menswear, this means a fusion of sartorial prowess (their men’s suiting has long been a highlight of their collections), with the oozing sensuality for which the brand is known. Titled ‘Sleek’, they called this collection a ’story of elegance and handmade… a sartorial essay’ which came largely in the house’s signature black. An after-dark mood was struck in louche, diaphanous silk shirting – some high-neck and cinched at the waist with a cummerbund, others with pussy bow fastenings at the neckline – while the tuxedo was riffed on in cropped or sleeveless variations (its elegant line also inspired a series of elegantly cut overcoats). A hint of the equestrian, meanwhile, came in narrow jodhpur-style trousers tucked into riding boots, while worn denim jeans and jackets struck a more casual note. It was completed with the flourishes of drama and abandon for which the designers are known: whether enormous faux fur overcoats or tailoring dripping with beads or paillettes. 

MSGM

Partway through Massimo Giorgetti’s latest menswear show – which took place on the subterranean platform of Porta Venezia metro station – a model walked the runway grasping an unexpected accessory: a chunk of one of the underground system’s distinctive curved handrails. An enduring symbol of Milanese mid-century design, it was created by Franco Albini in 1964, the architect behind the city’s first M1 metro line, inaugurated the same year (Giorgetti is an avid student of design and for this collaborated with Albini’s eponymous foundation of the project). The distinctive curve of the object became a motif in the collection (on the opening look it adorned an overcoat), while representing the line which the M1 route carves across the city. The designer said he chose the metro as a way to explore the ’frenetic’ pace of modern life, seeing models march at speed across the runway, mobile phones clasped in hand. The clothing itself had all the colourful eclecticism for which MSGM is known – padded hoodies and matching pants, fluffy slippers, tinsel knits – while prints included photographs taken using the Google Pixel phone of the Italian metro (the partnership with Google will continue later in the year at Salone del Mobile). 

Stone Island

Stone Island’s first runway show was not a runway show at all; rather, as attendees streamed into the vast industrial space, models were already present, clamped in rows onto an enormous scaffolding structure. The effect reminded of their distinct advertising campaigns – whereby models stand square to the camera against a stark white background – though here, they were framed by the scaffold’s metal jousts and glimpsed through a veil of dry ice. 

The show itself, with a suitably seat-vibrating techno soundtrack (the Italian outerwear brand has long been adopted by subcultures, from the Milanese Paninari to British ravers), comprised a light show of sorts, whereby glitching, flashing lights illuminated the rows of models, who wore the brand’s A/W 2024 collection. The grand finale was a black curtain which dropped from the ceiling to conceal the models, projected with Stone Island’s compass logo – one of street fashion’s most enduring symbols.

If the curtain went down prematurely – as was revealed after the show – it did little to dampen the spectacle, which captured the label’s underground spirit, revealing a gamut of techy, streetwear-infused pieces (notably, a series of jackets and joggers with a liquidy, almost holographic shine), while appealing to a new market the brand hopes to mine through social media impressions from the evening. Indeed, earlier in the day, Stone Island revealed an S/S 2024 campaign featuring a well-known roster of faces, from actor Jason Statham and choreographer Wayne McGregor, to musician Dave and rising British tennis player Henry Searle. As I drove through Milan to the show, it was already on bus stops and billboards. 

Gucci

Sabato De Sarno continued to hone his vision for Gucci with his debut menswear collection for the house, held in a former factory space on the northern outskirts of Milan. It was a collection infused with the easy, insouciant sensuality which defined his first womenswear collection shown this past September. There, he looked towards the multiplicity of the street for a collection which straddled pragmatism and glamour; pieces ran from luxurious riffs on hoodies, tank tops and denim to crystal babydoll dresses and outerwear adorned with trails of glimmering tassels. 

Here, languid tailoring, floor-skimming overcoats and Gucci-adorned bomber jackets (as well as a return of the grey hoodie), met elongated silk ties, flourishes of crystal adornment, and new versions of the chunky Marina Chain necklace, which had originally appeared in the womenswear collection. De Sarno called it ’a mirroring effect’: from the casting (entirely new faces), to the press notes (a declaration that the collection was an attempt to capture ’the joy of life’), and the soundtrack (Mark Ronson‘s remix of Ancora Ancora Ancora by Mina), he noted a desire to replicate ‘the emotions that were felt, this time through the perspective of menswear’.

It asserted his cohesive, wide-ranging vision for the house, one which will no doubt prove particularly seductive to shoppers. But the collection also heralds a break from the unrestrained maximalism of his forebear Alessandro Michele, seeing De Sarno – despite the sometimes heavy weight of expectation – confidently strip back the extraneous towards a more discreet elegance, nonetheless infused with the moments of ’joy, passion and humanity’ that the designer has put forth as the pillars for his renovation of the Italian powerhouse. 

Milan Fashion Week S/S 2024 arrived in the Italian fashion capital last week with a typically packed schedule, though despite the plethora of shows, presentations and happenings across the city all eyes were on Gucci which unveiled its latest chapter under new creative director Sabato De Sarno, formerly of Valentino, who presented a collection inspired by ‘the joy of life’. Also making his debut was Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford – a tenure that began with a blessing from the eponymous founder himself, who worked with Hawkings at the label before his exit earlier this year.

Elsewhere, an array of Italian houses showed their latest collections – among them Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Bottega Veneta, Ferragamo, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, and more – with the week culminating in the Camera della Moda Sustainable Fashion Awards at La Scala Theatre on 24 September. On the afternoon of the same day, Brazil-born, London-based designer Karoline Vitto – who previously showed with Fashion East – made her Milan debut, presenting with the support of Dolce & Gabbana.

Here, the best of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2024, as it happened. 

Best of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2024

Giorgio Armani

‘Vibes’ read the invitation for Giorgio Armani’s latest collection, presented in the house’s Via Borgonuovo headquarters in central Milan on Sunday afternoon. ‘Everything vibrates: colours, sensations, and feelings,’ the designer elaborated via the collection notes. ‘This season, vibrations become visible. They run across entire surfaces in undulating movements and rippling weaves.’ As such, it felt like a sequel of sorts to the Emporio Armani show earlier in the week, where the designer had spoken of a desire for lightness and fluidity reflected in aqueous fabrications and languid forms. Here, he conjured an equally ethereal collection which combined undulating silhouettes – one jacket had 3D waves running across its surface, while silk dresses and pleated trousers gently rippled across the boy – with hazy, dreamlike prints. Mr Armani was at his most liberated, though, in the stream of evening wear which closed the show: lightweight diaphanous layers of organza met shimmering tassels, extraordinarily detailed sequin and bead embroidery, and a mass of crystal adornment which caught the light. ‘Giorgio Armani’s vision refracts and mutates as though passing through a prism,’ said the house.

Bottega Veneta

Anticipation was high for Matthieu Blazy’s fourth collection for Bottega Veneta, which marked the first outside of his opening ‘trilogy’ of shows. That trilogy had been inspired by Bottega Veneta’s native Italy and its dress codes, observed through what Blazy called ‘the alchemy of the street’; this season, presented on a vast tiled map of the world – complete with illustrations of penguins, sardines, crabs and roosters – Blazy looked further afield. It was a collection about travel, real and imagined, a rich ‘odyssey’ in which the designer imagined his protagonist picking up elements of inspiration on journeys around the globe. ‘An odyssey: a journey that is both free and hopeful,’ he described. ‘A connection to who you once were, who you would like to be and where you want to go. The odyssey is both external and internal, physical and through the imagination. It is a journey of transformation and escape.’

It led him back to the idea of archetypes. The collection began with the holiday-goer: a model clad in a knitted swimsuit, carrying a rope-like woven beach bag slung with a pinstripe shirt on top, before moving through an array of travellers – from the corporate commuter (‘dreaming on a train’) to what Blazy called the ‘castaway’, imagined in the homespun craft of extraordinary woven dresses, including those adorned with enormous raffia pompoms which closed the show. What is always striking about Blazy’s work is its sheer generosity – his collections are like an endless stream of elements, each painstaking in its construction – and the undeniably emotional way that the designer works. Like travel, he invites wonder. ‘It’s like collecting seashells – beautiful, meaningful or meaningless,’ he explained of the collection. ‘It is linked to the beauty of small marvels and natural wonders. It’s embracing something freeform: these are clothes without codes.’

Jil Sander

The hundreds of streamers which hung from the ceiling of the Jil Sander show set,  housed in a warehouse on Milan’s outer reaches, hinted at a mood of celebration. Indeed, in the flourishes of crystal jewellery – which adorned almost every look, both men’s and women’s – as well as suggestions of ball gowns and tuxedos, there was undoubtedly a desire for dressing up from Lucie and Luke Meier this season. It continued the wife-and-husband duo’s departure from the house’s minimalist codes, though there is no doubt still a simplicity and clarity to their approach: a particular highlight was a series of dresses with a ribbed knit top and fuller contrasting skirt, which riffed on classic haute couture silhouettes in contemporary style. Their desire for textural richness also continued this season: paillette-adorned skirts and tops made a gentle clatter as they walked down the runway, while iridescent silks and glossy fabrications lent moments of shine.

Dolce & Gabbana

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana continued to mine house codes in a collection titled ‘Woman’ which looked towards the construction of underwear for inspiration, a longtime reference for the designers, whose work has often included elements of underwear and corsetry. Rendered largely in black and white, body-contouring sheer dresses revealed intricate lace underwear beneath, while riffs on stockings (including a new flat pointed boot pulled on like tights) were designed to recall the women of ‘old Sicily’. Elsewhere, the designers struck an astute balance between tailoring – largely wide-shouldered and inspired by the cut of a tuxedo jacket – and flou, which came in floating layered polka dot dresses or voluminous sheer organza blouses. The designers called it ‘a new female image of extreme sensuality’, perhaps best epitomised by two of the house‘s perennial muses, Mariacarla Boscono and Naomi Campbell, who both walked the show. 

Ferragamo

Maximilian Davis hit his stride this season at Ferragamo with a supremely elegant collection the British designer said was about finding a feeling of effortlessness inspired by both Italian style and his own Caribbean roots. ‘I wanted things to feel a lot lighter, both in terms of fabric and construction but also in terms of how people want to dress,’ he said. ‘There’s a familiarity I have found in the Italian way of dressing and living: an effortlessness which feels very Caribbean. The idea of doing everything at your own pace, on your own time.’ This idea of lightness and ease ran throughout the collection, which had a fluidity previous seasons occasionally lacked: beautiful viscose jersey gowns were overlaid with structured leather bodices (a nod, he said, to Renaissance armour), oversized trench coats gently enveloped the body, while narrow tailoring – for men and women – had an opposing strictness. Elements of craft also featured more than in previous seasons, which Davis said was inspired by Italy’s Arte Povera movement and its desire to use humble materials to elevate the everyday; here, a dress and wide belt appeared crafted from miniature floor tiles. An expansive array of bags and shoes, from a luxurious triple-zip weekend bag to a vertiginous curved-heel pump, were particularly appealing. ‘I really wanted the pieces to feel very pure and honest,’ he said. ‘For the collection to be relatable within a wardrobe, but interesting in terms of the touch of the hand.’

Versace

After decamping to Los Angeles last season to show during Oscars week, Donatella Versace made her return to Milan with a typically blockbuster show staged on a gleaming checkerboard runway surrounded by floating floor-to-ceiling curtains. The checkerboard motif ran throughout a collection the charismatic designer called ‘fresh and graphic’, recalling the 1960s in its abbreviated mini dresses, prim cardigans and hair bows and bands, as well as boxy suiting adorned with golden Versace buttons. A contrast came in draped, Grecian style gowns – cut with Versace’s near-inimitable eye for accentuating the body and its silhouette – worn here by model Gigi Hadid in her first appearance of the week. ‘I love the contrast between boxy suits and the transparency of an evening dress,’ said Versace, who also drafted Claudia Schiffer – a longtime house muse – to make her own runway return, wearing a chainmail checkerboard dress accessorised with knife-point metallic pumps.

MSGM

There is always a refreshing levity to Massimo Giorgetti’s collections for MSGM, a mood of experimentation and play which continues to distinguish the designer in a busy Milan schedule. This season, he spoke of ‘a new rhythm’ defined by ‘unpredictability and randomness’ that he likened to straying off life’s beaten track. As such, there was a feeling of collage to the eclectic collection: checkered tailoring and bubble-hem dresses twisted and tied around the body, adornment spanned naive floral prints, stitched-on tassels and beaded embroidery, while poppy shades of lemon yellow, lavender and a pink he described as ‘taffy’, ran throughout. ‘Overwhelming and liberating,’ said the designer, who soundtracked the collection with the pulsating sounds of The Normal’s ‘Warm Leatherette’.

Gucci

Sabato De Sarno called his first Gucci collection ‘Ancora’, translated by the house into English as ‘now, also then’. The phrase – which had already appeared on billboards around the world prior to the show – spoke to De Sarno’s desire to translate elements from the house’s archive into the present-day (particularly its signature Jackie and Bamboo handbags), but also to create ‘the opportunity to fall in love with fashion, ancora,’ as he described. A departure from his predecessor Alessandro Michele’s theatrical collections for the house, De Sarno focussed on pragmatic clothing inspired by the city’s streets (originally, the show was meant to have taken place on the pavements of Brera, before rain saw the show shifted to the Gucci Hub) nonetheless infused with moments of glamour and craft associated with Gucci. As such, riffs on wardrobe archetypes – the tank top, the hoodie, jeans, tailoring – met crystal-adorned baby doll dresses or outerwear overlaid with glimmering metal tassels. The collection also saw the introduction of ‘Ancora Rosso’, an oxblood-style shade of red which recurred throughout, and took its inspiration from the interiors of London’s Savoy Hotel (founder Guccio Gucci worked as a bell boy there prior to beginning the house). ‘It’s a story of joy of life, of passion, of humanity, of people, of real life, of irreverent glamour, of provocation, of confidence, of simplicity, of immediate feelings and emotions,’ explained De Sarno. ‘It’s a story of everything, again, but this time expressed through joy.’ Read our full report here.

Sportmax

The Sportmax show space was divided down its centre by a fluorescent-lit glass vitrine in which a jungle of tropical flowers and plants grew. ‘The cyclical battle between tradition and progress,’ was how the brand described the collection, which provided an echo of the strange, science-fiction-style backdrop: almost entirely in white, experimental padded forms met sculptural twists of organza and high-neck shift dresses which recalled medical uniforms. The design team behind the collection said they were seeking a feeling of simplicity, looking towards Japan for inspiration; here, this emerged in dresses cut with kimono necklines, or bandeau tops evocative of the traditional obi-belt. Prints, meanwhile, were drawn from the ‘Postnaturial’ works of Czech artist Krištof Kintera, who is known for creating dystopian imaginings of botanical herbariums – the central inspiration behind this intriguing, futuristic collection. 

Tod’s

Walter Chiapponi’s final collection for Tod’s was housed in a vast industrial space used by Milan’s Teatro alla Scala to construct the sets for its operatic performances. The Teatro’s artisans are currently creating the set for an upcoming performance of ‘Don Carlos’, seeing the space filled with intricate pieces of mise-en-scène, from cherub-adorned wood panels and angel wings to enormous painterly backdrops. Chiapponi noted that he selected the space for its resemblance to Tod’s’ own workshops; indeed, around the show set the house’s artisans had been drafted to work on footwear and accessories by hand. The collection itself was defined by a feeling of lightness and ease, infused with the mood of 1990s minimalism which has defined the designer’s tenure at the house so far. Languid trench coats sat over gently oversized tailoring, while simple cotton poplin tops were given shape with leather utility belts. Elegance came in beautiful, lightweight leather skirts – a demonstration of Tod’s commitment to made in Italy craft  – or the simple, unadorned handbags and leather mules. To close the show, Chiapponi looped the runway in an emotional final lap, while talk spread that his successor will be announced before the year is out. ‘I wanted to say goodbye with beauty,’ he said.

Blumarine

‘I wanted to emphasise the luminous sense of lightness of the summer season,’ said Blumarine creative director Nicola Brognano, a mood reflected in the sparse white show space – an opposition to February’s runway, which was covered in heaps of moss and mud. That is not to say the collection was stripped back – Brognano continues to mine poppy 2000s style for inspiration, from glimmering embellishment and butterfly motifs to sinuous, barely-there silhouettes – though there was a feeling of levity to the seasonal palette, which spanned optic white, gold, and a series clear fabrics which exposed the models’ bodies beneath. Adding to the mood of lightness was a series of looks worn with enormous white feathered angel wings, while the drape of jersey dresses was almost Grecian in design. Brognano’s signature butterfly motif also reappeared in sensual style throughout, adorning a pair of glimmering thong underwear or spreading its sequin-adorned wings across the chest of a dress. ‘Clear, limpid colours; slim silhouettes,’ Brognano explained. ‘The body is tight-wrapped, but it moves freely. Sensuality is expressive, strong, modern, natural, with no romanticism.’

Prada

After the show, Miuccia Prada – who co-creates the collections alongside Raf Simons – drew attention to one of the collection’s handbags, a ruched evening bag with a clasp depicting the head of a mythological figure. She noted that the design was not new, but over a century old, first designed by her grandfather Mario Prada – the founder of the eponymous house – in 1913. The ruched evening bag, originally rendered in silk moiré, here in nylon, spoke to the mood of the collection, which referenced Prada’s deep-rooted history craft – the house was built on its creation of leather steamer trunks and handbags – something Simons said is not often talked about in the house’s collections, though is ever-present. ‘Although we usually don’t, for this season we wanted to talk about the craftsmanship – the complexity of work in these clothes. All the embroideries are by hand, and throughout there are ideas and techniques we have studied and developed over a long period,’ he noted. ‘This work is always part of what we do, have always done. We wanted to recognise it here.’

As such, the collection was one of material richness: diaphanous dresses, rendered from a translucent fabric so lightweight Prada purportedly patented the technology, seemed to float on air, while glimmering tassels, intricate embroidery, and eyelets which dotted shirts and dresses ran throughout. An echo of the menswear tailoring shown this past June –whereby the pair sought to apply the white shirt’s feeling of ‘lightness, ease and comfort’ to simple blazers – came in lightweight suiting which referenced 1940s silhouettes in its narrow tucked-in waist and wide shoulder. The curtains of Alien-like slime also returned from the menswear show, dripping from the ceiling onto the stainless steel runway, lending a typically Prada-esque mood of subversion and disorientation to the collection’s ladylike looks. ‘Recognised ideas, techniques and materials are used differently, approached in uncommon ways… shifting things, pushing things,’ said Simons. ‘We tried to make the best out of our work, to make beautiful things, for today,’ added Prada. ‘That may sound banal, but it is the truth.’ 

Emporio Armani

Giorgio Armani was thinking about the idea of lightness at Emporio Armani, continuing his decades-long exploration of the fluidity of clothing: how a garment can encompass both elegance and ease, be adorned with elements of craft and embellishment without ever feeling cumbersome. Shown at the house’s Armani Teatro – which in recent seasons has become a circular runway, so that the collections can be seen in the round – the designer described the collection to feel as if it picked up on a gentle summer breeze. It was a mood perhaps best encapsulated by the 12 closing looks, whereby diaphanous layered organza skirts and dresses were adorned with delicate, almost aqueous embellishments of sequins, crystals and shimmering paillettes (headscarves and stacks of cuffs and jewellery were worn alongside). ‘Everything flows lightly, like a breeze,’ said the house of these pieces, which came at the end of a typically rich expansive offering from the designer, whether the array of elegant tailored jackets – cut with the fluidity of line which defines Armani’s work – sportier bombers and luxurious iridescent tracksuits, or gently flared mini dresses. As ever, the show ended with a rapturous reception for the designer, who despite turning 89 earlier this year, shows no sign of slowing down. 

MM6 Maison Margiela

Recent seasons have seen MM6 Maison Margiela hitting its stride, providing a convincing proposition for a real-world wardrobe that nonetheless retains the undone subversion of its eponymous founder Martin Margiela (as such, MM6 – which is designed by an anonymous in-house design team – provides a more grounded counterpoint to John Galliano’s work for the main Maison Margiela label). There has been great oversized tailoring, voluminous jeans and shirts, and plenty of off-kilter footwear to rival the tabi, from a popular riff on the ballet pump to an ongoing collaboration with performance footwear brand Salomon. All these elements were evidenced in this latest outing, which was inspired by ‘the hand… gestures that define pieces of clothing, and items that entice certain postures’. In the collection itself, this meant figured elements that changed the way clothing was worn: elongated T-shirts were sliced along the side allowing their length to be swept sideways under the hand, blazers could be tied with fastenings that ran along their front (playfully, they retained their button holes despite having no buttons), while paper fabrics appeared to have been shaped and manipulated through wear. If such elements sound tricky, they were anything but: the gently oversized jackets, worn with billowing wide-leg trousers, an open shirt and vest were at once easy and elegant, while elements of deconstruction – raw hems, netted vests, patchworked leather and denim – recalled the irrefutable spirit of the label and its founder.

Max Mara

In June 1939, Britain’s Land Army was created, an all-female workforce that tended the country’s farms in the absence of men at war. These ‘Land Girls’ – as they called themselves – provided the inspiration for Ian Griffiths’ latest Max Mara collection, a designer for whom empowered visions of womanhood have defined his tenure (previous collections have looked to women artists, thinkers and activists, often lesser-known, for inspiration). As such, clothing mined a 1940s silhouette – gently narrowed waists, wide-cut shoulders – while utility elements, inspired by the Land Girls’ workwear, emerged in apron-style dresses, boiler suits, and jodhpur trousers with combat pockets, as well as the washed patina of the fabric, which appeared as if faded from the sun. A series of floral prints, meanwhile, were inspired by the interiors of Bloomsbury Group author and gardener Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst estate in Kent (she wrote a book about the Land Girls in 1944). But Griffiths’ riff on such historical inspirations was made astutely contemporary in the simplicity of the garments’ cut – he noted that though the reference was ‘pastoral’ he imagined the collection being worn by a woman in the city, laptop in hand – as well as in the broad use of colour, which spanned soft shades of pink, teal green and purple. A slew of easy monochrome eveningwear closed the show, the final look comprising a simple cotton-drill white shirt, floating full-length chiffon black skirt, and a gardener’s-style apron, epitomising the juxtaposition of elegance and utility which ran throughout.

No. 21

The innate contradictions of Naples – No. 21 creative director Alessandro Dell’Acqua’s home city – provided the inspiration for the Milan-based label’s latest collection. ‘The dual soul of Naples,’ the designer reflected, ‘aristocratic and popular souls, culture and carnality, false morality and bold natural sensuality.’ As such, there was a sense of juxtaposition to the collection’s looks, which teetered between the sensual and the demure: an undone bodysuit – revealing a vintage-style bra top beneath – was worn with a bridal-style veil. Sheer, paillette-adorned dresses and skirts revealed simple Y-front cotton underwear, while a translucent organza black mini dress came with a prim white Peter Pan collar. Some of these oppositions, Dell’Acqua said, came from the opposition of wedding celebrations – referenced in white satin swing coats, pointed white pumps and plenty of lace – against the archetype of the Italian widow, here imagined in a slew of dramatic black looks which closed the show. ‘Drama, playfulness, sensuality and levity,’ Dell’Acqua said of the collection, which continued to hone the designer’s intriguing, sensual depiction of womanhood, in all its contradictions. 

Fendi

Though Fendi provided the opening show of Milan Fashion Week, British creative director Kim Jones had his eyes set on another Italian city: Rome, where Fendi was founded close to 100 years ago, in 1925, and continues to be based. Monolithic versions of the house’s handbags – crafted in sculptural white like ancient antiquity – populated the space, the effect something like walking through the ruins of the Roman Forum. Indeed, Jones said the collection began with his own wanders throughout the city: ‘When I’m in Rome, every day I walk from the hotel to the Colosseum wearing my ear pods. It’s like listening to an imaginary film with Fendi characters I see along the way.’ (The show’s soundtrack was fittingly cinematic, with Max Richter’s soaring ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ mixed with Dinah Washington’s 1960 ‘This Bitter Earth’). He defines such characters as encapsulating a distinctly Roman sense of style: ‘an elegance and ease in not caring’, he described, ‘women who dress for themselves and their own lives’. (He noted Silvia Venturini Fendi and her daughter Delfina Delettrez Fendi, artistic director of accessories and menswear and artistic director of jewellery respectively, as particular examples). 

The collection was defined by a feeling of lightness and freedom, epitomised in its vivid palette – slashes of red, orange and lemon yellow ran throughout – and the easy, twisting silhouettes which were designed to recall the drapery of Roman statues. Featherweight ribbed knitwear also returned this season – creating body-contouring dresses with cut-out details – while other intarsia knits were adorned with a colourful graphic of the house’s Double-F logo. Colour-blocking also came in patchwork leather outerwear, or the flapping knit panels on dresses – here in various contrasting hues – which can be wrapped or tied around the waist. ‘[It’s about] not caring what anyone else thinks,’ said Jones of the collection, which had a refreshing feeling of spontaneity and irreverence. ‘It’s not about the spectacle of being looked at but the reality of wearing and the confidence and chicness that comes with it. It’s not about being something but being someone.’ 

Stay tuned for more from Milan Fashion Week S/S 2024.

The menswear season rolled onwards to Milan Fashion Week S/S 2024 this past weekend as the Italian city played host to an eclectic amalgam of runway shows, presentations and openings. Among them, a dedicated menswear show from Valentino, which opened proceedings on the afternoon of 16 June. Titled ‘The Narratives’ and held at the Università degli Studi di Milano Statale, it saw the house divert from recent co-ed shows held in Paris – a tribute, said creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, to house founder Valentino Garavani, who showed his first menswear collection in 1985 in Milan. 

Elsewhere in the city, Ralph Lauren Purple Label made its return to the Milan Fashion Week schedule, while British labels JW Anderson and Charles Jeffrey Loverboy continued to choose the city to present their latest collections. Rounding out the week was the usual array of high-profile Italian houses, looking to define the menswear season ahead – among them Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Emporio Armani, Giorgio Armani, Tod’s, Missoni, and Zegna, which closed the week on the afternoon of 19 June.

Here is the very best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2024 – from curtains of slime at Prada to a return to reality at JW Anderson.

The best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2024

Zegna

Held in central Milan’s Piazza San Fedele – creative director Alessandro Sartori’s favourite square in the city – the sun-soaked outdoor runway was outlined with 192 enormous bales of raw linen flax. Not just a prop, the bales had been transported from Normandy; after the show they would go back onto the production line to create Zegna’s various linens at the house’s Italian factories. The show itself, titled ‘L'Oasi Di Lino’, was a celebration of the summertime fabric, selected for its feeling of lightness and fluidity and rendered in countless iterations – among them, linen gabardine, linen faille, linen knits and satin linen. Of the clothing, Sartori described a ‘soft precision’, spanning relaxed, unembellished tailoring, oversized zip-up shirts and simple scoop-neck vests and pullovers. ‘At Zegna we keep rethinking what an efficient wardrobe should be like today,’ he explained. ‘It’s the idea of the uniform that prompts non-uniformity – the suit as matching jacket and trousers no longer applies. The overall fluidity makes it all look quiet and luxurious, but the tension in the details, the richness of colours and the freedom infinite combinations suggest is not quiet at all.’

Giorgio Armani

A giant pencil stood at the end of the Giorgio Armani runway, held in the dedicated theatre in the basement of the house’s spiritual home on Milan’s Via Borgonuovo. Its purpose was metaphorical, the designer likening it to the way he has consistently written and rewritten the codes of Armani since its founding in 1975. ‘Narrating a certain style is a constant process… examining familiar elements from different angles to craft new plots and weave new stories,’ said the house. If not a greatest hits per se, the collection instead elegantly distilled Armani signatures: liquid tailoring was elongated in proportion, geometric patterns recalled memorable archival prints, while sportier references came in a series of looks which were reminiscent of traditional tennis whites. Flights of craft ran throughout: like delicate intertwining threads and knotted sandals and shoes, designed to evoke the fluidity of handwriting.

JW Anderson

Backstage after the show, a relaxed Jonathan Anderson said there had been ‘no angst’ in the creation of his latest menswear collection, presented in Milan for the third season running. ‘I love showing here, it’s so calm,’ he explained, noting that recent months have seen him feeling ‘more creative’ having been working alongside Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino on the costumes for his upcoming feature Queer. The latter experience, he said, had got him thinking about the idea of realism, a mood reflected in the collection itself – there was a real-world simplicity to the boxy striped rugby shirts, tie-waist sweatpants and hoodies. ‘Ease… the fluency of restarting after setting a blank slate,’ read the collection notes; ‘we’re still in this moment of reduction,’ he said after the show. 

One reference, he said, was the everyday textures and patterns of the home: furniture upholstery, woven carpets and tableware, the last referenced in the collection’s invitation – a striped blue and white teapot made by Cornishware, which celebrates its 100th birthday this year. The stripes ran throughout the collection, continuing across the show’s sprawling runway and into the backstage area. Knitwear was abundant – over half the collection was constructed from knit fabrics – culminating in colourful woven knits reminiscent of shag-pile 1970s carpets or balls of yarn. ‘A sense of plainness, and calm, that is not so plain, not so calm,’ said the collection notes. Or, in Anderson’s words: ‘it is what it is.’ 

Prada 

‘Fluid interruptions’ was how Prada described the sheets of slime which began to drip, Alien-like along the stainless steel runway as the house’s latest menswear show began. Such a juxtaposition – the stark, sci-fi-like perfection of the space interrupted by oozing goo that pooled into green mounds on the floor – spoke to the central idea of the collection, which was a musing on restriction and fluidity. Titled ‘Fluid Forms’, Prada called it ‘an examination of fluid architecture around the human body’.

The season began, said co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, with the archetypal men’s white shirt. ‘We start with the white shirt – the most simple. And from that base, from a base of the most basic and normal, you can do whatever you like. It allows transformation, and individuality,’ said the former. It marked a shift, she noted, from recent seasons, where the pair have sought to reduce a garment to its essence. ‘Here, from something simple, we expand. Life and understanding of life is so complex – simplicity can be too simple. We were interested rather in this elaboration, in this expansion.’

So the pair sought to apply the white shirt’s feeling of ‘lightness, ease and comfort’ across the collection. It began with tailoring, which took the severe, masculine silhouette of the 1940s – narrow-waisted, wide across the shoulder – and reimagined it in ultra-fine fabrics as a riposte to restriction. ‘If you look at the tailoring in the show, it is a classicist man’s suit, but when you actually see it, it feels completely different. It allows the body, which is always in movement and always in transformation, to feel free,’ said Simons. ‘We were thinking a lot about the body – to give freedom to the body, even if our interest is to show references to archetypes and architecture in fashion, which is usually restrictive.’

It led to what Mrs Prada called a musing on ‘the individuality of people, and therefore about an individuality of thinking’, expanding outwards from the simplicity of the inspiration towards vivid expressions of colour and print – shirts bloomed with appliqué flowers, others were decorated by fringing, while classic polo knits sprouted faux fur along the seams and lightweight anoraks arrived in an array of Prada-esque hues. As the designer noted after the show, despite its influence, the white shirt itself ‘disappeared’ entirely from the collection. ‘Sophistication of thoughts, allow a reconsideration of simple things,’ she said.

Tod’s

Presented in the lush gardens of Villa Necchi Campiglio, the Piero Portaluppi-designed home perhaps best known for its starring role in Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love, Tod’s latest collection reflected the sun-soaked ease of its surroundings. Rooted in Tod’s history of craftsmanship – ‘Italian craftsmanship and the excellent quality are the protagonists of the collection,’ said the notes – pieces spanned easy, casual tailoring in tones of tan and ecru, buttery leather shirts, and relaxed riffs on the varsity jacket. The classic Tod’s ‘Gommino’, the brand’s signature slip-on driving shoe, appeared throughout the presentation, while moccasins, tasseled slip-ons, and new versions of the ‘Tab’ sneaker completed the footwear offering for the season.

Etro

‘How does a book collecting anonymous depictions of allegories, found by pure chance in an old bookstore in the city of Messina, relate to the present moment, and to fashion making in particular?’ began the collection notes for Marco de Vincenzo’s latest menswear outing at Etro. The discovery of a 17th-century tome by Cesar Ripa – filled with allegorical images ‘depicting virtues, qualities and vices’ – provided the inspiration for a richly crafted collection. The link to the present day? The way that such allegorical images were the Renaissance-era equivalent of modern-day Gifs and TikToks. Getting dressed, said De Vincenzo, is a similarly symbolic gesture – the subtle meanings behind our choices of clothing, how fashion itself is an act of ‘make believe’. Esoteric explanations beside, the collection was an expansive demonstration of De Vincenzo’s intuitive and eclectic vision for the house, shifting between fluid, bohemian elements – blanket-like coats, elongated cardigans, shimmering printed shirts – and Renaissance-inflected motifs, courtesy of Ripa, which decorated playful football-style jerseys.

Magliano

Luca Magliano was the recipient of the Karl Lagerfeld Award at this year’s LVMH Prize, a nod of recognition that speaks to the growing buzz – and intrigue – surrounding the Bologna-based designer at Milan Fashion Week. On Sunday morning, he staged his first-ever runway show; building site-style metal fences and white tarpaulins surrounded the elevated catwalk, a suggestion that Magliano is still a work in progress. ‘For the first time, a proper runway works as a sincere invitation: “come see us”,’ read the accompanying notes, with various garments in the collection offering slogans of ‘prayers, epigraphs and thanksgivings’ (16th-century nun Teresa of Ávila was quoted on the press release). 

The collection itself continued Magliano’s deft plays on everyday garments – warped in proportion, dishevelled and undone, but nonetheless imbued with a feeling of elegance. Deconstructed overalls, bombers and windbreakers were reshaped into what Magliano called ‘a wretched couture’, while glimmers of crystal and delicate marabou-style boas spoke of lost glamour. The deep-thinking designer said that Italian writer Alda Merini was this season’s patron saint; in her intense, passionate writings she made sacred moments of the everyday, a reflection of Magliano’s own desire to transform the quotidian. 

Emporio Armani

A vast recreation of the Chinese ginkgo tree provided the backdrop to Giorgio Armani’s latest Emporio collection, chosen for its ‘elegance and endurance’ – an apt metaphor for the collection itself, which the house said was ‘a return to the essence of Emporio Armani, purified to the core and seen through the filter of moonlight’. Drawing inspiration from world travel – silhouettes referenced at once Italian sartorialism and the ease and construction of traditional Chinese dress – the comprehensive collection spanned louche tailoring and diaphanous sheer and silk shirts (notes described ‘liquid lines that barely touch the muscles’), an array of tunic-style silhouettes, and sportier cuts, like a voluminous wide-legged trouser with sweatband-style waistband. The show ended with the news that Mr Armani has created team Italy’s kit for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the designer joined on the runway by a series of athletes in the kit, each one wielding the Italian flag.

Dolce & Gabbana

‘Respect for identity, for an imagery that has been created over time,’ described the collection notes for Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s latest collection, which was part of a continuing attempt – at both the house’s menswear and womenswear collections – to return to the distinct essence of Dolce & Gabbana and the pieces with which it is most synonymous (‘the tank-top, the coppola, the rosary, the black, the jacket, Sicily’, said the house). As such, the collection was titled ‘Style’ – a reference to the rejection of ephemeral trends towards something more timeless – comprising elegant black tailoring (with occasional moments of brown, camel and white), narrow at the waist and flaring towards a wider, voluminous trouser. Other continuing motifs were a series of wrapped silhouettes, fabric looping sensually around the body, or continuing plays on exposure and transparency (from diaphanous sheer organza to lace pyjama-style tailoring). Moments of embellishment showed off the savoir-faire of the Dolce & Gabbana atelier; notably, a series of delicate flowers which hovered over jackets and shirts. 

MSGM

Titled ‘Sogno Off Road’, Massimo Giorgetti’s latest collection was inspired by a recent trip to Tanzania. Memories of the country infused the collection with a feeling of wanderlust – vests were decorated with images of sunrises and sunsets (the photographs had been taken by Giorgetti using his iPhone on his travels), oversized utility jackets and cargo pants riffed on safari wear, while textures and colours were drawn from the distinct landscapes of the east African country (from earthy hues of sand, brown and green to vivid blues and oranges inspired by sky and sun). Giorgetti said that he wanted the collection – perhaps his tightest menswear outing in recent seasons – to feel like the moment of promise when the sun rises, ‘illuminating uncharted lands [and] heralding the dawn of a new day’.

Gucci

Gucci’s latest menswear collection – which will mark the last created by the in-house design team before the debut of new creative director Sabato De Sarno – looked towards the ‘iconography’ of the house for an exercise in ‘adaption, deconstruction and reconstruction’. Namely, the house’s signature ’Horsebit’ loafer, introduced by Aldo Gucci in 1953 and featuring a miniature metal clamp like those found on a horse’s bridle. Since, it has become one of the house’s most recognisable emblems appearing across clothing, handbags, and shoes; as such, a special event to coincide with the menswear collection saw Milan-based curator and creative director Alessio Ascari gather several artists at the Spazio Maiocchi to reinterpret the style. These included photographer Charlie Engman, multi-media artist Harry Nuriev and designer Gyuhan Lee, each creating vivid ’rooms’ in a surreal country club playfully titled the ‘Gucci Horsebeat Society‘ (the exhibition will be open to the public from 17-18 June 2023). The collection itself flickered across screens in the space, comprising what the house called its take on a ’classic men’s wardrobe’ spanning louche wide-leg tailoring, oversized embroidered denim and sportier short sets featuring Gucci emblems – from the horsebit (here as a digital print on an oversized shirt) to the house’s signature GG boucle.

Valentino

The invitation for the Valentino show was a special copy of Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 novel A Little Life, a sprawling exploration of male friendship in New York City. Marking the Roman house’s return to the menswear schedule – recent seasons have seen the house present co-ed offerings – and also to Milan, where Valentino Garavani staged the first Valentino menswear show in 1985, the novel proved an apt counterpoint to a collection that creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli said was an attempt to ‘redefine an identity of men, to re-examine a meaning of masculinity’. Held in the courtyard of Milan’s Università Statale di Milano against a live soundtrack from New York musician D4vd, the poetic offering combined sartorial elegance – much of the collection focused on tailoring, gently oversized or elongated – with romantic flourishes, from blooming floral prints to quotes from Yanagihara’s novel printed on bags and shirts (’we are so old, we have become young again’, was one such slogan). Piccioli also noted a feeling of fragility in the collection, referencing the Japanese concept of ‘kintsugi’ (’golden seams’), which denotes the power of imperfection and repair. ‘A strength can be found in fragility, a power in gentleness, a perfection in imperfection,’ he said via the collection notes, likening it to his desire to reconsider ‘the life of men, the life of their clothes, the reality of masculinity now’.

Order resumed in Milano last week (18 – 23 April) as Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week returned to their spring calendar slot, the queues as long as the sun was hot. With the intersection between fashion, craft and architecture an ever-increasing sweet spot for brands to flex their collaborative muscle, the fashion industry was also out in force to celebrate it.

Bottega Veneta enlisted the esteemed Gaetano Pesce – its recent show-set collaborator – to take over its Via Montenapoleone store with a draped-resin grotto; Dior invited Philippe Starck to expand on his inaugural 2022 ode to the world of couture; Giorgio Armani opened up his exquisite Via Borgonuovo HQ for the first time to the public; and Etro revealed the fruits of creative director Marco di Vincenzo’s Insta-affinity with the artist Amy Lincoln.

Here, in our comprehensive round-up, the Wallpaper* edit of the best fashion moments at Milan Design Week 2023. 

Best of: fashion brands at Milan Design Week 2023

Fendi Casa

Fendi Casa pulled out the stops for Salone this year as it unveiled nearly a dozen new designs riffing off its distinctive DNA that fuses an intangible cosiness into its elegant compositions. Alongside additions to its Toan Nguyen-designed ‘Totu’ collection, the new ‘Peekasit’ sofa and ‘Blow Up’ modular seating designed by Gabriele Chiave, the ‘Taiko’ sofa designed by Piero Lissoni, the ‘Icaro Table’ by Dimorestudio, the ‘Ottavia’ chairs by Cristina Celestino, and two new carpets, came the Louis Poulsen collaboration that got everyone talking. The legendary Dane’s ‘Artichoke ’pendant lamp was reimagined in metal featuring the Fendi logo and in yellow glass, evoking the shade so synonymous with the Roman fashion house. Joining them, the ‘PH’ floor light and ‘PH’ table lamp were Fendi-fied with a golden bronze finish and yellow diffuser. Presented with a buzzing cocktail in the brand’s Piazza della Scala flagship, the Dutch designer Joost van Bleiswijk recreated the Roman arches of Fendi’s Eternal City HQ for the window display. ‘The flexibility of the elements conveys a sense of elegance and beauty,’ says Bleiswijk. ‘It’s my homage to a company that embodies the same qualities.’

Jimmy Choo

Both revered for their respective brands’ contours and handmade craft, Jimmy Choo creative director Sandra Choi and Venini art director Marco Piva put their heads together to craft four new vases inspired by the shoe brand’s diamond chain incorporating the Murano glass experts’ Poliedro model. ‘Having the opportunity to work with Marco Piva reinforces our commitment to the highest quality of materials, Italian craftsmanship, blended with timeless design,’ Choi told Wallpaper*. ‘The diamond is key for Jimmy Choo due to its multifaceted nature, with its power to bring light, transform and shine bright. Through our collaboration we can now bring this joy and optimism into people's home or workspace.’ Hand crafted at Venini’s prestigious Murano factory, the vases took pride of place at Jimmy Choo’s Via Sant Andrea in Milano, refracting the light in dark and light green as well as yellow and amber.

Stone Island

Series 7 of Stone Island’s Prototype Research Series unveiled a thermochromic technology that saw nylon-canvas coated with ‘helical-shaped cholesteric liquid crystals ink’ that reacts to an increase in temperature by becoming multiple variations of iridescent surface decoration. Coined ‘Liquid Crystal Heat Reactive’, the material innovation has been tested between 15 and 21 degrees celsius which delivers a spectrum of shades that take a black base at room temperature, to yellow to green to (with a little more heat) blue. As always, the collection of garments was made in an extremely limited edition of 100 pieces, which are more likely to be admired than worn – but that is also the point. Developed at the brand’s own R&D hub in collaboration with the British design duo and textile specialists Sara + Sarah, Stone Island’s material experimentation is paving the way for a new perspective on how we engage with the materials that we wear and which surround us.

Fila

Celebrating 50 years of its iconic ‘F-box’ logo, Fila employed AI to interpret it into what it called ‘a vector of facts and images, to create a visual and auditory experience’. Launched in the tunnels on Via Sammartini, the installation – entitled ‘Reading The Fila F-Box: The AI Experience’ – looked to the brand’s rich sporting past that Enrico Frachey, Pierluigi Rolando and Sergio Privitera incepted back in 1973 to break down the logo that has become subliminally associated with everything from ski slopes and mountaineering to the whites of Wimbledon. The idea behind morphing the logo, relayed the brand, was to highlight its constant reinvention and relevance, ‘a symbol of innovation and endless change, but also of balance’.

Valextra

As an ode to its engineering foundations, Valextra worked with London-based design studio Isabel + Helen to create a kinetic installation showcasing its time-honed tools and techniques. Staged in the brand’s John Pawson-designed Via Manzoni flagship, ‘The Rhythm of Valextra’ comprises a circular construction featuring the brushes used to hand paint the distinctive black lacquered ‘Costa’ edging that frames every bag, the scissors that cut its leather and the patented twist-lock clasp of its best-selling ‘Iside’ handbag. In doing so, the brand returns its tools to the atelier in homage to its very first boutique on Piazza San Babila whereby its showroom and shop existed in the same space, presenting its process and product side by side. ‘The full sculpture represents each step of making a Valextra bag, tiered to show the stages, with the final piece coming together on the top layer,’ say the designers, Isabel Gibson and Helen Chesner. ‘The circular tiers create infinite cycles of the different processes, each repeated when the next bag is made. It’s a rhythmic visual production line of sorts.’

Versace

From Versace, the ‘Zensational’ sofa, a perfect portmanteau perfect for a brand entirely comfortable being nothing but fabulous. Launched in a theatrical 500 sq m black box at the Salone fair complete with backlit silk-crepe panels to bring extra drama, the geometric modular seat features the brand’s swirled hallmarks and Medusa head adornment and arrives in crocodile-embossed leather, as well as Baroque-print jacquard. Designed in collaboration with the contemporary architects Roberto Palomba and Ludovica Serafini from PS+A Studio, it is joined by the ‘Discovery’ sofa, table and chair (high-octane extensions of the brand’s ‘Stiletto’ and ‘La Greca’ lines) and the new ‘Goddess’ LED table lamps and ‘Galaxy’ chandelier. The latter features opalescent and gilded spheres and is embossed with the Versace Medusa-head logo.

Hermès

Hermès opted to go minimal in Milan, taking over La Pelota with an iron rod and concrete framework which was engineered to deliberately spurn excess. Inside this gridwork came a collection that riffed on the house’s equestrian motifs, presenting simplicity in the most sublime of ways. The Hermès blankets, crafted from cashmere plaid, were inspired by the house’s archives, resembling a patchwork of the silk scarves worn by jockeys; the Cordélie Arçon rugs depicted fence poles and racetracks, achieved by placing hand stitching woven cord onto linen; porcelain tableware presented freehand illustrations by the artist Jochen Gerner in felt-tip pens; the ‘Contour d’Hermès’ sofa was upholstered in wool and cotton slub canvas with red leather piping; and the ‘Conservatoire’ chair, first introduced by the brand in the 1930s, reappeared in new slimline proportions, as conceived through the lens of Jasper Morrison. For the opening night, a group from contemporary performance artists CND (Centre National de la Danse) light–stepped it around the installation, emphasising Hermès’ message of ‘natural vigour’.

Loro Piana 

The ancient Andean tradition and art of Apachetas found new resting places at Loro Piana’s Milan HQ as Argentinian designer and artist Cristián Mohaded evoked their majesty and strength in 12 towering eight-metre structures wrapped in the house’s archival interiors fabrics. The tradition for creating these spontaneous monuments comes from travellers crossing vast expanses who would pile stones on top of the other as an ode to the Pachamama, Mother Earth. Here, positioned between Mohaded’s new furniture collection derived from the same stimulus, they symbolised the precious nature of raw materials transformed into items of desire and the importance of preservation. Comprising a sofa, armchairs, a bench, a stool and side tables, the asymmetric collection is crafted from chiselled wood and  covered in alpaca suri and wool, undyed raw cashmere, silk velvet and vicuña, the latter also sourced from the province of Catamarca, in the north-west of Argentina where Mohaded was born. Mohaded described it as ‘a unique, dreamy landscape that defies the imagination of each one of those traveling souls, who travel and meet those monumental contractions in the form of towers, alive with color and memory of a living land’. The sentiment was mirrored throughout Fuorisalone, as Mohaded’s Apachetas also popped up at the crossroads of the Brera Botanical Garden in Piazzetta Brera and in the courtyard of the store’s Via Montenapoleone flagship. 

Tod’s

First stop Salone, next stop the world; Tod’s unveiled its collaboration with photographer Tim Walker (‘Tim Walker – The Art of Craftsmanship’) at Le Cavallerizze Museo Nazionale Della Scienza E Della Tecnologia for design week before travelling on to a multi-destination tour. In celebrating the handmade in Italy craftsmanship for which the brand is famed and presenting it through Walker’s trademark fantastical lens, Tod’s CEO Diego Della Valle initiated the project in the hope it will attract more young people to start a career in crafts. ‘They have to understand that craftsmanship is a noble [endeavor] and it makes you free because you can do something with your hands,’ he says. ‘Tim gives us the opportunity to understand this very well [in combining] irony humour and craftsmanship.’ For the project, Walker travelled to  Tod’s HQ to see the factory operations in action before choosing key tools and signature items to replicate supersize and shoot in his trademark whimsical way using friends of the brand as models. The result is the hand touch on a super-sized scale. ‘You can see so much happiness in these pictures and there's also encouragement to young people to become craftsmen so to fall in love with this art,’ smiled Delle Valle. 

Plan C

Plan C founder and creative director Carolina Castiglione kept her Salone project in the family, presenting a series of seven resin sculptures modelled on her children, Margherita and Filipo, at the beach and beyond, as well as a self-portrait from the perspective of herself in her rear-view mirror. Realised by the sculptor Livio Caiulo, the sculptures form the springboard for the abstract patterns that have been replicated on Castiglione’s signature block-colour mohair intarsia sweaters and sequinned skirts that accompanied the installation at the Galleria Il Vicolo, just around the corner from Corso Como. The project also saw Castiglione collaborate with the French homeware brand Trame Paris, with whom she worked to design the handwoven wool rugs crafted by artisans in Morocco, their designs again taking inspiration from the motifs of Caiulo’s models. Working and experimenting with proportions, the project combines Castiglione’s love of a multidisciplinary approach. ‘I love designing fashion collections, but at the same time opening to different fields, like visual art and design, give me bigger chances to fully express myself,’ she says. ‘This has always been a key element of my career and I think in the future this will strongly influence the further development of the Plan C brand.’

Brioni

Brioni’s newly reopened Milan flagship came to life at Salone as the rich textile heritage of MITA (Manifattura Italiana Tappeti Artistici) fused with design director Norbert Stumpfl’s impeccable vision of modern luxury craftsmanship to create a celebration of Italy’s finest creativity. The two brands have been collaborators since 2019 when Brioni started to incorporate works, old and new, from MITA into its boutiques around the world to share local touch points for Italy’s most esteemed artists and their works. Here, archival sketches, including Gio Ponti’s 1935 sketch for his ‘Seggioline’ carpet, were presented alongside Enrico Paulucci’s 1952 ‘Alberi’ and Eugenio Carmi’s 1954 ‘Astrazione’. Conceived to present the two brand’s ‘shared spirit of slow luxury’, it contexualised the continued inimitable influence of Italian design and its enduring relevance.

A-POC Able Issey Miyake

As ever pushing the limits on material innovation, head of A-POC Able Issey Miyake, Yoshiyuki Miyamae, enlisted the design company Nature Architects Inc to incorporate its function-oriented design algorithms DFM (Direct Functional Modelling) which is based on metamaterials (materials comprising elements not found in nature) with Issey Miyake’s own groundbreaking ‘Steam Stretch’ technology. Presenting the fruits of their collaboration alongside architects Taisuke Oshima and Kai Suto at the brand’s Via Bagutta flagship, Miyamae spoke to the importance of collaboration between different interdisciplinary worlds in order to ‘bring about clothing for the next generation’. If their project is scaled, we can expect shapeshifting materials based on the principles of origami that transform from a piece of flat material into a perfectly spherical 3D shape with integrity that will inform not only the future of our clothes but that of domestic design in spearheading architecture. For Salone, the team showed prototypes that included lighting fixtures and skyscrapers – with talk of taking it into the automotive industry and eventually space. It is important, says Miyamae, ‘to think about the possibility of applications. Of course it is important to preserve [tradition], but we are more interested in developing traditions into future materials.’

Loewe

Paper, twine, shearling, leather, emergency insulating foil: Jonathan Anderson’s beloved Welsh stick chairs got a serious makeover for the ‘Loewe Chairs’ installation at Palazzo Isimbardi. Comprising 30 designs (22 of which were sourced from antique dealers and the remaining eight made new for the event), the project brought together expert artisans from both within the Loewe fold and around the world to transform the chair from something humble into something more haute. An avid collector of the stick chair himself, Anderson holds the project close to his heart. ‘I’ve always been obsessed by them; I think they're just such incredible pieces of design,’ he told Wallpaper*. ‘I was like, “Well, how can we take them and use them as a canvas and then fuse the past and the present?” There’s nothing more emotional that when you sit on something or you use something, because it’s about how we interact with something.’ 

All 30 chairs are for sale, with many already boasting a red sticker by midway through the opening-night cocktail. Not for sale (disappointingly, to many) were the stone structures forming the centrepiece of the Salone presentation. Originally used to form the foundation of traditional Spanish granaries the ‘hórreos’ are each different shape depending on the region from which they came. Here, mushroom caps transformed them into toadstools, another emblem from Anderson’s repertoire, this time his childhood stationery. 

Missoni

Bringing together Missoni and panettone, two of Lombardy’s most celebrated global exports, was always going to mean a good time at Salone. Missoni Home creative director Alberto Caliri looked to the famous confection to introduce a new shape to the brand’s repertoire – and threw in some doughnuts for good measure. ‘The idea is to work with simple shapes and remember a young, happy life,’ says the designer of the ‘Ciambellone’ and oscillating ‘Panettone’ poufs (all of which were fully occupied by enthusiastic guests). ‘The doughnuts and the panettone are normal to see in Milano,’ he says, adding that he wants to bring ‘a bit of magic to the concrete’. The structures themselves were covered in the house’s signature zigzag jacquards, multicoloured towelling, all-over mirrored mosaic, lacquered resins, and the house’s new motif, the ‘Nastri’ fabric. Comprising six colour variations that combine to create a 3D effect, it stretched from the seating to the new ‘Nastri’ tableware collection, also unveiled this Salone and just as much a joy to behold

Armani / Casa

To say the enthusiasm for Giorgio Armani opening his Palazzo Orsini HQ to the public for the first time was palpable would be something of an understatement: the Via Borgonuovo venue counted 1,000 visitors in the first two-and-a-half hours of opening on Tuesday (18 April 2023). They were there to see Armani/Casa’s first ever outdoor collection, a compilation of the ‘Terence’ sofa, the ‘Timothy’ sunlounger, the ’Thomas’ dining table, the ’Turner’ and ‘Terry’ side tables and the ‘Thelma’ folding director’s chair. Carved from teak using a technique that resembles traditional wicker furniture and finished with the multidimensional jacquards for which Armani/Casa is famed, they were positioned in the magical palazzo gardens reached through the porticoes of the 17th-century courtyard. Upstairs at the Palazzo, guests were welcomed into the Appiani-frescoed rooms usually used for haute couture fittings, an apt space to unveil the ‘Antoinette’ dressing table and ‘Camilla’ desk in their new mother-of-pearl renderings. The collection was finished off with the accessories so beloved of the house. This year, tarot cards featuring Armani-clad models and mirrored castanet key rings delivered the annual dose of witty insouciance. 

Prada

For the second year in a row, Miuccia Prada asked design agency Formafantasma to curate Prada Frames, a symposium that invites the brilliant minds of architects, doctors, designers, psychologists, anthropologists, activists and experts in multiple fields to share their research on the relationship between design and the environment. This year, the theme was ‘Materials in Flux’, where the subject of waste – its origins, its value chain, and its transformative properties – was unpacked in an interrogation of its complexities. Using as a springboard the work of British anthropologist Tim Ingold and his findings that materials are endlessly evolving entities, the man himself kicked off proceedings at the Laveni and Avati-designed Teatro Filodrammatici – with 1960s interiors by Luigi Caccia Dominioni – introducing waste as matter in constant transformation. In the following sessions, waste as a lifeline in global material flows and its role in value systems as well as design was further evaluated and explored.  

Dior

To the Palazzo Citterio, where Philippe Starck presented the next verse in his annual ode to Monsieur Dior and the house’s famous ‘Medallion’ chair. This year, Dior by Starck riffed on the ‘Miss Dior’ chair the designer created for last year’s outing with the ‘Miss Dior Sweet Chair’ and the ‘Monsieur Dior’ armchair which he described as being ‘perfectly balanced through these essential notions of gravity and lightness, of yin and yang’. Presented in aluminium, pink, black and fluorescent orange toile de Jouy, the notion came to life with a circular sculptural installation devised in collaboration with Soundwalk Collective that saw the chairs rise and fall in opposing directions as if weightless puppetry. ‘Miss Dior and Monsieur Dior, Catherine and Christian Dior, the sister and the brother, the chair and the armchair, is the story of a sublime complementary duality,’ Starck says of his stimulus. To complete the family, occasional tables and stools were presented, also sculpted and finessed from aluminium. ‘Aluminium is the point zero from which everything is built, the idea of intelligence and purity of technology,’ says Starck. ‘The object as it is in its origin, its essence, without any dross.’

Bottega Veneta

As if Bottega Veneta’s Summer 2023 fashion show wasn’t already one for the history books – that leather lumberjack shirt, those calfskin jeans – its set design collaboration with design maestro Gaetano Pesce, has been immortalised with the duo’s Milan Design Week tie-up. Taking over the house’s entire Via Montenapoleone boutique, Pesce and his team were given creative carte blanche to construct a huge scaffold structure, under which they draped hand-painted canvas, sprayed it in situ with resin, and back-lit it so it became an immersive grotto. Entitled ‘Vieni a Vedere’, meaning ‘come and see’, it draws guests along a womb-like corridor, where Pesce’s first handbags (two extremely limited editions inspired by memories of two mountains meeting in his childhood) are born to the world.

Etro

Many an auspicious friendship has been made on Instagram by Marco de Vincenzo, Etro’s creative director. ‘It’s special, because you can find someone who is doing what's in your mind in a different way and it’s an authentic way to connect,’ he tells Wallpaper. A year into his helm at the Italian house famed for its paisley prints and luscious textiles, his recent scrolling saw him land on the page of New York-based painter Amy Lincoln. Drawn to her hypnotic dreamscapes, the designer asked her to work on six tapestry-inspired blankets for their collaboration ‘Woven Spectrum’, presented this week in the brand’s Brera boutique where every inch of every wall is covered in Lincoln’s brushstrokes. Describing their meeting as serendipitous, the pair talked of the positive tension between their mediums that helps ground their work. ‘If I focus too much on fashion, it means business, so sometimes to lose control and to look at something differently, reminds you that fashion is art,’ smiles de Vincenzo. ‘It's important as an artist to not be too influenced by market forces,’ adds Lincoln. ‘I think you want to be able to make enough money to actually live as an artist and be able to make your art, but you also need to make what you feel most connected to and what feels most important.’

Zegna

Zegna took the opportunity at Salone to launch its new Zegna X service it has created in collaboration with Microsoft. A state-of-the-art update to its already wildly popular made-to-measure service, a new 3D style generator will gather customers’ and clients’ personal style requirements to generate billions of personalised configurations of luxury leisurewear – 49 billion to be exact. ‘The most expensive thing we have today in our life is time and we have huge customers with amazing wallets and willingness to buy, they just do not have the time to do so,’ said chief marketing and sustainability officer Edoardo Zegna. Available in-store in Milan, next year the plan is to roll it out online so people can be their own armchair stylists. For artistic director Alessandro Sartori, the technology is a complement to the traditional tailoring he and the house are famed for. ‘It’s giving me more options and information to play with of course,’ he said. ‘Before, we had good information, but not at this level.’

Stay tuned for more fashion moments at Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2023.

Milan Fashion Week A/W 2023 took place this past week (21 – 27 February) in the Italian city synonymous with style, spanning over 50 physical shows – including the usual big-ticket draws, among them Prada, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Bottega Veneta, among others. The latter marked the third outing from French-Belgian creative director Matthieu Blazy – his previous two collections have seen near-unanimous critical acclaim – while British designer Maximilian Davis showed a sophomore collection for Ferragamo after his lauded debut at the house in September 2022. Meanwhile, a growing cohort of fresh talent in the city came courtesy of Andreadamo, Durazzi Milano, and Japanese designer Tomo Koizumi, who showed with the support of Dolce & Gabbana on Sunday morning (26 February).

‘This season, once again, we offer a rich programme of activities that confirm Milan’s leading role in the global fashion scene,’ said Carlo Capasa, chairman of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, which ran over the week and also hosted a dedicated Fashion Hub with a programme of events celebrating innovation in the industry. ‘2023 presents itself as a year characterised by a series of complexities that our industry [will] be able to transform into opportunities for growth and change. I believe that Milano Fashion Week will be able to best amplify the positive energy of our great brands.’

Here, in our round-up, the best of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2023.

Milan Fashion Week A/W 2023: the highlights

Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani continued a career-long exploration of beauty with a collection which began by thinking about the application of make-up. ‘Maquillage is always an intimate, personal moment,’ the house noted, likening this feeling of intimacy to being within the compact Armani showspace at Via Borgonuovo 21. ‘It feels like a living room, a place for dialogue and socialising, and the wardrobe that accompanies this idea of gentle domesticity is fluid and sublime.’ So followed a collection of languid glamour – silk dresses which recalled pyjamas in their fluidity, trousers cut with generous proportions, while other garments evoked interiors in the richness of texture and embellishment, from swathes of velvet and faux fur to beading and fringing. Colours, meanwhile, were reminiscent of make-up – a ‘cosmic palette’, the house described, comprising earthy bronze, ‘powder’ and a shade of ‘kajal’ black like kohl eyeliner. To close the show, a model brandished an Armani compact and sponge, reapplying make-up as she walked the runway. ‘An enveloping and personal vision that suggests intimacy as an antidote to theatrical excess,’ said the house.

Bottega Veneta

‘The alchemy of the street,’ described French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy of the inspiration for his third collection for Bottega Veneta, the final part of a trilogy of shows titled ‘Italia’, celebrating the vibrancy and multiplicities of the country’s people, traditions and craft. A ‘cacophony’ of influences informed this latest outing, conjuring the idea of a ‘parade’ in the carpeted show space – a place where ‘techniques, motifs, characters and creatures from the past travel through space and time to speak to the present and the future’, the notes elucidated. The expansiveness of Blazy’s project was perhaps best symbolised in the statues which decorated the show space: a pair of Roman bronze runners from 1BC and a 1913 figure in movement by Italian futurist Umberto Boccioni titled Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. Just metres apart, there were nearly two millennia between them and a chasm in aesthetic style – yet both were symbolic of a feeling of dynamism and movement; figures on the march. (Bottega Veneta has said the sculptures will remain on view at the space for local students in the days following the show.) 

A similar feeling of expansiveness and movement was encapsulated in the collection itself, which spanned 81 looks and rushed past attendees as the models marched at speed. Blazy said that he didn’t edit the collection but rather added a new ‘character’ when it came to mind; as such, the collection began with riffs on nightwear as if models were rising from bed at the start of a day – like a white chemise and socks, the latter appearing knitted but in fact crafted from intricately woven leather, or a ‘flannel’ pyjama set made entirely from napa leather. A multitude of garments followed – impossible to begin to summarise – spanning Blazy’s magical riffs on the quotidian (paper shopping bags recrafted in leather, a pair of men’s trousers which looped around the foot with stirrups, a broad array of exquisitely tailored jackets and overcoats) and elegant takes on eveningwear, like one particularly arresting red dress with a padded neckline and the suggestion of panniers on the waist. Blazy likened it to ‘Exquisite Corpse’, a parlour game beloved by the surrealists whereby each participant draws on a piece of paper in turn, without seeing what has come before. When unfolded, a magical new figure emerges from the paper. 

Magic and alchemy; the transmutation of metal to gold – the brilliance of Blazy is his ability to raise the banal into extraordinary expressions of style and craft, which always returns to the simplicity of observing people on the street. ‘A procession, a strange carnival, a crowd of people from anywhere and everywhere and yet somehow, they all fit and go in the same direction,’ said Blazy. ‘I wanted to look at what makes people gather together in a place without hierarchy, where everyone is invited.’

Dolce & Gabbana

High-octane sensuality has been a defining facet of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s collections since their eponymous brand’s inception in 1985, a mood continued with their latest offering, which looked back to a 1992 ‘Belle du Jour’ collection (recent seasons have seen the designers return to their archives, in part due to the growing resurgence of the 1990s more widely in fashion). Transparent layers appeared throughout the primarily black collection – whether chiffon negligee-style gowns or the swathes of intricately crafted lace – which was titled ‘Sensuale’. ‘Sensuality is an important aspect of femininity that has nothing to do with being sexy,’ they said. ‘Sensuality is intrinsically connected to an inner experience that makes women spontaneous and natural… free of any fabrication.’ A series of jackets provided a more covered-up contrast: whether nipped-waist tuxedo-style jackets with wide satin lapels, or expansive overcoats with fronds of feathers around the neck. Seductive flashes of red also featured, including a glimmering bejewelled red gown worn by Anok Yai to close the show – a design reflected in the outfit of last season’s collaborator, Kim Kardashian, who this time watched on from the front row.

MSGM

Massimo Giorgetti chose the title ‘The Ultimate Illusion’ for an A/W 2023 collection he described as ‘an infinite journey, a dream within a dream’ (a line from Edgar Allen Poe’s 1949 poem A Dream Within A Dream was quoted on the collection notes). Presented in an expansive white square space – something of a blank canvas, as the notes described – Giorgetti’s vision for the season was one of heady vibrancy, with broad strokes of colour (among them shades of mauve, pink, electric yellow and emerald) interrupting the sparseness of the setting like a hallucination. Indeed, Giorgetti mentioned the influence of psychedelia, here figured in a mash-up of textures, and print – from faux-fur hats, handbags and jackets to an array of twisted floral and landscape motifs, as well as shimmering swathes of sequins that gave the appearance of a mirrorball (The Chemical Brothers, meanwhile, provided the soundtrack). ‘What the eyes can see, the mind believes,’ concluded the brand.

Ferragamo

British designer Maximilian Davis continued to hone his vision at Ferragamo with an accomplished sophomore collection presented in the vast MiCo convention centre, here transformed with monolithic curving walls around which attendees sat. It was a fittingly cinematic setting for a collection that Davis said continued his exploration of Hollywood – Salvatore Ferragamo famously was shoemaker to Golden Age actresses like Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren – with sleekly elegant garments that signalled a distilling of his house codes. Loren and Monroe provided the inspiration of sorts, with Davis noting that he looked to twist their hyper-feminine appearance to set the blueprint for a more futuristic vision of beauty he deemed ‘alien futurism’. ‘I was interested in using their glamour and beauty, and their way of dressing, as a reference, but looking at how we could make it feel modern for today,’ he said. As such, midcentury silhouettes were subtly subverted in Davis’ precise style: a Ferragamo-red suit was gently nipped at the waist, a classic overcoat flared at the back, while a 1950s cocoon cut – drawn from historic couture silhouettes – was applied to contemporary bomber jackets and shirts. Subversion came too in elements of slicing – a men’s black tailored jacket was cut across the front to reveal flashes of red – while shimmering lamé dresses had a futuristic air. ‘This is my take on what people from the 1950s would think of the future: alienated metallics and high shine,’ said the designer. 

Ferrari

During his tenure so far, Rocco Iannone has translated elements from Ferrari’s rich history of carmaking into sleek, contemporary collections; this season, he referenced the idea of acceleration and speed. ‘Beauty is the pleasure that derives from speed, captured in its initial burst, in its full symbolic and design potential,’ the designer elucidated, noting that the collection was a vision of style that ‘transitions, changes [and] accelerates’. In the garments themselves, this meant a series of shifts in focus, from riffs on workwear – reminiscent of garments linked to Formula 1 and the automobile, like the boiler suit – to body-skimming technical knitwear, broad technical outerwear, and acid-wash denim. Details included the Ferrari emblem reimagined as earrings adorned with hanging pearls and sleek, high-shine visor sunglasses, the finishing touches to this season’s go-faster look.

Jil Sander

Lucie and Luke Meier told Wallpaper* to expect the unexpected of their latest collection, which represented a new mood of eclecticism drawn from formative memories of the 1990s. ‘We were talking about before working [together], before even going to school, and what were the reasons we were attracted to this kind of work and we landed on [this] mid-to-late 1990s mood,’ Luke told Scarlett Conlon in a conversation prior to the show. Music, in particular, was a reference point – from DJ Shadow’s first album Endtroducing….. to the rise of Björk, the latter providing the soundtrack to the show. The collection began with an exploration of the motocross jacket – here reimagined in the designer’s sculptural, clean-lined style and emblazoned with a sporty take on the Jil Sander logo – before moving towards a collection the designers said was created for the ‘individual’, spanning cherry-print tabard tops, minimal riffs on the parka jacket (another 1990s staple), and an array of contrasting textures from fluffy matelassé and mohair to reflective technical polyester. ‘We’re always evolving as people and our ideas are always progressing and are always changing,’ said Luke. ‘Fashion is exhilarating, because it’s a dialogue with what's going on in the world.’

Andreadamo

Andrea Adamo’s latest collection ended with a downpour, seeing models doused with water from a rain machine placed in the centre of the showspace (Adamo recently told Wallpaper* that having grown up by the sea in southern Italy water has a symbolic resonance in his work; last season, models walked through a pool of water which doubled as a runway). The collection itself – which continued his signature sensual, second-skin silhouettes while adding a series of expansive overcoats and raw-edge tailoring – was an emotive tribute to his origins in Crotone, Calabria, where he grew up. ‘As a boy, holding my head high as I walked through the centre of Crotone as if I were in a district of a megalopolis, I was unconsciously beginning to fight against prejudice and common preconceptions in order to be who I wanted to,’ he said. ‘Recklessness is my weapon against fear and the moment of greatest insecurity is also the moment of greatest creativity.’ As such, the collection’s various garments contained traces of this formative period: a jacquard motif recalled the locale’s clay hills, as did cracked leather, while the use of yellow was a tribute to his grandmother Mariacarla, born from ‘thinking of the sunflowers she loved so much and which always remind me of her’.

Gucci

A surreal imagining of an office space or lobby provided the backdrop for Gucci’s latest collection, created by the house’s design team before the debut of Sabato De Sarno next season (he was appointed by the house in January 2023 and will show his first collection in September). The collection notes said the setting was meant to evoke a place of work; as models traversed the space in the lifts (clever trickery saw them board a lift on one side and exit on another) it reflected a movement between departments, ‘how an idea is ignited in the archive, developed in the studio, and brought to life in the atelier, before it finally makes its way to the runway’. The collection itself – one of clarity and confidence, which far exceeded the expectations of such an interim team – began with what the house called a ‘generational exchange’, seeing the various members of the team recall their favourite memories from their time at the house (some of the team had been installed only recently, others had worked there for 20 years or more). It lent the collection an eclectic mood that was largely rooted in the sensual designs of Tom Ford’s tenure at the house, notably in the collection’s body-baring opening look – a model in a bejewelled double-G bra top and black satin skirt – but illuminated by the ‘electrically sumptuous’ colour palette of the 2010s. Sensual layers ran throughout – whether sheer mesh tops, coloured fishnet tights which rose beyond the waistband, or delicate trousers and tops covered in near-transparent paillettes – combined with moments of abundance, like a series of vast coats in colourful faux fur. A soundtrack by Yasmina Dexter, aka Pandora’s Jukebox, added to the electric mood, taking its thumping rhythm from Britney Spears’ hypnotic I’m a Slave 4 U.

Sportmax

A feeling of eclecticism was evident in the Sportmax show space, a formerly industrial building that had been populated with numerous mismatching vintage sofas and chairs which doubled as seating for the guest (styles spanned modernist design icons to chintzy Victorian armchairs). Such a mood was reflected in the collection itself, which the brand called ‘a continuous game of contrasts between bourgeois elegance, primitive chic and glam androgyny’, drawing inspiration from the works of American photographer Peter Hujar, who rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, largely known for his documentation of the city’s Queer subcultures (his friend and lover was seminal artist and activist David Wojnarowicz). The show’s freewheeling combination of looks spanned wide-shouldered tailoring (inspired by zoot suits and teddy boys), slinky 1990s-tinged dresses that tied around the body or were adorned with feathers, and Western-inspired tropes like python-print trousers and squared-toed cowboy boots. ‘I photograph those who push themselves to any extreme… that’s what interests me, and people who cling to the freedom to be themselves,’ Hujar was quoted as saying on the release, a reflection of the collection’s liberatory mood. 

Tod’s

Tod’s creative director Walter Chiapponi once again chose the vast Pirelli HangarBicocca on the outskirts of Milan to show his A/W 2023 collection, the sparse runway weaving its way through Anselm Keifer’s monumental concrete towers (part of a permanent work housed the former Pirelli factory turned art foundation). He also returned to the 1990s-infected ease of his previous S/S 2023 collection, proposing a complete wardrobe of gently refined archetypal pieces – whether a peacoat with pebble-like leather-covered buttons, elongated wool overcoats, or a series of parkas that doubled here as dresses – which recalled the era’s minimalism while highlighting Tod’s extraordinary commitment to craft (‘a collection with a strong identity that combines the high quality of traditional craftsmanship with clean lines and the softness of precious materials’, said the accompanying notes). The house said Chiapponi’s aim was to create ‘iconic, precious pieces’ that will last in the wearer’s wardrobe for decades to come. As for footwear, a new riff on the ballet pump came with strap fastenings that looped around the ankle, its criss-cross fastening reflected in another higher-heeled pump. Together, it made for a confident offering with a notable sense of refinement; a declaration that Chiapponi is more than into his stride.

Blumarine

The industrial showspace for Blumarine’s A/W 2023 collection had been temporarily transformed with mounds of soil and moss, out of which medieval ruins appeared. In the centre, the ‘B’ of the brand’s distinct logo was crafted from metal, lighting up with flames as the show began. It set the stage for Nicola Brognano’s warrior-like woman of the season, a toughened riff on the 2000s-tinged aesthetic that has seen the Calabria-born designer bring new energy to the Italian brand. ‘The Blumarine woman has charisma,’ elucidated the collection notes.  ‘Ready to fight her battles like a passionate heroine out of a medieval tale… a modern Joan of Arc.’ Glamorous riffs on armour came in skintight draped dresses and boots in shiny liquid metallics, while shearling – used across buckle-fastening bustiers and mini skirts, coats and cropped bombers with high collars – exuded what the brand called ‘a bold, forceful vibe... magnetic, majestic, powerful’.

Emporio Armani

The house’s new in-the-round showspace at the Armani Teatro – first debuted at the Emporio Armani menswear show earlier this year – provided an apt setting for a collection that found its roots in the circus (‘The Circus of Life’ was the collection’s titled). ‘Just like an Elizabethan theatre, when staging the everyday, Giorgio Armani consistently suggests clothes that bring out the person, not the character,’ noted Emporio Armani of a collection which infused theatrical elements with an ‘eclectic, urban inflection’. As such, miniature hats sat on models’ heads, twisted velvet flowers provided adornment to jackets and chokers, while swathes of sequins across tailoring and dresses lent a requisite glamour and richness. The designer said the various pieces were tinged with a ‘subtle but evident’ feeling of irony and a ‘palpable’ sense of humour, encapsulated for him in the blown-up photograph of a woman in the throes of laughter, which provided the collection’s backdrop. ‘Just like the theatre,’ said the house, ‘everything comes back around within the ring, with the emergence of an unusual classicism.’

Prada

Finding beauty in the unexpected has long been a defining facet of Miuccia Prada’s tenure at the eponymous house, an exploration which continued yesterday with the designer’s latest collection co-created with Raf Simons. ‘There is the notion in fashion that only glamour is important, I hate that, I have always fought against that,’ she elucidated. ‘This collection is about finding beauty everywhere, beauty of different kinds.’ 

As such, there was a focus on the uniform – ‘We looked at uniforms that represent care, like nurses, because the act of caring is a beautiful thing,’ she continued – figured in a clarity of silhouette which has defined the pair’s recent collections (both have discussed a pursuit of simplicity and reduction in their menswear and womenswear collections). A near-medical white shirt dress was lengthened to the ankles with a trailing asymmetric hem – a proposition for eveningwear, said the collection notes – while another shirt came complete with elongated epaulettes and an origami-like riff on the tie. 

‘These typical uniform garments, connected to the everyday world, are usually seen as minor. Unconsidered. So for this collection, we liked the idea of considering them celebrating them,’ added Simons. Other looks in the collection, he said, did the opposite: a white satin skirt was decorated with doilies and floral embellishment reminiscent of a wedding dress, worn here with a more quotidian grey sweater. ‘We [also] took pieces from a special occasion, or created for one day like a wedding gown, and here [they] became everyday,’ said Simons. ‘Why should this celebration of love be for only a single day?’ The accompanying collection notes called this a continuing exchange between ‘the familiar and the exceptional… [giving] a different important to both’.

Such an interplay was also reflected in the show’s set, which on first appearance was a sparse, bunker-like space; as the show continued, the ceiling rose to reveal vast towers of fresh lilies hanging down from the ceiling (a similar transformation took place at the menswear show at Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2023 in January, though instead of flowers, vast chandeliers appeared). ‘Everyday life deserves beautiful things,’ continued Miuccia Prada. ‘Because every day of life counts.’

Max Mara

Ian Griffiths looked back to the European coffee houses of the 18th century – where the chattering classes would gather to exchange ideas and gossip – as a starting point for his latest Max Mara collection. ‘Then as now, everyone was trying to make sense of the world, and everyone had an opinion,’ he said via the collection notes, which also referenced Émilie du Châtelet, ‘a free-spirited marquise’ and her lover Voltaire, writer and Enlightenment philosopher (these figures, Griffiths said, encapsulated the spirit of the time, one of voracious intellectual debate). In the clothing itself, the designer said he wanted to reimagine the era’s restrictive ‘apotropaic’ womenswear tropes with a sense of contemporary abundance and levity – whether cocooning opera coats, panniers that jutted from the hips of an abbreviated skirt, or the rich textures of jacquard and brocade that appeared throughout the collection. ‘In Max Mara’s narrative, Émilie spurns the convoluted and restrictive styles of the day… science raises the curtain on a wardrobe for the now,’ said the notes. Other pieces riffed on archetypally masculine garments – like a series of double-breasted tailoring and overcoats – a reference to Du Châtelet regularly dressing as a man to enter coffee clubs so she could engage in debate. ‘With a collection that mixes reason and order with a dash of romance,’ said the house, ‘Max Mara salutes Madame du Châtelet and women like her.’

Etro

The sophomore collection from Italian designer Marco de Vincenzo at Etro seemed to represent a softening in mood from his womenswear debut – presented in September 2022 – favouring the more homespun feeling of his first menswear collection, which was revealed earlier in 2023. That menswear collection – which De Vincenzo described as the ‘merging of the public and the private, the homely and the social’ – had begun with memories of a jacquard velvet blanket the designer had loved as a child. The blanket returned as an ongoing motif here, with one left on each attendee’s seat, which then reappeared in the collection wrapped around the models’ bodies as if swaddled or cocooned. Elsewhere, an opposing sense of lightness was struck in a series of diaphanous dresses decorated with various floral prints evocative of those found in Etro’s historic archive, while a rich array of details – like colourful 3D-knit flowers embroidered onto an oversized cardigan – spoke to the bohemian eclecticism synonymous with the house. ‘A dialogue is a work in progress, exactly like the place that frames the show today: a historic palazzo turned into a construction site, just wrapped or ready to be unwrapped,’ read the collection notes – a reference to the show space in the courtyard of a Milan palazzo. ‘The more the creative director delves into Etro, the more the dialogue with what Etro is becomes compelling. Delving into the history of a brand, after all, is an archaeological undertaking.’ Judging by this evening’s show, this process of excavation is one at which De Vincenzo is becoming increasingly astute. 

No. 21

Alessandro Dell’Acqua continued to hone his quietly subversive vision of womanhood this season at No. 21 with a collection that once again cemented his reputation as one of the city’s most accomplished talents. Presented in a formerly industrial space, the A/W 2023 returned to the cinematic inspirations of Dell’Acqua’s collection last September; this season, he looked towards Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s films of the earlier 1960s and the larger social milieu in the country at the time. ‘They were the years when provincial and middle-class Italian clichés fell apart in face of a changing world,’ said Dell’Aqua. ‘Yet they were also the years of the discovery of sensuality, eroticism even, along with the use – daring for the period – of cunning and treachery.’ These juxtapositions were captured in the collection’s looks: the zips of ladylike dresses left open and askew, tailoring sawn away and left raw at the waist, metal scorpion brooches fastening cardigans across the back. Other slip dresses were rolled down into a skirt, while layers of transparency – like chiffon dresses with ‘invisible’ tulle slips beneath – suggested a sexual frisson. The designer said it was about shifting the archetypes of women’s fashion in pursuit of something new. ‘That’s why I put together a lot of clichéd elements of the feminine wardrobe, so as to better identify them, shake them up and strike them – or simply play – them down.’

Fendi

‘It all started with Delfina,’ said Kim Jones of his latest Fendi collection, in reference to Delfina Delettrez Fendi, a fourth-generation scion of the Fendi family who is also the house’s jewellery artistic director (she has also run her own eponymous jewellery brand based in Rome since 2007). ‘There’s a chicness but a perversity to the way she twists Fendi, which is what I love,’ Jones elucidated, noting that this juxtaposition provided the starting point of the collection, which balanced elegance and classicism with moments of subversion. Much of this was done through a melding of menswear and womenswear tropes, an ‘interpolation of gendered archetypes; the disturbance of ladylike sophistication’, as the notes described. As such, feminine elements – diaphanous lingerie-inspired or bias-cut dresses, the glimmering lining of a coat adorned with sequins – met a sense of utilitarianism in silhouettes inspired by workwear, uniforms and aprons. Knitwear, much of it ribbed and spanning cardigans and ankle-length dresses, was draped around the body, while riffs on tailoring – one particular style added caped sleeves to a traditional men’s waistcoat – played with the idea of deconstruction. ‘It’s deconstructed, but luxurious. There’s a little nod to punk, and my admiration for DIY, but moved on towards something chic,’ said Jones. Of her part in the collection Delettrez Fendi adorned models’ ears with double-F lock jewellery. ‘I wanted to explore the purity of the double F, locking on the ear,’ she said. ‘Like the collection, it goes to the very essence of Fendi.’

Diesel

A vast mound of Durex condoms – 200,000, to be exact – sat in the centre of the Diesel showspace, for a show the brand said was about ‘freedom, pleasure, experimentation and play’ (a further 300,000 will be distributed in Diesel stores this April alongside a capsule collection of clothing, marking Durex’s first collaboration with a fashion label). ‘Sex positivity is something amazing. We like to play at Diesel, and we are serious about it. Have fun, respect each other, be safe,’ said creative director Glenn Martens. ‘We have to remind everyone that safe sex is still important, we cannot forget.’ The idea of experimentation and play – already a hallmark of Martens’ tenure at the brand – was reflected in the collection itself, which continued an exploration of denim, here largely distressed (‘distressing has new intensity’, according to the collection notes). Demin devoré (a technique developed by the brand in-house) was used to give the appearance of wear, revealing panels of skin beneath; while low-slung bumster Moto denim was bleached with ‘whiskers’ (a denim technique that refers to the faded creases on the thighs of jeans). Other pieces – like a series of overcoats that appeared to have been crafted from melted plastic, or a ‘blow torched’ leather jacket – continued the theme. But it was a feeling of sensuality and glamour that gave the collection its uniquely liberated mood, with swathes of diamanté appearing on thigh-high boots and floor-length gowns, Diesel-branded choker necklines, and a series of prints from old campaigns of mouths and lips. ‘For sucsexful living,’ joked Martens, a play on Diesel’s perennial tagline.

The menswear season continues with Milan Fashion Week Mens A/W 2023, heralding an eclectic schedule which spans both the city’s stalwarts – Prada, Giorgio Armani, Fendi among them – and a small but energetic contingent of young designers providing a fresh take on Italian style. The week opens with the introduction of a fresh chapter at Gucci, following the departure of creative director Alessandro Michele last November, continuing across the weekend with JW Anderson’s sophomore Milanese outing, Marco de Vincenzo’s debut menswear collection for Etro, and an array of presentations and events taking place across the city. 

Here is the best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2023, as it happens.

The best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2023

Zegna

Alessandro Sartori looked towards the roots of Zegna with a collection titled ‘The Oasi of Cashmere’ in reference to both the Oasi Zegna nature park in Piedmont, Italy, where the brand’s first wool mill was opened in the early 20th century, and Oasi Cashmere, a fully traceable line of cashmere products which signal the company’s wider sustainability goals (each comes with a QR code to see the garment’s entire journey from natural fibre to finished product). ‘At Zegna I have the unprecedented opportunity to create fabrics from weaving through to finishing, challenging our manufacturers, pushing them to explore uncharted waters,’ he said, noting the collection was a celebration of Zegna’s unparalleled Italian craftsmanship. ‘[It] allows me to mould our silhouettes right from the matter, making sure that our commitment to innovation and excellence is rooted in every step of the process. The result is an all-encompassing language that is truly progressive.’ The collection itself was one of ‘soft precision’, exploring the idea of leaving space between body and garment – here figured in the gently oversized silhouette of minimal blazers, blousons, or cocooning sweaters with intricate bouclé or frisé jacquard textures.

Giorgio Armani

Accompanied by a soaring soundtrack composed by Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, Giorgio Armani’s latest collection – shown at the house’s headquarters – drew inspiration from traditional Milanese architecture. In particular, the atriums and courtyards of the city’s palazzos – ‘atriums that hide gardens, spaces designed with discreet geometry in white and coloured marble’. As such, the colour and texture of marble was echoed in a rich array of fabrications – cashmere, alpaca, velvet and silk among them – many of which featured designs evocative of zig-zagging floor or wall tiles. Diaphanous silhouettes and softly structured tailoring in rock-like shades of grey and beige, meanwhile, recalled Milanese statuary. ‘A nod to the age of elegance, that, while partially forgotten, echoes in the elegant spirit of this city,’ said the house. 

JW Anderson

Jonathan Anderson’s sophomore show in Milan – having shifted his menswear to the city this past June – began with an underwear-clad model carrying a roll of fabric. ‘Clothing stripped down to where it all starts,’ read the collection notes, which spoke of Anderson’s desire to return to a ‘blank slate’, ‘reducing, compressing, and condensing, with a certain crudeness and definite blankness’. It lent the collection a visual starkness; in several of the looks models would wear just a single garment, like a fuzzy sweater or a pair of pants, and nothing else (‘no fuss, no extra, no more… everything is what it is, and that’s it’). ‘I think we’re going to head into a season of reduction and stripping things back,’ the designer noted backstage, an observation which was echoed by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons who had a similarly reductionist approach to their Prada menswear show earlier in the day. As such, several of the garments worked from archetypes: a duffle coat (here fastened with BDSM-like buckles), a trench (left raw at the edges), or a pair of shorts (frilled at the hem, reminiscent of those shown in his breakout A/W 2013 collection). If it was a diversion from the surrealism of his recent collections, moments of satisfying strangeness remained, whether a single pillow held to the chest or the frog-shaped footwear, created in collaboration with children’s shoe producer Wellipets. Anderson noted that he had wanted to work with them for several seasons; prior to the show they appeared in a number of teaser images on the designer’s Instagram. ‘There’s something about them that reminds me of my childhood, they were such a thing to have,’ he said. ‘It’s the only surreal moment in the collection; they’re almost like a cassette player – an icon of design.’

Etro

Rolls of the colourful patterned fabrics synonymous with Etro were stacked around the runway for Marco de Vincenzo’s debut menswear show for the house, noting that the collection began with his own cherished memories of fabric – like a jacquard velvet blanket he loved as a child. ‘The Etro house and Marco’s household overlap and mingle, and a broad sense of domesticity comes through,’ said the collection notes. As such, there was a feeling of the homespun to the collection – crotchet fruits on fuzzy jumpers, blouson-style jackets cut from upholstery fabrics, and pieces made from soft teddy – while colourful patterned linings spoke of private pleasures. ‘The idea of merging the public and the private, the homely and the social,’ De Vincenzo said of the collection, which marked a charming start to the Italian designer’s menswear tenure at the house. 

Prada

In recent seasons, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons have been drawn to simplicity, looking back to the ‘fundamentals of fashion’, stripping garments of complication and translating archetypal forms for the realities of living today. Those explorations continued this season with a collection titled ‘Let's Talk About Clothes’, which sought to oppose a feeling of ‘reduction and simplicity’ with moments of softness – ‘comfort, exaggeration and intimacy’. 

This juxtaposition was reflected in the Fondazione Prada’s Deposito show space, which was transformed into a low-ceilinged, bunker-like space, the only marks of decoration being hazard-orange columns that ran up the outer walls. As the show began – opening with a stream of minimal, single-breasted tailoring from which colourful pointed collars emerged – the ceiling slowly rose, revealing vast art deco chandeliers at full height. It seemed to speak of an opposition between minimalism and decoration, but also volume – how one shape can become another, ‘that proportion can transform perception’, as the notes described. 

As such, the narrow tailoring gave way to more expansive silhouettes, their forms signifying protection and comfort – whether an optic white protective vest, a bulbous take on the bomber jacket (stripped of ornamentation and hardware), or a padded top evocative of the cushions which the house sent as invitations. Miuccia Prada said these pieces were a response to the realities of living today: ‘It is a complicated moment in the world – and we react to it,’ she said. ‘The most honest thing we can do is to create something useful for people today – to face reality in, and frame the idea of our reality through clothes. We want to create fashion with a significance and a meaning – that is the value of fashion today.’

Simons added that this collection was also about the ‘DNA of Prada… clothes embedded with fragments of an identity we can recognise as fundamentally Prada.’ Indeed, those familiar with the house’s archive could pick out traces of previous collections from the house in its details – making something of a return to Prada’s foundations. ‘These are unmistakable and significant gestures,’ Simons continued, ‘towards the heritage and history of the brand, and to the meaning of Prada now.’ 

Fendi

An enormous helter-skelter hovered over the Fendi show space; as the show began, metallic Fendi-branded orbs rolled their way along its course, gliding over the audience’s heads. The Italian house said it was designed to evoke pinball machines found in roller discos, a mood reflected in the collection’s Studio 54-tinged sensibility – pieces were imbued with a languid glamour which Fendi called ‘subverted classicism’ – and the shimmering soundtrack by legendary Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, which crescendoed with Donna Summer’s I Feel Love over the finale. ‘Expressions of shimmer and shine’ added to the collection’s after-dark mood, from scatterings of sequins to delicate metallic appliqué en tremblant, while shawl-like elements across tailoring and outerwear cocooned the body in glamorous style. 

Dolce & Gabbana

Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce’s latest collection was a swerve away from the maximalism of recent menswear seasons with a rigorous – and impeccably tailored – collection in shades of black, grey and white. Much like their womenswear collection shown this past September (see highlights of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2023), the designers expressed a desire to get back to the house’s codes, Dolce & Gabbana’s ‘essence’ – here arriving in sensual tailoring, much of it double-breasted and lightly cinched at the waist, corsetry-inspired cummerbunds, and moments of sheerness and exposure in a celebration of the body. Despite the clarity of the silhouette, flourishes of glamour and embellishment remained, from delicate beaded and crystal flowers to swathes of sequins – a demonstration of Dolce & Gabbana’s feats of Italian construction and craft. 

Emporio Armani

Giorgio Armani titled his latest Emporio Armani show ‘A View From Above’, the newly in-the-round show space at the Armani Teatro decorated with a map of Milan which stretched across the floor. Befitting the scene, the opening looks recalled vintage 1930s aviation wear – leather pilot hats, goggle-like sunglasses, flight jackets, heavy boots – as if the models were circling the city from the air (via the collection notes, the designer said that ‘flight, represented by the eagle, is part of the Emporio Armani spirit: a sense of adventure and boundless taste for exploration’). Elsewhere in the expansive collection, a focus on contemporary tailoring – the closing gamut of eveningwear looks in black, some shimmering with sequins, were a masterful showcase Mr Armani’s fluidity of cut – while sportswear inspirations remained central in crisp quilted bombers, voluminous technical trousers and enveloping EA7 parkas. 

MSGM

The invitation for Massimo Giorgetti’s A/W 2023 menswear collection for MSGM was the enrolment letter for an architectural degree at the fancifully named ‘Dreamers University, School of Art, Fashion, Music and Happiness’. Taking place in the Brutalist concrete basement of real-life university Politecnico di Milano, Giorgetti looked towards the dress codes of American campus style – he noted inspiration from 1989 movie Dead Poets Society, set in a Vermont prep school – melding collegiate motifs (‘Cheer’ emblazoned sweaters, baseball-style cardigans, hoodies and varsity jackets) with preppy tailoring, shrunken sweater vests and ties set askew. An element of teenage rebellion came in black berets – historically associated with student protest movements – and a blaring soundtrack by 1980s Italian punk band CCCP, known for its anti-establishment stance.

DSquared2

Dean and Dan Caten said that they were ‘looking back to look forward’ with an unapologetic A/W 2023 collection which found its nexus in their first-ever runway show which took place in 2003. In it, Naomi Campbell – brandishing two shopping bags – memorably sprinted towards the steps of a grounded Boeing jet (in heels), before turning and striding down the runway. It has since become one of fashion’s most re-shared clips, an example of the Caten brothers’ brand of joyfully unrestrained camp.

Yesterday evening’s show began in a teenage boy’s bedroom – complete with rumpled bed sheets and walls tacked with posters – for an exploration of the rebellious dress codes of youthful archetypes: ‘the geek, the jock, the goth, the emo and the femme’.  ‘The freedom to be who you want to be,’ said the twins of remaking these stereotypes, playfully amalgamating distinct elements of Y2K dress – trucker caps, low-slung torn jeans, tops sliced away to reveal the naval – with irreverent slogans, ‘Choke’, ‘24-7 Star’, ‘Recycled Teenager’, and ‘Livin’ Doll’ emblazoned throughout. Models, including an array of TikTok stars and social-media personalities, walked the runway with Campbell-inspired panache – ‘full Dsquared2 energy’, as the notes described.

1017 Alyx 9SM 

Matthew M Williams looked towards American artist Mark Flood – known for punk-inspired pastiches of American culture and the contemporary art world – for his A/W 2023 1017 Alyx 9SM collection, with a retrospective of Flood’s work at Milan’s Spazio Maiocchi gallery providing the show’s backdrop. Flood’s slogans and works also appeared throughout the collection in a series of collaborative pieces – some motifs were created for the show, others existing – which added a visual richness to Williams‘ severe brand of minimalism. The influence of technical sportswear remained strong, with Alyx-emblazoned running gear worn over jeans or tailored trousers, while a streak of rebellion came in flourishes of studs and thorn-like spikes, appearing on the knee of a leather trouser, on the toe of a boot, or around the neckline of an otherwise unembellished floor-length halter dress.

Gucci

Anticipation was high for Gucci’s A/W 2023 collection, which marked the first since the departure of creative director Alessandro Michele in November 2022. Presented in the round – in the centre, American noise-rock trio Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog provided the live soundtrack – the house said the collection centred on the idea of ‘improvisation as methodology’, an apt metaphor for an in-house team, sans creative leadership, attempting to define a new chapter of the historic house in mere months. Initially, the collection felt something of a return to Michele’s earliest collections at the house – hinted by the reappearance of the fur-lined backless loafer, one of the designer’s first cult pieces – with languid tailoring, oversized overcoats, and romantic oversized silk shirts, delicately ruffled at the collar and cuffs. As the collection went on, these ideas evolved in new directions – a nod, the house said, to the ‘multi-faceted creatives and craftsmen that make up the house of Gucci’ – which spanned nods to Tom Ford’s Gucci tenure (denim jeans tied with stacks of silk scarfs, T-shirts slashed to the naval, crystal-studded denim) to colourful oversized boiler suits and Motocross pants, to dancewear-inspired leg warms, ribbed-knit trousers and wide boat-neck sweaters. The suggestion was a more discreet vision of luxury for the house, though what comes next is anybody’s guess – Michele, of course, was picked from the in-house team. Perhaps the next creative director of house is already waiting in the wings. 

Stay tuned for more from Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2023.

After a subdued London Fashion Week S/S 2023 in the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, eyes turned to Milan, where a packed schedule was perhaps the city’s busiest yet. Spanning creative director debuts (Ferragamo, Etro and Bally all welcomed new designers this season), anniversary celebrations (Moncler’s 70 years), and collections from both the city’s stalwarts and an energised emerging generation of designers, Milan Fashion Week S/S 2023 represented a return to form after several seasons of uncertainty since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.

‘Interest in the Milano Fashion Week is growing all the time, and this is reflected in the variety of the projects that we are about to stage,’ said Carlo Capasa, president of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI), ahead of the event. ‘We are aware of the uncertainties that the global social and economic scene presents, and it is in these very times that fashion is summoned to give a message of confidence and positivity.’

Here, Wallpaper* reports on the highlights of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2023. 

The best of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2023

Sunday 25 September

Giorgio Armani

‘The essence is a certain purity and the glimmer of gold,’ came the introduction to Giorgio Armani’s S/S 2023 collection, titled ‘Fil D’or’ – golden thread – which showed the designer’s continuing mastery of embellishment and lightness of form (the latter has been an ongoing theme in recent collections, including at Emporio Armani earlier in the week). The precious metal was evoked not only in gilded elements – smooth metallic handbags, coils of chain necklaces, a surfeit of delicate golden paillettes – but also in the otherworldly sheen of the seemingly weightless fabrics utilised in the collection’s diaphanous silhouettes (‘long, liquid and evanescent like a desert mirage’). It ended with a shimmering flurry of evening wear, for which the designer is renowned  – no doubt appealing to a typically star-studded front row, including actress Cate Blanchett, who presented Mr Armani with the Visionary Award at Camera della Moda Italiana’s Sustainable Fashion awards later that evening (in glittering Giorgio Armani sequins of her own).

Ferrari

The historic Teatro Lirico provided the backdrop for Rocco Iannone’s third outing at Ferrari, the Italian designer continuing to evolve and define the automotive heavyweight’s still-young fashion label. While previous seasons have seen Iannone stick closely to script with designs linked to the Ferrari’s racing heritage – belts like car seatbelts, fabrications inspired by car interiors, versions of pitstop overalls – this season he looked towards what he called the ‘human element in the legendary history… the visions, ambitions and emotions that revolve around the Prancing Horse’. As such, Iannone had collected photographs of various movie stars and musicians alongside Ferrari cars, using them as the nexus of a fluid, Californian-inflected collection which melded silk Hawaiian shirts, colourful bleached denim and shimmering moments of embellishment with the racing-inspired silhouettes previously the bedrock of the label (overalls, body-conscious Ferrari-emblazoned sweaters, caps and hoodies continued to feature). The presentation was accompanied by a short film, The Dream of Dreamers by Italian-Canadian director Floria Sigismondi, ‘encapsulating feelings of self-expression, of passion and freedom, of a constant drive towards that which is extraordinary and incredible’.

Saturday 24 September

Moncler

Looking down from a terrace high above Milan’s Piazza del Duomo, an endless sea of bodies clad in white looks by Moncler gathered beneath for a dramatic celebration of 70 years in business for the Italian label (the event heralded the start of 70 more days of anniversary events). The 1,952 participants, from models to musicians – the number marking the year Moncler was founded – each wore a version of the Maya jacket, a nylon down-filled puffer which is perhaps the label’s most recognisable garment. Streaming into Milan’s most famous square, they moved in unison in an open-to-the-public performance choreographed by Sadeck Berrabah – ‘a unique reinterpretation of contemporary dance, stretching the geometric limits of the human body’. Despite the heavy rainfall, an estimated 18,000 people witnessed the event. ‘What I am most proud of is that we gathered together all generations, and felt the strong energy coming from our communities,’ said Remo Ruffini, Moncler’s CEO. ‘It is with them that we want to build our next 70 years. At Moncler we dream together, not alone.’

Bottega Veneta

Matthieu Blazy said that his sophomore collection for Bottega Veneta began with a conversation with Gaetano Pesce, the 82-year-old designer-artist-architect who created the show’s set – a series of 400 unique chairs and poured-resin floor in his colourful style. Blazy noted that they spoke about the idea of creating ‘the world in a small room’, the broad multiplicity of human life momentarily captured on a Milanese runway. ‘We are all originals, and this is one of the themes of my design,’ said Pesce, whose own work is defined by a resistance to repetition. ‘As a designer I make originals, not standardised series, that’s the old way – this is the new way.’

This line of thinking permeated Blazy’s collection, the Belgian designer noting a desire to move between the ‘archetypal and the individual’. ‘I wanted to design not just for one woman or one man, but for women and men,’ he said, instead conjuring an eclectic cast of individual characters which streamed out at speed (Blazy also noted he wanted the presentation to have a feeling of ‘movement, agency, sensuality and life’; the result was something akin to looking out at a busy city street from the seat of a café). It made for an expansive offering – there was something generous about the collection’s breadth – spanning plaid shirts and denim jeans, bourgeois tailoring and overcoats, crystal and tassel embellished dresses, and of course an array of highly covetable accessories.

But Blazy also noted a ‘discreet perversion’ which lingers beyond the collection’s surface – that flannel shirt might actually be crafted from nubuck leather, a fur coat from mock fox, printed on goat leather. It speaks something of his understanding of the strange, near-fetishistic desire one can have for an item of clothing – here heightened by extraordinary and unexpected feats of craft. For Blazy, it is the relationship between maker and wearer which is at the heart of his vision for Bottega Veneta, ‘an emotional investment in objects for life – in both senses of the term’.

Dolce & Gabbana

The reality star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian has been collecting Dolce & Gabbana since growing up as a teenager in Los Angeles in the 1900s and early 2000s, eras that informed ‘Ciao, Kim’, the house’s S/S 2023 womenswear collection shown in Milan on Saturday (such a fan was Kardashian, she had two dogs named ‘Dolce’ and Gabbana’). A collaboration of sorts, Kardashian ‘curated’ a series of her own favourite archival pieces to be ‘rethought, repurposed, reinterpreted’ by Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce (much like the pair’s S/S 2023 menswear show this past June). Backdropped by a slow motion film of a blonde Kardashian eating pasta in slow motion and dressed in the house’s bombshell style, the various looks played on Dolce & Gabbana’s body-conscious signatures featuring elements of corsetry, ruching, and lingerie. Stefano and Domenico said by looking back to their design history they hoped to reach different generations – ‘everyone will see in it something different in which to recognise themselves’. Judging by the screaming crowds of teenagers outside, they’re right. 

Ferragamo

Expectations were high for 27-year-old British designer Maximilian Davis’ first collection for Florentine house Ferragamo, which was prefaced earlier in the week with a redesigned logo by legendary graphic designer Peter Saville – black on a red backdrop, colours Davis has been drawn to in his short career so far – and the drop of ‘Salvatore’ from the name. Any doubts that the young designer would not be up to the task were quickly dispelled with an sleek, elevated offering which tended towards minimalism and drew a distinct link between the past and present of the house – notably, in his evocation of Hollywood, where the house’s eponymous shoemaker began his own career in the 1920s. 

‘I wanted to pay tribute to Salvatore’s start by bringing in the culture of Hollywood – but new Hollywood. Its ease and sensuality; its sunset and sunrise,’ the designer said of the collection, which drew inspiration from artist Rachel Harrison’s ‘Sunset Series’. Spanning both mens and womenswear, this encompassed layers of elegant tailoring – the opening looks were entirely in beige, from trench to blazer to shirt and tie – while a series of glimmering red looks paid ode to a pair of red crystal shoes the house founder created for Marilyn Monroe. Semi-sheer dresses hung off the shoulder, inspired by what the designer called ‘the purity of Florentine drape’, while notes of the subversion channelled at his eponymous label arrived in sliced away leather mini shorts (for men and women), low-slung waistlines, and silhouettes sliced to the navel.

As for accessories – Ferragamo is an accessories house at heart, after all – Davis proved particularly adept at what was for him a new discipline. A series of almost-flat handbags proved a particular highlight, crafted from smooth sculpted leather, as were cut-out leather and suede tote bags. A more classic holdall was inspired by the house’s existing Wanda bag, first created in 1988. As for shoes, a circular heel, in reference to the house’s Gancini motif, provided a moment of play. ‘It was about looking into the archive and establishing what could be redefined to become relevant for today,’ said Davis of this opening gambit, a clear-headed start from a designer who already looks settled in. 

Jil Sander

Despite the drizzle, Lucie and Luke Meier went ahead with their al fresco runway presentation, its backdrop a verdant garden housed in an open-to-the-elements grey box at the edge of Milan (albeit with the necessary addition of black umbrellas which accompanied each of the model’s looks). A cross-gender offering, the Meiers called it a collection of ‘ease, lightness, smooth lines, elongated silhouettes’ which had a heavy focus on tailoring, with numerous plays on oversized suiting (a blazer might have its sleeve removed, trousers replaced by a kilt). But it was best when the designers let loose towards the end of the collection – unruly glimmering tassels emerged from beneath a clean-lined tabard, mirrored bubbles were stitched onto an otherwise precise black top. Part of a collection which paid homage to the ‘new and different world’ of America’s West Coast, these looks were their take on Hollywood dress – a striking fusion of ‘sartorial glamour, romanticism and realism’.

Ports 1961

There was something refreshing in the lack of ceremony around Karl Templer’s latest collection for Ports 1961, which was presented in a warehouse on Milan’s outskirts, wooden floors left bare and a simple white backdrop erected at the end of an intimate runway. Templer said he was ‘experimenting with classics’ this season, taking the stalwarts of a woman’s wardrobe and ‘slicing, peeling, layering them to add movement, elongation, fluidity’. It began with a beautifully proportioned black suit – its elegant wide-leg trousers pooling at the ankle – before taking this feeling of fluidity into simple silk tunic dresses, two-tone trench coats, and semi-sheer shirt dresses adorned with checks. Moments of subtle subversion exemplified what Templer called ‘broken classicism’: aran knits fell away into tasselled braids, tailoring was sliced to reveal the lining beneath, while undone slithers of chiffon drifted in the breeze like streamers. 

Friday 23 September

Versace

A typically high-octane outing by Donatella Versace ended with a runway appearance from Paris Hilton, who closed the show in a chainmail mini dress and veil (naturally, in the star’s signature Barbie pink). Held in a space bathed in purple light in which various glass ‘rooms’ were filled with black candles, gothic stained-glass windows and Versace furniture, Donatella said that her woman for the season was a ‘dark, gothic goddess’. Indeed, the opening four models – posing briefly in a dramatic milieu among the lit candles – were clad entirely in black, dresses slashed and towering platforms on their feet, while crumpled silk, lace and leather met 90s-inspired silhouettes (micro minis, babydoll slips, halter tops, fitted motorcycle jackets). ‘I have always loved a rebel. A woman who is confident, smart and a little bit of a diva,’ Donatella said of the season’s muse. ‘She wears leather, studs and frayed denim and she has enough attitude to mix them with chiffon, jersey, and a tiara. She is a strong liberated woman; she is gorgeous; she knows it. She is the goddess of freedom.

Gucci

Halfway through Gucci’s latest collection a vast central wall rose up to reveal that two identical fashion shows had been taking place at the same time. Identical down to the models, who were each a pair of twins, a spectacle of breathtaking proportion – in total there were 68 sets of twins who walked the show – which paid ode to designer Alessandro Michele’s mother, who was a twin herself. ‘I am a son of two mothers: mum Eralda and mum Giuliana. They were magically mirrored. One multiplied the other. That was my world, perfectly double and doubled,’ he wrote in a letter which accompanied the show. 

But the gesture was also an exploration of reproduction and repetition; Michele noted he was fascinated by the idea that even two identical garments, on two identical bodies, can still appear different in often inexplicable ways. ‘The effect is alienating and ambiguous. Almost a rift in the idea of identity,’ he wrote. ‘And then, the revelation: the same clothes emanate different qualities on seemingly identical bodies.’ Or, as Marianne Faithfull intoned as part of the collection’s soaring soundtrack: ‘alike, but not alike’.

The collection itself once again showed Michele’s ability to bring disparate elements into unexpected unity – from Gremlins, printed on dresses or stuffed into handbags (the 1980s movie monsters are themselves able to duplicate identically) to suspender trousers and shimmering sequined tailoring. Divide lifted, each pair of twins held hands for a final walk; reunited, it was a moving expression of togetherness. Two individuals, the same, but different – an apt metaphor for what it means to be part of Michele’s Gucci universe. 

Sportmax

‘Bouba/Kiki’ was the title given to Sportmax’s latest collection, its name in reference to a series of psychological experiments begun by Wolfgang Köhler in 1929 – and continued by various researchers since –  in which participants were asked to attribute words and sound to certain shapes (in one, most people selected the word ‘bouba’  for the curvier, rounder shapes, and ‘kiki’ for the sharper, spiker ones). It made for an eccentric, experimental offering – ‘an affirmation of otherness, resistant to conformism, whilst on a continuous quest for the extreme,’ as Sportmax described – comprising juxtapositions of fabric and print with softly sculptural silhouettes. A riff on nostalgia came in bustled skirts and nipped-waisted blazers, modernised in contemporary fabrications – like one flared skirt in high shine black, a vivid flash of lime green appearing from its underside as the model walked.

Missoni

‘The Missoni language, spoken in the present tense, by a new author,’ said the Italian house of its latest chapter, helmed by new creative Filippo Grazioli, who has previously held stints at Givenchy, Hermès, Maison Margiela and Burberry (he showed a men’s collection for Missoni in a series of appointments in June; this marked his first runway show). The designer noted a desire for lightness – a freshening up of the house codes and motifs – in a ‘sensual and joyful’ collection, where 90s-inspired abbreviated silhouettes and slick, body-conscious shapes met zig-zagging prints and vivid tones (a palette of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black and white, was inspired by CMYK, the graphic design colour model used for printing). ‘Fashion as an injection of cheerfulness and lightness of spirit; colour and light that entice a smile,’ Missoni described of Grazioli’s invigorating first outing, which looks set to instil the historic Italian house with new energy.

Tod’s

The vast Pirelli Hangarbicocca – a former industrial plant for the tire manufacturer, now a contemporary art institution – provided a dramatic backdrop for Tod’s latest collection, seeing models weave their way around Anselm Kiefer’s monumental concrete towers which populate the foundation’s main hall (the work itself is titled ‘The Seven Heavenly Palaces’). Despite the dramatic surroundings, the collection itself had a more intimate feel, riffs on what Walter Chiapponi describes as ‘essential pieces and iconic garments’ – archetypal womenswear filtered through the creative director’s minimal, 90s-inflected lens. Focus on fabrication remained central – particularly leather ‘which becomes almost like fabric, soft to the hand and sensual on the body’ – while an array of accessories, notably a ballet shoe melded with Tod’s signature Gomminno moccasin sole, completed the elegant proposition for next season’s wardrobe. 

Thursday 22 September

Emporio Armani

A feeling of eclecticism has permeated Giorgio Armani’s recent collections at both his eponymous line and Emporio Armani, the latter showing its S/S 2023 collection on Friday afternoon at the house’s Teatro Armani show space. Titled ‘In Transit’, it melded often disparate inspirations gleaned from travels around the world – from silhouette to surface embellishment – nodding towards their origins, but always refracted through the designer’s own effortless lens. As such, there were various riffs on the relaxed blazer (unstructured, buttoned to the collar double-breasted), elegant outerwear (‘the soft precision of jackets and peacoats… liquid languor’), and elements inspired by travel. It lent the collection a carefree, liberated air: ‘one might travel the world’s streets, or the imagination, within a room, as long as the mind is open and the spirit free.’

Prada

A vast rendering of a house in black paper – an inversion of the crisp white set which backdropped Prada’s menswear collection in June – set an unsettling tone for Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ latest collection, which they titled ‘Touch of Crude’. The mise-en-scène was a collaboration with filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn; through cut-out windows and tears in the paper played a series of short films he had created for the occasion, each a play on the domestic (a woman removing her shoes, the underside of a mattress, the textures of carpet and sofas) – as if glimpsing something which shouldn’t be seen. ‘Although the collaboration is around the show, rather than the collection, we have been inspired by the collaboration, by his perspective on Prada,’ said Simons in a prepared statement. ‘There’s a mirror of cinema in the collection, of witnessing fragments of a larger whole. Different bodies of work, within a single body of work – shifting between disparate form languages.’

Indeed, there was a cinematic feel to the collection itself – afterwards, several attendees mentioned the potential inspiration of 1968 psychodrama Rosemary’s Baby in both the clothing and ominous mood – which the house described as ‘a sequence of realities, reflections, refractions, observations’. The designers noted a feeling of paradox in the collection: ‘raw and the sensual, between delicacy and roughness, an emulsification of contrasts’, figuring in the clothing in archetypically ladylike garments – a silk slip dress, a knitted two set, a nightgown – purposely torn across the hem, or embedded with creases, ‘like memories of beauty embedded in cloth’ (such moments also reflect the feeling of ‘crudeness’ referenced in the collection’s title). Other garments opposed a reductionist approach to design and silhouette with moments of decoration; notably, a series of otherwise minimal knitwear decorated with fabric flowers. ‘Reality translates to humanity. It is reflected through a sense of the hand, a touch of the crude, a rawness that evokes a fragility,’ read the collection notes.

Adds Miuccia Prada: ‘The clothes are about simplicity, with no unnecessary complication. Politically, theoretically, aesthetically, we are drawn to these notions again and again. The idea of directness. Yet with this collection it was combined with the idea of decoration, beauty, how to decorate and embellish, but remain simple.’

Max Mara

In previous seasons, Ian Griffiths has noted what he calls ‘Max Mara pantheon of strong women’, figures from history, spanning intellectual and creative realms, who inspire his feminist approach to design. For the spring/summer season, he headed on a journey to the south in France – and back in time – to the early 20th century, when from April to September ‘bohemians flocked to the riviera’. Among them, revolutionary women of the day Dora Maar, Dorothy Parker, Josephine Baker, Isadora Duncan and, notably for Griffiths, Renée Perle, who of the then-newfound Riviera style he says ‘nobody wore it better’ (wide-brimmed sun hats, languid sailor trousers, backless tank tops and the like). Here, an imagined meeting between Perle and modernist architect Eileen Gray – perhaps best known for her E-1027 villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and ‘uniquely feminine take on modernism’ – saw Riviera-style hallmarks filtered through a clean, minimal lens for a contemporary take on getaway wear. ‘Two women with a shared vision of modernity stepping out onto the E-1037 terrace,’ read the collection notes. ‘Blinking in the morning's light, we see them raise their smiling faces to meet the glittering blue horizon.’

DSquared2

A continuation of their menswear show in June, Dean and Dan Caten looked once again to the archetype of the surfer, a figure of freedom and escape which has proved a longtime inspiration for the Canadian designers (the pair noted backstage that they surf themselves). ‘Where the waves roll in, the sunlight shimmers on a wardrobe that’s found its chill beachside,’ read the accompanying notes, setting the scene for a carefree collection where an unabashed collage of colour and print met a feeling of lightness in transparent and semi-sheer layers. A smattering of feminine embellishments – sequins, ruffles, cut-outs reminiscent of broderie anglaise – completed the collection, which in its airy eclecticism felt like a fresh shift in direction for the Milanese stalwarts. 

Wednesday 21 September

Fendi

‘It’s about continuity,’ Kim Jones said of his S/S 2023 collection, which looked back to the turn of the millennium and forebear Karl Lagerfeld’s designs of the era, linking a thread between past and present. It’s a time period which has become familiar territory for the designer of late; earlier this month in New York, he celebrated 25 years of the Fendi ‘Baguette’ handbag – arguably the most symbolic It-bag of the late 1990s and early 2000s – with a colourful, star-studded runway show (such is the relative speed of Kim Jones’ work, which spans over ten collections a year, some of these looks were already being worn by the gathered audience). ‘I am interested in things that Karl has done, and seeing how we can develop them – both visually and technically’. 

Set to a euphoric rave-inspired soundtrack, these current Y2K fixations emerged in a collection that the designer described as ‘colliding minimalist ease and pop-infused eclectism’. Of the former, a series of elegant silk cargo pants, tabard-style shirts, simple ribbed knits and racer-back vests, of the latter, an enlivening palette, from bubblegum pink to vivid shades of green, lending the collection a light, playful air (as did the accessories – one necklace was adorned with a tiny miniature handbag; another handbag was made to resemble a gift wrapped in red ribbon). Such oppositions are now a hallmark of Jones’ tenure, the designer noting that at Fendi he is ‘constantly thinking about practicality and luxury’, of exploring ‘the notion of functional utility alongside femininity – because the Fendi women are strong women, with full, busy lives’.

Del Core

Despite being relatively young by Milanese standards, Del Core – the eponymous 2020-founded label of Daniel Del Core, previously an in-house designer at Gucci – has nonetheless found a groove creating dressed-up garments defined by a steadfast focus on craft (gowns are often festooned with sequins and surface embellishment, while his ‘Made in Italy’ credentials are at the centre of the label). Held in an industrial warehouse on Milan’s Navigli canal, the starkness of the surroundings threw the collection into relief: pinched-waist tailoring, diaphanous sheer gowns, a November Rain-style asymmetric skirt, which descended into bold folds of yellow fabric. Del Core said he was inspired by the idea of ‘liquidity’ – a ‘constantly changing state’, where ‘shapes flow effortlessly onto the body’ and ‘colours mutate’. Case in point: the collection’s dramatic final look, a vivid gown with a pannier waist, decorated with thousands of sequins, which shimmered and shifted in the runway’s light. 

No 21

The agonies and ecstasies of love provided the inspiration behind the latest collection from Alessandro Dell’Acqua at No 21, who hosted this season’s show against the background of a previously industrial warehouse, hung for the occasion with glittering chandeliers. Titling the collection ‘The Lovers’, Dell’Acqua noted he wanted to encapsulate the swinging emotions one feels when in love, here refracted through a feeling of nostalgic glamour – two sets, dresses overlaid with lace, evening gloves, crystal jewellery – albeit dishevelled, with garments slipping off the shoulder or purposely scrunched (models’ bodies and faces were also spritzed with droplets of water to evoke rain, or tears). It was a typically commanding, and indeed cinematic, vision from veteran designer Dell’Acqua, who remains one of the highlights of the Milanese schedule. 

INFORMATION

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The menswear edition of Milan Fashion Week returns with aplomb this season, after a muted January outing due to the arrival of the Omicron variant. Under a hot Milanese sun, the city’s brands have come to life with offerings for S/S 2023 that channel an escapist mood and propose a multiplicity of ways of dressing for the season ahead. Among them, a juxtaposition of archetypal menswear garments at Prada, Dolce & Gabbana’s noughties re-editions, and JW Anderson’s much-anticipated debut in Milan. Here, in an ongoing report, the best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2023, as it happens. 

The best of Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2023

DSquared2

Dean and Dan Caten looked towards the surfer for inspiration for their latest collection, mashing up the archetype with their own brand of glamour and flash. Eclectic layering – as if the various items of clothing were picked up on travels around the world – was the collection’s hallmark, whether a colourful sarong tied over a studded jean, a Honda-branded biker jacket with shorts and flip flops, or a colourful array of jumpers tied around the waist (prints were equally eclectic, from block-printed turtles to various New Age motifs). Elsewhere, the duo paid ode to musician Bob Marley, uniting with the late artist’s foundation, his face used as a motif across outerwear, shoulder bags and T-shirts – the latter worn by the duo to take their bare-footed bow.  

1017 Alyx 9SM

The derelict Franco Sciarino swimming pool provided the backdrop for Matthew Williams’ latest collection for 1017 Alyx 9SM. In the late afternoon heat, it was a location which felt fitting for a collection where skin-baring looks and abbreviated silhouettes suggested a high-summer mood. The hallmarks of Williams’ work at the label remained in this second Milan Fashion Week outing: sharply-cut blazers and gilets in optic white, sliced-away tops and dresses, and visor-like sunglasses encapsulated the designer’s clean-lined, industrial approach to cut and form. A series of more diaphanous looks – asymmetric-hem gowns, mini dresses which twisted around the body or could be adjusted by waves of toggle fastenings – lent a sensual contrast. Williams also chose the occasion to introduce his latest collaboration with Nike, the MMW Zoom 5, a perforated ergonomic slide with flashes of silver in the sole – no doubt coming to a poolside near you soon. 

Emporio Armani 

Giorgio Armani noted that this season he was thinking about the idea of lightness, not simply in the collection’s texture, but also in the conception of a wardrobe which encapsulated the freedom of dressing for the summer months – ‘the sheer joy of dressing for the season: choosing clothes and accessories to thrown on without too much thought’. Ease, therefore, defined the season’s offering, communicated through riffs on the shirt, the garment which Armani said was the nexus of the season (often both shirts and trousers were cut from the same fabrics). The desire was to create pieces which barely touched the skin – loose-fit tunics, unstructured tailoring, details which included ties, slits, openings and cuts – allowing the body to breathe. Around the showspace at Armani/Teatro was a woven motif reminiscent of a basket; Armani noted that he sees Emporio as ‘a container of possibilities’, here providing a gamut of carefree looks for the year’s warmest months. Or, ‘a basketful of summer,’ as the house described. 

Dolce & Gabbana

A journey into the Dolce & Gabbana archive provided the starting point of a collection which saw items of clothing from the brand’s history – reworked from the years 1990-2000 – return to the runway, alongside contemporary looks designed in the same spirit (the collection was titled ‘Re-Edition’). As such, the collection had the undone feel reminiscent of the eras referenced: cargo pants sliced away at the knee and worn with skimpy ribbed white vests, a T-shirt printed with the Virgin Mary and dotted with holes, denim washed, bleached and patchworked, or left raw around its edges. Tailoring provided a sleek contrast – whether a variety of riffs on the tuxedo jacket or blazers cut from lace or jacquard – while D&G waistband-branded underwear had a particularly 1990s flavour, completing a vision for the season where past and present intertwined.

Fendi

An exploration of freedom was also on the agenda at Fendi, ‘an ageless sense of freedom to play, as we rediscover the luxury of free time,’ as Silvia Venturini Fendi described. The house’s double-F logo spun above the showspace; its ‘upside down and inside out’ design used a metaphor here for the collection's looks, which were defined by a feeling of contrast, juxtaposition and play (‘a boundless exploration of style at the fulcrum between nostalgia and innovation’). In particular, the ‘reality and fantasy’ of denim felt definitive of the season, whether cut into roomy, workwear-inspired silhouettes, a frayed-edge denim version of the Fendi Baguette, or appearing as a trompe l’oeil print throughout. Elsewhere, there was an exploration of the quotidian men’s wardrobe – the familiar, reimagined – interspersed with the moments of play which have become Venturini Fendi’s calling card, from cow-print shoppers to bucket hats, sliced away across their tops.

Versace

High-octane fashion has always been Donatella Versace’s MO; for her S/S 2023 collection, which marked her return to menswear week, she riffed on house hallmarks in a collection which promised ‘classicism energised’. As such, an archival print which depicted the death masks of Pompeii provided the collection’s starting point, while models – which included the sons of a pantheon of legendary Versace supers, from Helena Christensen to Angela Lindvall – grasped urns in their hands, as if wandering away with classical treasures (others had miniature Versace plates hanging from their belts). ‘Contrast is everything to me, it makes you think and feel,’ said the designer of the collection, communicated through juxtaposed silhouettes: easy, oversized tailoring and airy silk shirts versus skimpy, flush-to-the-body vests, cut away across the back. 

Etro

Etro’s S/S 2023 menswear collection marked the final outing for Kean Etro after the announcement that Italian designer Marco de Vincenzo would take over as creative director this September (for now, De Vincenzo watched on from the front row). Before the show, each attendee was read a poem over the phone in lieu of a physical invitation; here, the collection riffed on what the notes described as poetry’s power to evoke the ‘utopian’. In practice, this meant a collection both poetical and sensual: billowing feather-light kaftans in the house’s signature prints and languid tailoring met skimpy swimwear and abbreviated mini shorts. It was a convincing offering for the season – particularly desirable in the weekend’s high-30s heat – and a fitting send-off for a designer who has defined Etro menswear for over two decades.

Prada

A paper-white set, evocative of the walls of a house, replete with giant windows and crisply folded gingham curtains, provided the backdrop for Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ latest collection (in keeping with the theme, guests, including current campaign star Jeff Goldblum, sat on stools crafted from cardboard). The collection itself, titled ‘Prada Choices’, was centred on the act of curating one’s own style – ‘the juxtaposition of elements and garments, fashioning an impression, creating style’. 

As such, the designers looked towards archetypal menswear garments – among them the suit and mackintosh jacket  – and fabrics, like denim and leather. They noted that the collection’s energy came from shifts and juxtapositions; the classic suit sat next to a mini leather short and matching vest, for example, and discrete four-button overcoats next to stone-washed double-denim. ‘The garments are classic, but their mix contradicts, making them exciting and new,’ said Simons in a pre-prepared quote. Miuccia Prada added: ‘So much that is the base is really a conceptual choice – a coat, jeans, a suit. They appear simple but are the result of a process… It is a combination of a long process of design and decision, and then of instinct. It is a matter of style.’

JW Anderson

An anticipated addition to the Milan schedule was British designer Jonathan Anderson, who brought his eponymous label to a warehouse in the city’s north-east. It is part of a plan to transport JW Anderson to various locations in coming seasons; here, this demonstrated the freedom such an approach can allow a designer, with Anderson positing a conceptual offering that began outside, models lounging on white plinths in the space’s entryway (their various, mostly-knit clothing was emblazoned with slogans like ‘see here at last is love’). Inside, garments had a playful flourish: bicycle handlebars and broken skateboards were strapped across the chest, T-shirts inset with the opened lids of tin cans, and barcodes peeked out from beneath torn-away denim jackets and trousers. Accessories were also joyfully idiosyncratic: bouncing slides covered in shimmering crystals, slip-on sneakers decorated with a self-portrait by Rembrandt – a print that also adorned boldly hued sweaters. The collection notes called the meeting of these disparate elements a ‘crash’ – ‘it is all very subjective, and rather puzzling, or defiant, or insolent’.

Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani finished on Monday morning with a rousing standing ovation, a fitting reminder of the incomparable status the Italian designer holds in his home city of Milan. For the occasion, guests had been invited into Armani’s inner sanctum – the house’s Via Borgonuovo headquarters in the historic 17th-century Palazzo Orsini – for an intimate outing in a specially constructed space in the building’s basement. Like at Emporio Armani earlier in the week, garments were suffused with a feeling of ease and lightness – featherweight unstructured tailoring, diaphanous collarless shirts, silk scarves twisted and tied around the next – though here Armani said he was interested in the way clothing is combined, with various pieces often layered into a singular look. Alongside a multitude of blue, shades of beige, white, gold and ecru were found throughout the collection, an echo of the room’s backdrop – a photograph of desert sands, caught in waves by the wind. 

Tod’s

Milan’s Villa Necchi – best known as the setting of Luca Guadagnino’s 2009 film I Am Love – provided the backdrop for Tod’s S/S 2023 menswear presentation, which highlighted the historic footwear brand’s styles for the season ahead. Titled ‘Shapes of Italy’, creative director Walter Chiapponi drew inspiration from the colours of the Italian countryside across ready-to-wear and shoes – a ‘palette of natural colours, taken from the summer landscape’ – while textured fabrics referenced ‘the browns of the earth scorched by the sun, the beige of stones polished by time’. Key pieces included anoraks and parkas inlayed with leather, rubberised raincoats and a new field jacket, while the T-shirt was reimagined in quilted cotton with an embossed logo. In terms of footwear, new styles numbered the Gommino Bubble (the iconic Gommino reimagined with oversized rubber studs), the Double Stripe (a version of hand-crafted rope shoes) and the Tod’s IT sneakers, arriving this season in new combinations of colour and fabric, in matching or contrasting shades.

Stay tuned for more Wallpaper* coverage from Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2023 

After two years in shallow waters, Milan Fashion Week is back in business for autumn/winter 2022 with a full-capacity schedule of 67 physical shows and a bevy of big hitters and first timers keeping the fashion pack on its toes. As well as welcoming Alessandro Michele’s Gucci back to the schedule after a hiatus, the hot ticket is Matthieu Blazy’s debut at Bottega Veneta.

Elsewhere, stalwarts Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Prada, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana are joined by young guns at Ferrari, Blumarine, Roberto Cavalli, Trussardi and Diesel. As they say, it’s all in the mix; here’s everything you need to know about Milan Fashion Week A/W 2022, as it happens.

Milan Fashion Week A/W 2022: Giorgio Armani

A voice of god came over the tannoy as the Giorgio Armani show was about to commence. An address from Mr Armani via a translator informed guests: ‘My decision not to use music in the show was made as a sign of respect towards the people involved in the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine'. His statement of solidarity preceded a catwalk with the clicks of cameras on the riser the only noise detectable. As the louche and languid silhouettes that he has perfected as his signature over his incredible career walked in silence, the show became symbolic of the importance of uncensored freedom of creative expression and of outspoken support. The designer has been equally vociferous and reactive amidst the pandemic, not hesitating to postpone shows over the last two years – most recently in January - when he’s felt it unsafe to hold them. Milan fashion week, however, doesn’t really feel like Milan fashion week without Armani and in returning this week he proved his presence is affirming in more ways than one.  

Ferrari

There are few things as universally associated with a country as Ferrari is with Italy. From its glossy scarlet red and the prancing horse to its history in Formula 1, it is synonymous with sports, salubrity and speed. They’re attributes that Rocco Iannone is determined to tap into in his role of creative director for its recently introduced fashion line that has a prominent position on the schedule. After debuting the line last year, this was the second show under his stewardship which is a hybrid between hype merch and high fashion. Satin boilersuits, trench coats with branded storm flaps, padded leather pants and bomber jackets embossed with the Ferrari monogram sat alongside knitwear depicting its equine logo in intarsia and waistbands bearing the brand’s name. Iannone said he wanted to ‘reinforce the idea that Ferrari is a system whereby aesthetic research is never separated from the ethics expressed in its history and values’ with this collection’.

MSGM

MSGM creative director Massimo Giorgetti has been stargazing. Inspired by ‘the recent discovery of a new celestial body whose existence had been predicted by mathematical modelling but never previously observed’ we were informed, he was destined to design a collection that was heavy on galactical glitz. The show notes relayed that the collection was a step out of the Milan favourite’s usual territory given its inclination towards minimalist tailoring and a darker, mooder palette, yet for all the stripped-back silhouettes it had Giorgetti’s unmistakeable idiosyncratic mark. Twinkles, more twinkles and lots of stars could be detected on everything – as plexiglass on dresses, showered on dropped-waist jeans and arms of blazers and woven into intarsia knits. Joining the constellation came firework prints on silk dresses and references to the celestial artwork from Bjork’s 1990s album covers on a stretchy jersey catsuit. ‘In recent years, I have looked to the sky on more occasion than I ever have done before,’ said Giorgetti. ‘It has been therapeutic, a diversion, even just a game.’  There’s plenty of fun to be had in these cosmic creations.

Bottega Veneta

Matthieu Blazy’s debut for Bottega Veneta was the hot ticket of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2022 as the long-term behind-the-scenes creative took the top spot. It was, he said backstage, about motion and emotion. ‘Bottega Veneta is in essence pragmatic because it is a leather goods company. Because it specialises in bags, it is about movement, going somewhere; there is fundamentally an idea of craft in motion. It is style over fashion in its timelessness. That is part of its quiet power.' This idea was realised in the most resounding way with a collection that was both technically brilliant and tantalisingly chic. It started off with what appeared to be a white tank and a pair of straight-leg jeans, but it transpired the trousers had actually been engineered from ultra-supple nubuck, printed in order to appear like denim. This engineering brilliance extended to oversized shirting, again crafted from paper-thin nubuck; thigh-high leather boots in the house’s signature intrecciato weave, woven as a single item; and asymmetric pinned-together mini dresses that had been printed three times, giving modern dimension and depth.

Elsewhere, embroidered sequined slips popped with tulle trim, A-line leather skirts were hemmed in leather fringe, and knitwear and double-breasted pea coats instilled a nostalgic note. Back to those bags: the ‘Kalimero’ bag was slung over the shoulder, while pillow bags were cinched and clutched. Deliberately presented on a cross-generational cast (‘It’s very important to think about who wears what and who has the money to afford it; I’m really against the idea of just youth,' Blazy relayed), the collection was something of a coming of age for the designer. ‘I really think [it’s] the right time. I feel secure enough, I know how to do my job, which is a job, so voila! I’m happy.'

Marni

On Saturday afternoon in an abandoned warehouse in the up-and-coming Segnanino district of Milano, Francesco Risso created a bamboo forest utopia and filled it with his Marni family. As with last season and his uproarious life-affirming performance, this was a theatrical exhibition of inclusion, body positivity and togetherness, where ironically, it’s less about what you wear but who you are. Staged in the round, models drifted among the audience followed by an electric-torch bearer lighting up clothes that appeared to be precious repaired relics, as though descendants of Titania and Oberon (a sentiment compounded by the spoken-word verse soundtrack). Post-show, the audience was fully immersed in a midsummer night’s dream as we came together with the stars of his show to enjoy a bountiful and sun-drenched banquet. ‘What do we need except what most needs us?’ Risso mused in a handwritten note to guests. As ever, this was an invitation into Risso’s authentic, free-spirited world and we were only too lucky to witness it. 

Dolce & Gabbana

If we didn’t already know it, Dolce & Gabbana affirmed it: sexy is back in Milan. The design duo were happily direct about it, sending suspenders and stockings as the show invite and informing us that “The main characteristic of this heroines is being sexy”). The collection, however was a sophisticated take on sensual. Black dresses featured satin appliqué so to resemble a corset, bomber jackets came with built-in bustiers, and cinched-waist blazers accentuated silhouettes. Later, the collection took on an imposing edge - with exaggerated wide shoulders and structured outerwear that was pulled up and over heads - and struck a playful note, too. The design duo has collaborated with the cartoon designer Gianpiero D’Alessandro this season that saw his cartoons appear on hoodies and t-shirts. 

Jil Sander

‘Sharp with an overarching feeling of elegance' is how Jil Sander chose to describe its A/W 2022 collection, and it was spot on. Watching husband-and-wife design duo Lucie and Luke Meier evolve the house codes that have been established under their helm makes for a schedule highlight that didn’t disappoint this season. Wool-bouclé skirt suits in ivory, forest-green and tobacco hues set the tone for a textural collection that would incorporate sleeveless coats crafted from Tuscan wool, cut-out pussy-bow dresses in mercurial silk, and quilted taffeta that featured hand-drawn zodiac signs. A knitted jumper-and-dress duo was hand-knitted from four different silk and wool yarns, and collarless, padded coats were belted with leather bow belts, while footwear, when not pointed cowboy-infused ankle boots, came in the shape of kitten-heel mules with paper-thin leather enveloping the foot. ‘Every silhouette is bold and inviting at the same time,’ read the show notes. They’re right every time.

Palm Angels

 Star-print trench coats, blaze-embellished bomber jackets, lamé PJ sets, and lamé-tweed tailoring: Palm Angels founder and designer Francesco Ragazzi piled on the glitz for A/W 2022. His message was ‘one of laid-back individuality' and it showed. This was a collection that looked like someone’s bonafide wardrobe rather than a collection ticking category boxes. Pieces mixing and melting together in an effortless way, the way they do in real life, with skater shorts, slouchy suiting, chunky knitwear and trench-coat silhouettes providing a constant nonchalant thread. Footwear, meanwhile, was courtesy of collaborations with Vans and MoonBoot, both of which felt so right for this mood. Ragazzi, said the show notes, ‘nurtures a fantasy that is real, with a dash of magic, inviting his angels to come as they are'. It sure looked that way.

Versace

Here’s what you need to know about Milan Fashion Week: the bustier is back in a big way and on Friday night Donatella Versace reminded the world that it is, in fact, her MO. Each of the 60 looks in her A/W 2022 collection came with corsetry; it was incorporated into suiting and puffer jackets, gave structure to LBDs, and featured on its own. It arrived in tweed and denim, in pinstripes and in satin, reframing itself as bonafide daywear, albeit super-charged. ‘Never shy or retiring, the Versace woman has a powerful and seductive sense of mystery, shifting in and out of sight,' read the show notes. Both revealing and enveloping, this sentiment spoke throughout the collection as models – a stellar line-up featuring the Hadid sisters, Precious Lee, Emily Ratajkowski and Avanti Nagrath among others – appeared in both contrasting layers of latex and tweed, and dripping in crystals in the barely-there. Elsewhere, Versace, ever ready to make a season statement, emblazoned T-shirts with ‘I love you but I choose Versace', and ‘Never too much Gucci', and adorned tailoring with chain belts dripping in the Medusa head.

Gucci

MIA from the Milan schedule for the last two years as it took its shows to faraway shores, Gucci returned to fashion week to Gucci HQ with an Adidas collaboration under its Bamboo-bag-clad arm. Fusing sport with haute, those famous three stripes popped up on knitted swim and baseball caps (the latter with front and back peaks) on cycling gloves and tennis headbands. Under the watchful eye of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky on the FROW, the stripes stretched to the  underarms of blazers with the Adidas crest on breast pockets, was blown up on shearling-trimmed capes, adorned the frilled waistbands of Victoriana dresses and framed the busts of hybrid zipped corsets with Gucci’s double-G monogram stretching around the back. Following the brand’s acclaimed North Face collab last year, expanding the Gucci vernacular with the sports juggernaut surely spells success.

Etro

Fringed macrame dresses, embroidered cutaway waistcoats, patchwork bombers: for her A/W 2022 show, entitled Etro Remix, creative director Veronica Etro embraced ‘a medley of textures and a mix of motifs and patterns, energetically assembled following instinct'. Etro isn’t lacking in the latter; this was a show that celebrated the house’s famous bohemian-on-life’s-road codes – see those floral jacquard catsuits, fleece anoraks with a magnified paisley motif, aviator jackets and lived-in denim shirts. Like many of the brand’s Italian contemporaries following the pandemic, there was an emphasis on the craftsmanship behind the brand. ‘Everything invites to be caressed, to celebrate the hands that made it: weaving threads, hammering metals, knotting ropes; a new take on arts and crafts,’ read the show notes.

Sportmax

In setting out to redefine the concept of ‘the femme fatale', Sportmax found itself in provocative territory. Citing paradoxical femme-fatale references – Hitchcock muse Kim Novak, Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger, the legacy of Jessica Rabbit, Rachael in Blade Runner, and Lilith, the ‘she-devil’ first wife of Adam (in Jewish mythology) among them – Sportmax’s siren was Tiffany from The Matrix-meets Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct. Which is to say this was strong and sexy with palpable undertones of sinister intrigue. Body-con bandeau dresses in glossy patent leather and all-over rhinestone were sculpted around the bodies of models and teamed with sheer tights and stilettos; strict suiting came shrobed in shearling; and dropped-shoulder leather dresses and built-in-bustier dresses (an emerging trend) were worn with animal-print boots and accessorised with vice-like arm bands. The lady was a vamp.

Missoni

If bath time is getting a little boring, look no further than Missoni: in pursuit of presenting a duality between privacy and the collective, the brand famed for its knitwear and zigzags delivered not one, but two sequin-embellished robes in the prerequisite Missoni pattern for A/W 2022 that will have you RSVPing, ‘washing my hair’. This sense of duality and opposing forces permeated the collection, picking up from where the brand left off last season (the first show since long-term creative director Angela Missoni vacated the role), resulting in a streetwear, workwear, beachwear mash-up that covered a lot of bases. Bikinis were worn with extravagant coats and snakeskin boots, boilersuits arrived in patent red and white leather, and baggy cargo pants and jeans loomed large. Elsewhere, macrame dresses and deliberately lived-in knits (‘to add an aura of affection') completed the line-up.

Tod's

The digital artist, Andrea Maria Colombo, was called on to create the backdrop to the Tod’s show; a multi-screen installation with visuals depicting the modern-day dolce vita, aka the brand’s enduring stimuli under creative director Walter Chiapponi. For A/W 2022, he sought to realise it in ‘uniforms of modernity, symbols of an Italian lifestyle where cultural heritage coexists with the pleasure of discovery and the surprise of innovation', informed the show notes. Outerwear took the limelight, with quilted and panelled trench coats with contrasting arms, XL knitted bomber jackets, sculptural bikers and capes that came quilted, knitted and with all-over embellishment. It was a play on proportion and materials that evoked the spontaneous spirit so synonymous with Italy but was rooted in versatile and technical construction.

Blumarine

Nicola Brognano, the new darling of the Milan fashion scene, is the man you have to thank for the current revival of the early Noughties in all its low-slung, butterfly-embellished, glittered glory. The Blumarine creative director attracted a cult fan base following his last show in September 2021, and they were out in force to support him this season. To this show, his third for the house, he brought a level of sophistication that shows he can do the luxe tailored thing and it’s a very deliberate direction to take, paying homage to the heyday of Juicy Couture. Here, catsuits were accessorised with diamanté buckles, waterfall ‘going-out' tops met handkerchief skirts, and satin shirts with in-built corsetry were worn with straight-leg jeans and corsage-embellished heels. Elsewhere, highly charged thigh-high stockings and leather suspender belts were countered with the house’s signature cropped cardigans, giving Cruel Intentions vibes that will have the new Blumarine cult coming back for more.

Emporio Armani

Mr Armani set out to redefine the concept of glamour at his Emporio Armani show, eschewing connotations of sparkle and seduction for ‘personal charm'. Printed puffas, jacquard knits, burnout velvet dresses sat alongside soft ribbed- knit tracksuits and their slouchy velvet trouser suits counterparts fusing familiar comfort with the jolt of energy for which this younger arm of the Armani empire is famed. ‘Sparkling explosions and frosting effects introduce and capture a new sense of glam,' guests were told, which translated to all-over sequin boleros and ra-ra skirts, glittering LBDs and palette-embellished shifts. Elsewhere, the show popped with abstract light-stroke prints, multicoloured patchwork coats, and blazers in bright green and bubblegum pink – all exuding Armani’s very personal brand of charm. 

Prada

‘A commemoration of life and living – of the occasion of the everyday, affording importance to each moment.’ Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented ‘An Ideology of Prada’ that looked to codes of the past and presented them through a pragmatic joint vision that saw a balance between delicacy and determination realised. The classics – white tanks, delicately embroidered sheer skirts, leather bombers and aviator jackets, and rich intarsia knits – came with fresh attitude and new proportions, with all-over sequined embroidery and space-age silver boots giving a strong hit of hype. ‘Tradition passes culture between generations – a conduit from the past to now,’ read the show notes, a time span that was echoed in the casting and crowd, too. Joining Kaia Gerber, Kendall Jenner and Euphoria star Hunter Schafer on the catwalk were Erin O’Connor, Liya Kebede and Arizona Muse, with Kim Kardashian – in head-to-toe A/W 22 Prada menswear – in the FROW.

Sunnei

Breaking news: running is the new walking. At Sunnei, the dynamic youthquake Milanese brand headed up by designers Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo, models sprinted down the outdoor catwalk (catrun?) after being dropped off by a line of Milan’s city taxis as we guests were asked to record the event on the slo-mo setting on our phones. The idea was to make us a part of the ‘performance… a moment of irony in the midst of Fashion Week craze, a little pause from the frenzy that pushes us through these times’. Both hugely entertaining and fascinating to watch, it did the trick. Checking back footage, guests were able to study the clothes in detail: the designers had honed their penchant for 1990s and 2000s nostalgia through tight jersey with diagonal zippers, 3D knitwear and fringed technical backpacks. ‘Crystallise the moment,’ guests were told. How clever.

Max Mara

‘How can we motivate people to want to invest in our world if there is no magic there?' asked Max Mara’s long-term creative director Ian Griffiths, backstage after the show. ‘I think especially with what we’ve gone through in the past two years, and what we’re still going through, people are looking for a magic ingredient.' The A/W22 collection he had just presented certainly had plenty of magic moments: see the signature Max Mara teddy bear coat reinvented as track shorts, huge skirts and even huger bumbags, and a line of exquisite tuxedo tailoring. Inspired by the modernist designer, dancer and architect Sophie Taeuber-Arp, the collection embraced the idea of ‘rationalism and pragmatism but with a folkloristic fairytale magic’, continued Griffiths; cue chunky intarsia knits with in-built arm plates, enveloping balaclava dresses and the famous camel coat modernised with quilted inserts that presented the idea of protection. 

Roberto Cavalli

Seduction, individualism and freedom were the buzzwords for Fausto Puglisi’s second outing for Roberto Cavalli on Wednesday night; stimuli that took him in a bondage-meets-1990s-grunge direction with heavy influence from Queen Elizabeth and high society. If it sounds like throwing lots of things at a wall and seeing what sticks, it turns out most of it stuck. Signatures of the house, like its cut-out dresses, were given a fresh invention with silver hardware; its animal print largely abandoned the ‘gala' territory with which it is synonymous and arrived in structured suiting with pops of green and yellow velvet; and a new Cavalli tartan popped up in mohair coats and capes, toughened up by chunky biker boots. Puglisi couldn’t resist a heavy line in ceramic floral appliqué and all-over encrusted diamanté – an ode to ‘the Porcelain boudoir of the Royal Palace of Capodimonte’, which we can just leave there – but this was a strong second outing that stuck.

No. 21

Oversized pea coats, bias-cut trench coats, gathered ruffled and laddered-knit pencil dresses, corseted shirts and sequined skirts: No21 creative director Alessandro Dell’Acqua served up a collection ‘to be shared in full by women and men’, said the designer in order to ‘rewrite in an up-to-date key of fashion’s now centuries-old techniques and vocabulary’. So, lightweight chiffon met substantial tweeds as diamanté chains swung from under wool-intarsia outerwear and weighty wool trousers and dropped-waist pleated skirts made for sumptuous winter foundations balancing the barely there. Dell’Acqua’s pursuit of ‘updating the language in order to obtain female and male figures that best reflect the times’ presented itself as fresh as well as perennially wearable. 

Fendi

You never know when a lightbulb moment might occur; for Fendi artistic director Kim Jones this season it was Delfina Delettrez – the brand’s jewellery designer and daughter of long-term menswear artistic director Silvia Venturini Fendi – walking into the studio in one of her mother’s printed silk shirts. ‘It brings me directly to the history of my family,’ Fendi enthused in the show notes. ‘I saw these prints on myself, Kim saw them on Delfina… there’s always a story behind each piece.' The print in question stemmed from former artistic director Karl Lagerfeld’s S/S 1986 collections for the house, which Jones – an archive enthusiast – ‘excavated' for inspiration. He coupled it with Lagerfeld’s A/W 2000 offering, which resulted in a collection of contrasts: sheer silk-chiffon wiggle dresses sat alongside stricter corseted counterparts; shaved shearling outerwear that gave the impression of fur flirted with leather trench coats and asymmetric bolero blazers; and peplum trousers and skirts introduced a utilitarianism to this otherwise delicate display. 

Stay tuned for more Wallpaper* coverage from Milan Fashion Week A/W 2022, as and when it happens.

When it came to the A/W 2022 menswear season in Milan, aficionados at home – and those watching IRL in the Italian city – had a sweep of style heroes to choose from. At Prada, a host of actors emerged from a futuristic illuminated tunnel at its Fondazione Prada Deposito space, including Twin Peaks’ Kyle MacLachlan, dinosaur-digging (and previously unofficial Prada mascot) Jeff Goldblum, Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders and Sex Education’s Otis Butterfield. Meanwhile, at Dolce & Gabbana, the label appealed to Gen-Z fans, with a performance from a sequin suit-clad Machine Gun Kelly. 

While the A/W 2022 season has been beleagured by the threat of Omicron and rising infection rates in Europe, a host of behemoth and burgeoning brands presented both physical and online shows from the Italian capital. DSquared2 celebrated its in-person return after a Covid-19 induced hiatus, and Prada presented its first physical menswear show under the co-creative directorship of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. Ermenegildo Zegna and MSGM favoured a digital presentation, as did JW Anderson, the British brand which had originally been scheduled to present its first physical fashion show in Milan - this will now take place in June 2022. 

6 key takeaways from Milan Fashion Week men’s A/W 2022

Classicism is back on the menswear menu

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, designers have postulated on the future of the menswear cannon, considering the relevance of tailoring and the staying power of relaxed silhouettes. At Prada, the Milanese label turned this concept on its head, shirking seemingly endless conversations around comfort and loungewear, in favour of a wardrobe firmly rooted in work. ‘The language of sartorial tailoring, a formality which confers an importance,' read the brand's press release, of a collection which welded the executive with the utilitarian, featuring exaggerated leather trenchcoats, asymmetric blazers accented with shearling armbands, hazard-hued slacks and glossy boilersuits. A vital accessory for your vending machine change? A triangle motif coin purse attached to your belt buckle.

At Fendi, Silvia Fenturini Fendi was also captivated by notions of classicism. The Roman house presented a ‘treasure trove of future heirlooms' that riffed on the elegance and sophistication of old world silhouettes: Vichy check tweed overcoats, boxy cropped tuxedos, pilot's jackets and short suits, imagined in raspberry, mocha, taupe and white. In a dandyish flourish, sweeping coats were pinned with shearling corsages, Mary Jane brogues buckled with wristwatch strapes and bags had evening time proportions.

Elsewhere, Aspesi's Laurence Steele was struck by archetypal silhouettes, combining finesse with function, while Brunello Cucinelli mediated between differing sartorial codes, presenting luxurious pieces from peacoats to down jackets, incorporating super fine wools, shearling and Prince of Wales houndstooth. Tod's took inspiration from contemporary Italian art, tracing the line of its A/W 2022 silhouette back to the country's creative cannon, with updated classics in forest tones like fur-effect bomber jackets inspired by the traditional lining of outerwear and cashmere gymwear. 

Deep burgundy and bold blue: choose your favourite hue

Flavoursome news for wine buffs: a deep burgundy bolstered the Milan catwalks, as demonstrated by brands including Fendi, Ermenegildo Zegna and 1017 ALYX 9SM. Zegna's meditations around the ‘new suit', featuring softly rippling tailoring, drew on an organic palette, terracotta and tangerine, while 1017 ALYX 9SM – which presented in Milan for the first time – drew on lilacs, cherry reds and nude. Elsewhere, oceanic blues were favoured, with Brioni's Norbert Stumpfl creating bold suiting, including daytime double-breasted wool suits and striking silk satin tuxedos in exuberant turquoise. 

Inspect your new errogenous zone

Skin was a central element of the S/S 2022 shows, and continues to take extrovert effect for autumn. The erogenous zone of choice for the upcoming season? A sultry sliver of chest. At Fendi, this was demonstrated with heart-shaped cut-outs on cable knit roll-necks and V-necks in cricket white and glittering raspberry. At JW Anderson - whose digital runway show reveled in party silhouettes, fantastical flourishses and an all-out abandon into weirdness, the chest was revealed in knitwear weaved into chunky loops and hula hoop hemline crop tops in bright paintbox tones.

Power to the shoulder

Designers weren't concerned with playing proportions safe for A/W 2022, serving up striking strong-shouldered silhouettes that even David Byrne would be driven to. You'll need to watch out for Prada's work-inspired power-shouldered trenchcoats when you're in the office. Ardusse's Gaetano Colucci was also inspired by the strong shoulder. The label's collection fluctuated between decades, drawing on the frilled prom shirting of the Seventies, grungey long-sleeve tees and Ivy League style of of the Nineties and the power shoulder tailoring of the Eighties, with bold blown up check mohair coats in a square silhouette. 

Meet me in the Metaverse

Brands continue to experiment with the physical and online worlds: JW Anderson and Dolce & Gabbana recently launched NFTs, Phillip Plein accepts cryptocurrency, and glitchy, pixelated prints abound in brands collections - just look to the checkerboard and graffiti prints at Dolce & Gabbana. At Fendi – a brand that continues to experiment with the tech accessory world – the label teamed up with Ledger Nano X, on a Baguette bag shape that incorporates digital hardware wallet for cryptocurrency. JW Anderson also experimented with the digital realm. In anticipation of the brand's online show, the label released short films of female avatars sporting its A/W 2022 designs, jumping from the screens of iPhones and springing on stars. Video also unveiled blinking eyelids accented with bold make-up, with a JW anchor monogram logo at the centre of their pupil. 

Adventure is always on the cards

Happy campers have even more reason to be cheerful, as a host of brands celebrated the great outdoors, revelling in a nomadic and adventurous spirit. DSquared2 went wild with layered silhouettes that nodded to a range of outdoor pursuits from rock climbing to camping, to bouldering and birdwatching, with ponchos and sequinned cagoules, snuggly sleeping bag coats and quilted shorts, that riffed on the high-tech and the hippy. Missoni was also about high altitude. The brand's Mountain Calling capsule collection features psychedelic Nordic knits, featuring alpine scenes and a trippy logo. Etro too inclined to the outdoors, with a collection featuring wolf, fox and snowflake intarsia knit jumpers, jewel tone raincoats and puffers, plus velvet robe coats for a more resplendent take on around-the-campire dressing.

Technical outerwear specialist C.P Company, which continues to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary milestone and is fresh from a collaboration with Emporio Armani, also hosted the exhibition ‘Cinquata', featuring seventy iconic archival designs, sketches and memorabilia, that have defined the label's half-century. A-Cold-Wall also presented a digital film revelling in the label's performance and sportswear tropes, featuring striking foiled trousers and tracksuits swathed in paint, inspired by building materials like clay and plaster. 

Ciao from Milano! Mere weeks after Salone del Mobile 2021, the Italian fashion capital’s show season is back with a bang, with S/S 2022 serving up IRL and digital experiences, from a host of behemoth and burgeoning brands, from Fendi to Andrea Adamo, Prada to Sunnei, across a plethora of landmark locations. It's been 18 months since Milan hosted such a bumper week of shows and presentations. Here's everything you need to know about Milan Fashion Week S/S 2022, as it happens.

Versace by Fendi – Fendi by Versace

Rumours swirled throughout Milan Fashion Week of a link-up between Italian behemoths Fendi and Versace. In an intimate show, the two labels unveiled an offering rich in maximalist motifs idiosyncratic of each house – Versace safety pins, chainmail and baroque Le Greca print, Fendi silk faille, double FF monogram and soft shearling – that featured not one collaborative collection, but two: Versace by Fendi and Fendi by Versace. In both offerings, designed by Kim Jones and Donatella Versace, brand signatures morphed into modern markings: the FF and Versace logos were reimagined as a double-branded print on a trompe l'oeil denim suit, a foulard silk bomber jacket, a shaved shearling trench coat. Fendi's ‘Baguette’ bag featured a Versace Medusa head clasp and safety pin details. ‘Fendace is Fashion with a capital F – and a capital V. Together they stand for Freedom, Fun and Virtuosity,’ read the Versace and Fendi show notes.

Gucci

Gucci forwent a fashion show, in favour of launching its latest project Gucci Vault, a creative-laboratory-come-online-space which boasts a range of limited pieces from emerging brands, plus pre-loved vintage Gucci items source by the brand's specialist in-house archvists. This digitial platform, designed to celebrate upcoming talent and the longevity of rare design, features collaborations with a host of global labels, including Stefan Cooke, Collina Strada and Rave Review and is impactful way for a luxury brand to create dialgoudes with other emerging designers. Says creative director Alessandro Michele, ‘Vault is the place where wonders will hybridize and come together, giving life to new creations. Gucci’s greatest gift, in the end, is to never stay the same; to never grow old.'

Giorgio Armani

Milan Fashion Week marked the 40th anniversary of Giorgio Armani's more youthful label Emporio Armani, a celebration inaugurated with the opening of the exhibition ‘The Way We Are’ at Armani Silos. On the final day of the season, Giorgio Armani presented an ode to sun-drenched escape, with a collection brimming with oceanic and sunset hues, featherlight and glittering fabrics, relaxed tailoring and embellished evening wear. Double-breasted blazers were paired with ballooning trousers, skirts swished with stripes, sportswear and gauzy gowns were imagined in the brand's signature greys. Asymmetric suiting shone in cornflower and magenta, cocooning skirts were swathed in abstract florals and waistcoats shimmered with beading. Escapist, ease-fuelled elegance.

Dolce & Gabbana

The Y2K spirit has swept the S/S 2022 catwalks (just look to Blumarine and Missoni). It's an era that Dolce & Gabbana dialled up for spring, with a collection brimming with optimism and energy, embellishment and exuberance. Wild animal motifs, camouflage, cascading crystals, baroque prints, chainmail, bright beading, metallic fringing – details for S/S 2022 were dazzling and dramatic, featured across voluminous puff-shouldered jackets, mini skirts, party dresses and cargo pants. Jeans were layered with ‘Dolce & Gabbana’ branded boxer shorts, LBDs were designed in lace and with lingerie details, and body suits were bold in their skin-baring cuts. Models strode a gleaming mirrored catwalk, strutting to the pulsing beats of Black Legend's ‘You See The Trouble With Me’.

Salvatore Ferragamo

Salvatore Ferragamo returned to the historic Rotonda della Besana, where an interior was lined with geometric mirrored structures, designed to reflect the models and clothing on the catwalk. In a collection rich in texture, colour and summertime silhouettes that had an escapist, relaxed ease, Guillaume Meilland served up lean menswear looks, such as featherlight knitted T-shirts paired with relaxed suiting, and leather shirting paired with shorts, alongside womenswear ranging from plunging cotton sundresses, parachute-centric kaftans, zip-up playsuits and suede jackets. Bold tiger stripes, intricate knits and floral prints punctuated the collection, including a 1970s Ferragamo floral foulard repurposed by Parisian artist Julien Colombier.

MSGM

Designers have professed an enthusiasm for returning to Milan’s cultural landmarks, among them MSGM’s Massimo Giorgetti, whose brand is tied up with the typography of the city, and who showed its S/S 2022 collection outdoors in a park called the Biblioteca degli Alberi, or ‘Library of Trees'. This was an offering of bold, optimistic and easy silhouettes, that referenced the carefree attitude of the 1980s in Milan, the fashion of Fiorucci, the tones of ice lollies and fresh smoothies, and the ‘picnic posters’ designed by Steven Frykholm for Herman Miller in the 1970s and 1980s for the company’s open-air gatherings. Think flowing strawberry-print dresses, hybrid shell suits, Pointillist floral tailoring, ruffled shirts and slouchy denim, all paired with foam sliders or lace-up gladiator sandals with sporty ribbons. 

Moncler MONDOGENIUS

For Moncler's latest Genius spectacle, featuring innovative collections from 11 brands, including JW Anderson, Palm Angels and Hyke, the label staged an immersive phygital live-streamed event spanning five cities: Milan, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul and New York. In Milan, guests watched from a film studio location, as host Alicia Keys appeared IRL, interacting with Shanghai host Victoria Song via a huge screen, and presenting 11 collection films, which were showcased one by one. Spanning territories and time zones and a plethora of individually minded collaborators, the event tapped into a global, digital and diverse perspective, acknowledging its worldwide audience. Collection film highlights included JW Anderson's collaboration with Luca Guadagnino for a film titled Veronica, and Solange’s performance for Moncler 1952; the films were projected on screens in city squares including Times Square in New York City and Shibuya in Tokyo.

Ports 1961

‘Short. Sharp. Strong’, read the show notes that accompanied Ports 1961's S/S 2022 offering, a confident, assertive, rebellious and youth-focused collection, from stylist and creative director Karl Templer. Here, silhouettes were short –mini skirts came in supple leather and shimmering with studs; prints were bold – imagined as colourful splashes of graffiti, snakeskin and geometric panels; and accessories were emphatic – chunky, thick-soled ankle boots; and oversized basketball sneakers. Standouts include a leather trench coat laser-cut with ovular holes, and a bourgeois skirt suit – one of the archetypal silhouettes referenced in the collection – reimagined in black and white leather and thigh-skimming proportions.

Versace

Campaign star Dua Lipa dazzling on the runway, topless male models tugging on bell pulls from the sky, bold Versace silks billowing like flags in the breeze, chainmail, leather, neon, scintillating sex appeal – what more could you want from a Versace fashion catwalk show? After 18 months of standout collection films, the doyenne of drama Donatella Versace was back with an IRL bang for S/S 2022. Spring served up a vibrant, body-flaunting men’s and women’s offering, revelling in Versace signatures: cut-out tailoring securing with Crayola-coloured safety pins, draped dresses slashed to reveal glimpses of foulard silk, basketball vests and handkerchief tops paired with relaxed suiting, trench coats patchworked with the Baroque El Greco motif. Just like Dua Lipa’s album name, a flawless blend of Future Nostalgia.

Prada

Prada’s subtly subversive sex appeal is back for spring. Simmering seduction took centre stage at the label’s first physical runway show since Raf Simons was appointed co-creative director of the brand in February 2020. In a digitally-minded, forward-thinking runway show, that saw two simultaneous catwalks presented at the Deposito space of the Prada Foundation in Milan and in Shanghai's Bund One, models sported duchesse satin dresses in orange, sorbet pink and neon green, which were opened to reveal a flash of flesh at the back. Mini skirts trailed a train of fabric, mannish white shirts were boned with corsetry details, pea coats slouched in distressed leather, and once conservative button-up polo shirts were moulded around the bust. ‘Pieces trace ideas and outlines of dress – the memory of a train, the bones of a corset, the curve of a brassiere,’ read the brand’s show notes, of silhouettes that interacted with the body – reduced in structure and synonymous with seduction.

Sportmax

Motion has been on the mind for S/S 2022. Case in point: Sportmax, which looked to the creative interaction between composer John Cage and his longtime companion, dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, as inspiration. It served up a balletic collection, rich in fluid, draped and voluminous silhouettes, spanning nudes and soft pinks and bolder lilac and magenta. Taffeta dresses fell softly from the shoulder, corsets were imagined in delicate net tulle, jackets fastened across the body with soft bows, and chunky flatform sandals laced around the ankle with silk ribbons. Poetic and pretty, easy and elegant, contemporary clothing for life on the move.

Missoni

Sex appeal hasn’t been understated for spring. Body-flaunting forms defined the debut catwalk collection of new Missoni creative director Alberto Caliri, who delivered bold, seductive looks which tap into S/S 2022’s youth-focused insouciantly sexy mood. Torso-revealing knits and patchwork body suits, in Missoni's signature chevron stripes and colourful hues, were paired with slouchy denim, zig-zag and zebra-print weave dresses were daring in cut-out details and bikini tops were layered with oversized shirting. Fabrics glittered and the skin shimmered. Missoni's spring woman is prepped for a party en plein air, and she's anything but a wallflower. 

Tod’s

A sportswear-centric ease defined Walter Chiapponi's most sophisticated offering for Tod’s to date. In a collection revelling in luxurious, naturalistic and bold tones, subtly space age padded jackets traced the contours of the body, decolletage-flaunting A-line dresses skimmed the thigh, and shirt dresses curved with balloon sleeves. Focus on fabrication and handcraft was key as cowl-neck T-shirts and cropped jackets were imagined in buttery leather, asymmetric blazers in dark denim, and mini-dresses, polo shirts and gently flaring trousers in colourful intarsia knits and with densely fringed details. ‘Sartorial design and materials from jersey to the finest leathers are used to construct a wardrobe that has a desire for relaxation, but at the same time exalts good taste and quality,' read the brand's show notes.

MM6

For many, Fashion Week has offered the experience to reconnect with peers, and experience a sense of immersion within the creative scene. For S/S 2022, MM6 was inspired by the sense of people coming together in the bars and restaurants of cities, and the 'surreal, cinematic experience of seeing faces from different walks of life once again come together in the same place'. Bringing together notions of the familiar, exalted with aesthetic references to surrealist artists Claude Cahun, Leonora Carrington and Dorothea Tanning, models sported tuxedo suits paired with checkerboard sweaters and floating collars, sheer spider web-shaped dresses and balletic pleated calico skirts paired with optical body suits. Silhouettes draped and tied around the body, forms were deconstructed, leather-effect fabrics imagined in metallic and distressed tones, and accessories blown up to bulbous proportions, like Derby shoes with swollen soles.

Blumarine

A yearning for Y2K has been prevalent in recent seasons – noted in the body-con skimpy silhouettes and lingerie fabrics on the S/S 2022 catwalks. It's a The Simple Life-centric aesthetic made most explicit by Blumarine’s Nicola Brognano, who was made creative director of the label in 2019. For spring, the brand served up a collection of candy-coloured, skin-flaunting, wispy silhouettes suitable for Gen Z It-girls everywhere, featuring denim hot pants, candy floss pink biker jackets, trompe l'oeil denim dresses, beaded crop tops and fur-lined cardigans. This look is unabashed, unapologetic and revelling in bad taste. If the butterfly-motif, crystal-sparkling accessories aren't enough for you, a pedigree dog is sure to set off the Blumarine silhouette. The collection's stylist Lotta Volkova had her poodle Dima backstage.

Emporio Armani

Emporio Armani is a brand emblematic of the city of Milan, and in the midst of its landmark 40th anniversary celebration. At the brand’s Tadao Ando-designed Teatro Armani show space, a celebratory decade-spanning film opened the S/S 2022 catwalk show, charting Emporio Armani’s impact on global fashion worldwide: its attention to tailoring, sensuality and style. For spring, Mr Armani imagined a desert adventure culminating in a colour-drenched oasis, with a men's and women's collection swathed in sandy hues, refreshing blues and jewel-tone greens and reds, featuring deconstructed denim and signature soft suiting, relaxed sportswear and embellished evening wear looks that sashayed down the runway drenched in beading and sequins. An exhibition charting four decades of the brand is housed opposite the Armani Teatro in the Armani Silos space, brimming with extensive historic imagery, archive pieces and an extraordinary sense of achievement.

Etro

In their out-of-office inspired, escapist attitude, brands are dipping across decades for inspiration. Cue Veronica Etro, who for S/S 2022, seamlessly blended the tropes of 1970s and 1990s dressing, with a collection of glamorous, insouciant, holiday-ready looks, swathed in embellishments ready to jangle on the shores of sandy beaches or on an open-air dance floor. To the transportative sounds of Moby and Massive Attack, models walked the catwalk sporting pieces riffing on bohemianism and sportswear, from floral polo necks paired with chainmail mini skirts, to slouchy denim sported with colourful crochet bras, sarong skirts teamed with cropped bomber jackets and fluid dresses revealing flashes of torso. Modern, soulful silhouettes made for an adventure-filled, glittering escape.

Boss x Russell Athletic

Baseball fans, buckle up. In celebration of their latest collaborative collection, Boss and Russell Athletic took guests to the Kennedy Sports Centre, where an immersive sports game-cum-catwalk show ensued. Cue guests munching on mini pizzas, ice cream and hot dogs and sipping beer from the bleachers as a brass band blared ‘Eye of The Tiger’, cheerleaders performed nail biting twists and turns, dancing popcorn and baseball mascots whipped up the crowd, and a smoke canister-wielding flash mob made their debut. The collection designed to knock it out of the park? An offering of sporty, varsity-inspired men's and women's silhouettes sure to drive Gen-Z wild, including check baseball jackets, bright jersey shorts, baseball-stripe crop tops, slouchy tailoring and puffer jackets. TikTok creator Khaby Lame, who has attracted 113 million followers in just 18 months, also made his runway debut.

Max Mara 

Escapism has been high on the agenda for spring, and Max Mara’s Ian Griffiths dived into the sun-drenched seductive pages of Françoise Sagan’s famed novella, Bonjour Tristesse, written in 1953 by the then 18-year-old Françoise Quoirez under a pseudonym, reimagining the wardrobe of a stylish bourgeois rebel, holidaying in a secluded villa, tempted by casinos, speedboats and hedonistic exploits. This translated into a wardrobe of breezy, ease-fuelled pieces worthy of weeks on the Amalfi Coast and the Côte d’Azur, in sandy, sunburst, nautical, and deckchair shades – like striped boxy shirts layered insouciantly with mini skirts, modernist fisherman’s smocks, workwear jackets, denim blazers and long vests, in denim, canvas, gabardine and poplin. The only accessories for a budding Beat Generation writer? A thin Alice band, chunky-soled Mary Jane sandals, slouchy shoulder bags and the concept for a sell-out literary classic.

Fendi

Kim Jones looked to the spirit of the Studio 54 dancefloor for spring, referencing Jerry Hall, Tina Chow, Pat Cleveland, Bianca Jagger and Grace Jones as inspiration. An abstract figurative illustration by Antonio Lopez formed the starting point of the offering – one which celebrated the creative circle of former creative director Karl Lagerfeld. This image was reimagined in intarsia leather, gleaming jacquards and engineered lace, tessellated across chubby fur coats, thigh-high boots, body-hugging mini dresses and gauzy silk gowns. The brand’s optimistic disco-age offering, which also marked Jones’ first live collection, was celebratory and joyful, also serving up silk suiting and fringed dresses in organic, metallic and exuberant hues. It's time to take your turn under the disco ball.

N°21

Shimmering sequins, frothy of ostrich feathers, voluminous folds of taffeta, gauzy layers of organza: the materiality of Alessandro Dell’Acqua's S/S 2022 show was idiosyncratic of N°21, a label that revels in glamorous embellishments and after-dark, boudoir-inspired tones, all offset with subversive sportswear and utilitarian twists. For spring, Dell’Acqua spoke of giving in to the temptation of design, flirting with couture techniques, intuition and hand work. Dresses and bomber jackets were imagined as chunky hand-woven knits, tailoring and athleisure tropes were juxtaposed with going-out pieces – think jersey crop tops paired with plumed wrap mini skirts and silk negligees emblazoned with varsity typography. Dell'Acqua is the master of bringing a relaxed contemporary ease to seductive dialled-up dressing. What could be a more fitting style mantra for 2021?

Jil Sander

Think of Jil Sander's S/S 2022 show as an ASMR experience for fashion obsessives, featuring a collection that revealed the sounds of crisp denim and textured leather, jangling sequins, swishing feather-light silk and tactile bouclé. Smocking, cording, padding and coating were all details noted in Lucie and Luke Meier’s S/S 2022 offering, which drew on the duality of dressing, featuring graphic lines, diaphanous shapes and fluid forms. Deckchair-striped dresses were draped around the body, chunky crochet polo shirts were paired with loose denim, trousers sparkled with delicate floral sequins, and oversized suiting was secured asymmetrically across the frame. The designers also spoke of not taking themselves too seriously, an approach exemplified by details riffing on good taste, including tiger print and crystal embellishments.

As fashion journalists spend another season taking in fashion shows remotely, through a screen, there’s been much chatter behind the scenes regarding how they might emerge style-wise next season, when there’s a chance of shows being staged with a live audience. There’s the suggestion of a new Roaring Twenties, which will see people around the world glammed up as they emerge from lockdown, wearing bold outfits and eschewing loungewear and flat shoes for evening looks and stilettos. There’s also the parallel concept that after a year of yearning only for cosy silhouettes, we may simply never want to dress up again.

As in New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week before it, Milan's designers mused on these concepts for autumn, creating collections and tying together 2021 trends that swung between romp and relaxation, extravagance and ease. Authenticity was also integral to a host of Italian brands, conscious that when consumer attitudes shift towards spending once more, people will be keen to buy from brands with long-lasting aesthetics. 

This concept was paramount to Kim Jones, who presented his heritage-nodding debut women’s collection for Fendi, following his first, Bloomsbury Group-themed haute couture collection for the Roman house earlier in February. Jones looked to the archival designs of Karl Lagerfeld, who was creative director of the house for 54 years, and the wardrobes of the five Fendi sisters, with a collection brimming with elegant, ladylike and luxurious silhouettes. Think cappuccino, khaki and midnight-tone slip dresses, tuxedo jackets, tailored coats and body-hugging knits, in luxurious fabrics including marbled silk, double cashmere and organza, and adorned with details of the past, such as Lagerfeld’s ‘Karligraphy’ monogram and the embossed stitching of the brand’s ‘Sellaria’ bags. The show’s accompanying set, an evolution of its haute couture set-up, also alluded to the past, featuring F-shape transparent vitrines, with crumbling columns resembling Roman artefacts inside.

Max Mara’s signature camel tones have reinforced its reputation for timeless, trend-subverting dressing, a concept that resonates strongly today. For the brand's 70th anniversary collection, creative director Ian Griffiths celebrated the classic house tones with an offering of elegant yet easy Italinate pieces, such as caramel teddy bear-fur coats, outdoorsy quilted gilets, loose knits and pleated skirts. Griffiths also applauded the ascendant nature of the women that wear his clothes (back in 1951, in contrast, the brand's founder intended them for ‘the wives of the local notaries and doctors'). In a playful twist, the collection referenced the stylings of the British aristocracy off duty in the British countryside, featuring flat caps, foulard headscarves and oversized retro sunglasses.

Brunello Cucinelli also celebrated natural tones, broadcasting his brand's show live from its home village Solomeo. The offering luxuriated in creams, beiges and browns, featuring relaxed yet sumptuous silhouttes, including 1980s-inspired suiting, textural knitwear and robe coats.

Post-pandemic, as people consider their fashion choices, many will desire eye-catching silhouettes that still retain the ease of lockdown dressing and the luxurious nature of its fabrics. For A/W 2021 Loro Piana considered this requirement, with an offering that catered to work, leisure and beyond. Think shearling coats, uniform-centric knitted two-pieces, sharp overcoats and double-layer parkas in a spectrum of rich hues, from bottle green to chocolate, merlot to mustard.

This sense of comfort was also reflected by Tod's Walter Chiapponi, who served up a collection of soft, bourgeois-meets-sportswear shapes, including frilled puffer jackets, jumbo-corduroy trousers, padded dresses and pleated skirts. Similarly, Missoni drew on movement and the comfort of its knitwear heritage, creating sparkling-stripe pleated dresses and chevron-stripe knitted flares and cardigans – for looking and feeling good in.

For Prada's Milan Fashion Week menswear show back in January, co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons mused on the restrictions encountered during the Covid-19 era, as well as the liberation from conventional routine that lockdowns have also brought. The brand's women's show evolved this concept with an offering that considered polar opposites, and ‘the point between simplicity and complexity, elegance and practicality, limitation and release'. In the same OMA-conceived show set (myriad graphic interconnected rooms lined with tactile fake fur) models sported pieces that alluded to Simons’ and Miuccia's design canon, like oversized nylon MA-1 bomber jackets with retro jacquard linings, faux fur and sequin wraps clutched around the shoulders. Standard dressing codes were subverted, with tailored peacoats imagined in paint-box hues, body-hugging evening gowns replaced with knitted all-in-ones and conversative tailored skirt suits spliced to reveal the body. There was an exuberance and ostentation to the collection, which shimmered with paillettes among shaggy faux fur and bold upholstery prints.

Where Prada subverted and played with the parameters of dressing up, so No 21's Alessandro Dell'Acqua celebrated them in all their going-out glory. Dell'Acqua is clearly ready to shake off his sweatpants and, for A/W 2021, created a collection that swapped bedroom comforts for something a touch more boudoir. For women, there were fringed dresses that revealed lace knickers, leopard-print pencil skirts and stomach-baring sweaters. Dell’Acqua brought together ultra-mini 1960s skirt lengths, shrunken peacoats and platform shoes, and paired them with grungey separates, like plaid shirts that were slung on top of revealing bodysuits.

At MSGM, Massimo Giorgetti also made a case for going-out gear, with a collection that celebrated the underground nightlife of Milan, featuring latex pencil skirts and puffer jackets, rib-knit velour dresses, paint-cracked denim and holographic roll-necks, all in vibrant tones. Dolce & Gabbana, too, was in the mood for club-kid fashion. While the brand's A/W 2021 menswear collection nodded to the exuberant e-boy fashion made famous on TikTok, the women's kaleidoscopic offering addressed the e-girl, and abounded in 1990s raver silhouettes, with graffiti-splattered puffer jackets, foil jeans and shaggy leopard-print knitwear. The collection also alluded to the body-cinching shapes that Dolce & Gabbana was renowned for in that decade, with ruched dresses, bodysuits and form-flattering, double-breasted jackets.

Across fashion cities, designers have mused on the new requirement to create clothing to be viewed digitally, through a screen, rather than in person. At Marni, Francesco Risso's imaginative runway shows – resembling other-worldly greenhouses or forestscapes formed from paper – are a way of welcoming his fans into his art-inflected, ecclectic world. For A/W 2021, he used Instagram to invite show watchers to three Zoom events, a breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Here, he presented clothing that was a hyperbolic, larger-than-life interpretation of designing for digital, with oversized puffer jackets swathed in shaggy fake fur, crochet two-pieces and tie-dye knitwear. Ruffles, ruching and multicoloured prints, along with bags blown up to XL proportions, appeared larger than life no matter how small the computer screen. 

In 2020, Giorgio Armani was the first designer to cancel his fashion show on the final morning of Milan Fashion Week, due to the increasing threat level of Covid-19. As regions around Milan began to close their borders, journalists travelling home or straight on to Paris began questioning their safety and considering the reality of a European lockdown. On Giorgio Armani’s A/W 2021 catwalk, there was a fluid relaxation to the silhouettes. The collection includes relaxed suiting in velvet and explosive floral jacquards and gowns in wispy transparent fabrics. There was an optimism in the bold blue and turquoise hues that accented the offering, which riffed on powerful 1980s tones. 

The 1980s was a decade that also inspired Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli. He referred to his decision to stage his A/W 2021 show in the empty auditorium of the historic Piccolo Teatro di Milano, which has been shuttered since the pandemic hit, as ‘punk’. This attitude was echoed across a solemn, largely monochromatic collection that featured ultra-short ‘scissored’ skirt lengths, shirting and slick tuxedo suiting. Elsewhere, DIY and punk elements came in spliced knitwear, slashed into Argyle shapes or cut out into floral motifs; stompy biker boots festooned with rose petals; and boxy, studded accessories. The austere nature of the collection was emphasised by models walking to the sounds of the Milanese symphony orchestra. 

Salvatore Ferragamo is a label familiar with operating during hardship. Its founder famously innovated with materials due to resource restrictions during and after the Second World War, incorporating tree bark, hemp and fish skin into his shoe designs. For A/W 2021, creative director Paul Andrew was focused on shapes and fabrics for a new world, presenting Future Positive, a science fiction-inspired film, with ultra-modern menswear and womenswear silhouettes. Andrew looked to a range of cinematic references during the collection's development, including Gattaca, Until The End Of The World, and The Matrix. Suiting was deconsctructed and bold, outerwear imagined in transparent plastics, metallics and leathers, and footwear had a motocross-meets-astronaut feel. Andrew innovated with materials across the collection, which included accessories made from upcycled pre-consumer offcuts and recycled pre- and post-consumer wool and cashmere, a dress made from recycled polyester, and footwear soles formed using pre-consumer TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) and metal-free leather tanned with plant-based materials.

Sportmax also operated with futuristic intent, looking at inspirational female figures across history, spanning statues of mythological figures and Annie Lennox, to create a forward-thinking fashion statement. The brand's collection featured models striding in parachute-volume taffeta gowns, The Matrix-worthy leathers and sparkling silver dresses, paired with shield-like sunglasses and thick soled wader-centric boots. 

Ferragamo dedicated its collection ‘to all those who must walk' – citing its founder – ‘at a time when we must be united in our determination to reimagine, rebuild, progress’, it summed up the impetus behind Milan Fashion Week A/W 2021 as a whole.

Designers in Milan – with a substantial reduction of international visitors – held a fashion week of sorts, with a mix of real shows and virtual presentations, all of which were streamed on their websites and via their social media platforms, in a bid to connect with their international clients. For those actually attending (I counted just two editors from France, a handful from Germany, six from the UK, and no one from the US or Asia) it was all about masks, hand sanitiser, temperature checks, self-declaration Covid-19 forms, very last minute changes to shows from real to digital or from digital to real and location changes. As for the clothes, as a rule Italian designers are collectively wishful that S/S 2021 is nothing like the summer before it.

Fendi kicked off the week’s proceedings with a significantly sized down runway show, which marked Silvia Venturini's final solo outing, before KimJones joins the creative helm of the brand next season. The mood spoke of sophisticated comfort, with models including Penelope Tree and Cecilia Chancellor wearing floaty shirts printed with shadows of windowpanes, snuggly duvet coats and buttoned dresses in quilted upholstery satins.

The N°21 show, held in the brand's own Garage Ventuno showspace, was a marker of how fashion shows operate during Covid-19. In place of the usual benches chosen to get as many bums on seats as possible (until now, there was always room for another guest) were stacking chairs spaced around two metres apart in a diagonal format. If clothes are being designed for our new less social lives, founder Alessandro Dell’Acqua created good looking knits and sweats amongst the looks, but matched with marabou incase you get the urge or chance to dress up.

Dolce & Gabbana’s purpose built Metropole show space can seat more than a thousand, but its S/S 2021 show was reconfigured to seat 300 on rich brocade cushions. Unlike a show with a 1000 guests, it was effortless to get in, with temperature checks and hand sanitising stations plus guidance on how to leave after, similar to new disembarkation rules on aeroplanes, sector by sector. A little like the famous Ford Model T motto ‘any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants, so long as it is black,’ the message here was you can have anything you like as long as it's patchwork. This meant macro or micro silhouettes from mini dresses to caftans, signature sartorial tailoring through to highwaist jeans and sneakers imagined in brocade, lace, carré silks and denim. The brand covered all options for a summer of going out or staying in, depending which way the pandemic plays out.

Max Mara chose to show in the cloisters of the courtyard of the Accademia di Brera, and guests sat spaced apart on cubes, the preferred seating choice of the week. Protective Cloisters – of which Milan has many fine ones to offer – were to become the venue of choice seen also at Boss, Ports 1961, and Salvatore Ferragamo. Amongst the tailoring and coats that Max Mara is famous for, creative director Ian Griffiths interwove appropriate pieces for our changed lifestyle, like strong knits, raglan sleeve sweats, parkas, and sporty silhouettes made from thermo bonded lightweight technical jersey. After long periods spent at home the message was a clear: clients now expect comfort as well as style.

For his digital Emporio Armani presentation, Giorgio Armani hired directors Leandro Manuel Emede and Nicolò Cerioni to film ‘Building Dialogues', a seven minute film shot over three days outside the company’s offices adjacent to Armani/Silos and across the road at the Tadao Ando show space. Its architecture – which is almost entirely pale grey – formed an appropriately background for the collection.

Back in February, on the last day of Milan Fashion Week, Giorgio Armani, alone, decided to hold his fashion show behind closed doors and asked everyone already invited, even his VIP clients who had flown in to Milan expressly for him to watch it from their homes or hotel rooms. This season he streamed Giorgio Armani's show online and on Prime time Italian TV (adding around a million extra viewers). And with a larger audience in mind (who may find the average 12 minute show length somewhat short), it was preceded by a 20 minute ‘house made’ documentary called ‘Pensieri Senza Tempo' or ‘Timeless Thoughts', with archive footage of Armani fashion from 1985 onwards.

I watched ‘Building Dialogues' from the Armani/Hotel which reopened in July. Some luxury hotels, such as the Park Hyatt, have been shuttered for almost six months. It was also in my room where I watched the Prada show. It was odd to be in Milan and watch a show broadcast from three kilometres away and not actually be present. This was the highly anticipated debut collection of dual creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. Shot in a yellow carpeted and curtained room designed by OMA/AMO, models walked followed not by the eyes of guests but only the articulated robotic cameras. The show was followed by a Q&A session where Prada and Simons answered questions submitted from the public via social media, discussing topics around the importance of novelty, collaboration and what defines Prada-ness. The session was a much more comfortable and civilised way of learning about the collection than popping backstage for a bun fight to speak to the designers.

For his second season at Tod’s, creative director Walter Chiapponi opted to stream ‘The Song', a film directed by Antoine Asseraf shot at Casa Villa Necchi, where the protagonists including Karen Elson and singer Okay Kaya dressed up in suede, denim and frilled dresses and connected with each other over imaginary Zoom calls or face time links.

Sunnei – who just announced a new investment from Vanguards – celebrated Milan's summer spaces, inviting guests to the Lido of Milan in the north of the city. There, guests stood on designated circular markers inside an empty swimming pool (sheltering from rain with umbrellas) watching models wearing relaxed tailoring, caftans and loose dresses in the brand's signature bold hues.

Amidst Covid-19's new reality, designers are all looking for appropriate methods to show their collections. Francesco Risso, creative director of Marni, pulled off an most extraordinary feat, casting 48 members of his creative community for ‘Marnifesto', a film spanning locations from Tokyo to Dakar, with each model wearing one look from the collection that had been remotely fitted with the aid of video and local seamstresses. All 48 feeds were mixed live in New York, with each model setting out at the same time, filmed on a smart phone by their boyfriend, girlfriend or roommate at home, on the metro, in the supermarket or on the street. As I watched it at 4pm in a Milan cinema, Risso was sitting there too, seeing it for the first time. He'd gave up his creative control when he sent of his S/S 2021 pieces, passing the freedom of self-expression to the cast.

Moschino’s Jeremy Scott worked with The Muppets creator Jim Henson to create ‘No Strings Attached’, a fun and perfectly executed 40 look fashion show modelled by puppets, set in a tiny filmic couture salon set to schmaltzy classical music by Michel Gaubert. 

For Salvatore Ferragamo, creative Director Paul Andrew turned to film director Luca Guadagnino to produce a short film set in Milan. Although the men’s and women’s ready-to wear-and accessories were the focus, it was equally a homage to the city and its architecture. ‘Life in Technicolor', picked up the vibrant green, mauve, yellow and lobster in the collection and accessories, but also illustrated hidden colours found in the city.  The 40 looks featured in the film were also shown on the runway in the rounded cloisters of La Rotonda della Besana, the Florentine houses usual venue, albeit with a substantially reduced number of guests.

At Versace, the label presented Versacepolis, a show streamed live with everything aside from the usual audience (the brand decided a week before to run the show with no physical guests). Everyone participating from set builders to producers, models to hair and make-up artists, plus Versace staffers, had all been tested by the company as negative for Covid 19. The show, featuring both men and women was full of joyous colour and print. Stand outs were the pleated looks, plain or printed, with some sculptural ruffling nodding to Roberto Capucci. This was a very confident message. The brand is hoping their clients have reason to dress up next summer, those décolleté bra topped dresses are a little too saucy for Zoom.

The Ports 1961 show, held in the warm autumn sun of the cloisters of the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia was intimate for very few but filmed for a larger audience. Karl Templer wanted this collection to be tactilem ‘as touch is forbidden now and everything is on screen’, and with its classical references, spring was all about embrace and touch. Templer is optimistic about people still finding pleasure in dressing up.

Valentino is based in Rome and traditionally shows its men's and women’s ready to wear and couture collections in Paris. Exceptionally this season it came up to Milan to show in a metal foundry in the north of the city. This show was inside, with a small crowd in a enormous space, but safety was key so all guests (who all turned up in masks) were given a new FFP2 mask and asked to wear it for its duration. We were treated to a sound track performed live by Labrinth, while creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli offered plenty to like for real life including exclusive Valentino 517 boot cut jeans made in collaboration with Levi’s, which will surely get everyone wearing the styles again come spring, whether we have to stay at home or not. Piccioli paired the jeans with oversized mannish shirts in chiffon, taffeta and lace and accessorised with the new macro Rock Stud bags and shoes. There were of course some more dressy pieces including fluid long dresses and a chocolate brown slinky sequinned cape-shouldered and ribbon-sleeved dress. Even you don’t have anywhere to go or anyone to see sometimes its great to dress up just for you.

Given the past four months that Italians have lived through, any ability to return to a semblance of normalcy is just cause for applause. Earlier this month, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Trade Agency, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana did more than that by facilitating its first-ever Milan Digital Fashion Week to present the latest Spring/Summer 2021 menswear and men’s and women’s pre-collections from 42 brands on a dedicated digital platform.

For all intents and purposes, it certainly came close to feeling like a traditional fashion week, with shows scheduled on a structured calendar, even if there was a significant multimedia twist.

Two labels, Dolce & Gabbana and Etro, went as far as sticking their necks out to stage the first two in-person shows since February, with social distancing rules elegantly imposed. Etro, the first label to do so, chose the outdoor garden of Milan’s treasured Four Seasons Hotel (itself closed to visitors for just as long) as the backdrop for its vibrant, pattern-centric men’s and women’s pre-Fall collection. Dolce & Gabbana also stepped away from its regular indoor venue, and instead set its runway amongst the gardens of the Humanitas University to showcase its Gio Ponti-inspired collection. With guests generously spaced out in both cases, the shows were a tantalising precursor to how a return to in-person fashion week may look like come September.

For the most part though, video continued to prove its worth as the next best option in lieu of convening in person, with many fashion houses creating alternate realities for both fashion insiders and fans to dive into.

One of the week’s most resonant forays came from Prada, whose Multiple Views SS21 collection saw the house hand over the creative reins to five image-makers and artists; Terence Nance, Joanna Piotrowska, Martine Syms, Jurgen Teller and Willy Vanderperre, who each captured a different facet of the latest collection against an aspect of the Fondazione Prada. Subtitled ‘The Show That Never Happened’, the intentionally individualized five-part series opens with Vanderperre emphasising the label’s utilitarian, pared back aesthetic, which returns with prominence this season. Followed by Teller’s and Piotrowska’s contributions, which both show off the collection’s everlasting modernity, construction and abundance of quiet details, the series culiminates in Syms’ and Nance’s more stylized interpretations that highlight Prada’s quirky, intellectualized nature while still revealing an inherent whimsy.

Although seemingly discordant, the varied panoply captured Prada’s quintessence to a tee – minimalist and complex, classical and futuristic, all at once. Radical in its treatment of purity, yet also light-heartened at times, the collection and its presentation felt all the more significant given its standing as Mrs. Prada’s solo swansong before her collaboration with Raf Simmons as co-creative director commences next season.

Just as captivating was Gucci’s multi-dimensional film titled ‘Epilogue: Final Act of a Fairy Tale in Three Parts’, which sees behind-the-scenes footage from the shooting of the collection’s advertising campaign at the spectacular Palazzo Sacchetti in Rome (which was also live-streamed for 12 hours) layered with audio clips of Michele and an AI voice describing the inspiration and explaining the context for the collection, and images of the newest collection, novelly modeled by members of the Gucci design team. Spliced together with a surveillance-style treatment, the film’s engaging point of view not only offers viewers behind-the-scenes access to the creative process, but also comments on the industry’s cyclical nature – an aspect that Michele continually seeks to disrupt.

In the collection’s statement, he writes, ‘My fairytale in three parts wants to generate a questioning about the rules, the roles and the functions that keeps fashion going,’ adding. ‘The epilogue that I deliver to you really feels like an overture. A watershed that closes and opens at the same time, a threshold of a new beginning from which we try to imagine our tomorrow.’

This idea of rebirth and re-emergence was particularly palpable at Ermenegildo Zegna, Ferrgamo and Santoni, who all looked back to their origins to take stock of how far they have come. Zegna marked its 110th anniversary with a video reaffirming its past, present and future. Filmed at it historic wool mill and its surrounding nature reserve, the video combines sweeping landscape views of the Oasi Zegna, where the company has planted half a million trees since it was founded in 1910, with peeks of the inner workings at Zegna HQ as models pace through both natural and man-made environments in easy, generously tailored silhouettes.

Ferragamo asserted that it too had weathered the storm with a triumphant video combining snippets of its Hollywood-steeped legacy with proud demonstrations of its Tuscan heritage. Filled with highlights from over the years, its montage reiterates the house’s resilience and finishes with models donning its latest collection while basking outdoors amongst the trees and in the sea – a true luxury after living through weeks in lockdown.  

Santoni shared in these feelings of liberation by tapping the natural beauty of its Le Marche home region as backdrop for its newest collection. Its signature footwear and accessories are set against stunning swaths of the glittering Adriatic sea and bucolic countryside, with the tour also including glimpses of natural stone quarries and breathtaking mountaintops – unequivocally Italian and hard to beat.

The video medium was a particularly appropriate choice for Sunnei to unveil an experimental new offering, Sunnei Canvas. Comprised of 20 signature styles realized all in white, just like blank canvases, these pieces can be subsequently customized, according to buyers’ and boutiques’ wants and needs. Debuted on digitally engineered 3D avatar models in an anonymous virtual space, produced together with the digital studio Pezzo di Studio, the inaugural video presents the shapes, fits and fabrics that are up for modification and is part of an ongoing series that will be continued in September.

A final honorable mention goes to the British label Qasimi, whose evocative video portrait of its new collection eloquently blends tenents of its Middle Eastern heritage with a contemporary modernity, Spring/Summer 2021 sees the introduction of womenswear alongside to its menswear line. The collection also features details inspired by the geometric Al Sadu weaving tradition of the Bedouin people that has been adapted for contemporary use. Luxurious, yet relaxed silhouettes that offer comfort with their softly sculptural forms, are teamed with woven stripes, trim and embroidered panels to poetically distill the best of both worlds - providing just that dose of fresh perspective, which the industry needs.