Milan Men's Fashion Week Round-up

Milan men's fashion week has cemented itself as one of the most important platforms for designers and brands, where fashion, as an entity of creativity, and commercialism, are equal brothers. There is nothing quite like a tailored suit, handcrafted in an Italian atelier, with fabrics from one of the country's formidable weavers or mills.

Zegna

This was the case at Zegna, where artistic director, Alessandro Sartori, celebrated the unique characteristics of the most staple of summer fabrics: linen. The flax for Zegna's linen originates in France. After harvest, the fibers are sent to Italy to be transformed by their own mills into their luxury linen fabric range, called Oasi Lino. On the catwalk, the collection was executed in various lightweight suiting and sophisticated tailoring, in a palette from pale beiges and ochre to warm sunsets and navy. Leather jackets and accessories were equally soft, with Sartori having cleansed the silhouette of stiffness and instead bringing a relaxed sophistication to Zegna's loyal clientele.

Giorgio Armani

At Giorgio Armani, a singular vision of deconstructed tailoring has kept the brand in vogue throughout various ebbs and flows of timeless fashion throughout the decades. For Spring Summer 2025, Mr. Armani's first look on the runway, a patch pocket jacket in grey mélange over a jersey t-shirt and loose-fitting trouser, summarized the elegance of what it is to wear Armani. Whereas the looks skew younger and less classic at Emporio Armani, for SS25 certainly more skin was on show, the same softness and ease of silhouette can be traced back to its visionary founder. For all of fashion's fickleness, Mr. Armani's codes have never changed.

Dunhill

Elegance was also a mainstay at Dunhill, where refined British classics sang a stylish chord in the garden setting that doubled as a catwalk. Creative director Simon Holloway didn't need tricks or trends to show that masterful cutting, simple styling, and luxurious fabrics are what maketh the man. And while these are garments for gentlemen, it was not so posh that it is only a wardrobe for CEOs and James Bond. A car coat in double-faced linen or a suede caramel trench are the kind of staples that will remain wardrobe classics for many seasons to come. The bags and loafers were elevated to many a wishlist.

Prada

At the other end of the spectrum is youth, which in Milan is always a dichotomy between refinement and urban styling. Prada this season took to the latter, taking codes of the insouciant with cropped sweaters, shrunken shirts, and putting looks together in a simpler way. "Sometimes when you get older, you start to overthink a lot, and you limit yourself," co-creative director Raf Simons told reporters backstage after the show. "How fresh the mind of youth. When you're young, you just go — and we like that spirit."

This resulted in invisible wires sewn into shirts, to twist collars, shorten the length, and keep perfection askew. While it was a simple navy v-neck that opened the show, colorful macs with oversized buttons and sleeves cropped far above the wrist carried more a statement of being contrived than items to covet, even for youth. New footwear designs mixed a golf shoe with a mary jane shape, all tassels and buckles or flat with metallic toe caps. Wool herringbone and Prince of Wales check trousers were cut extra long, a juxtaposition with the cropped tops, showing a hint of belly. Having to devise a raison d'etre for each season's collection, mustering a purpose beyond clothes and dressing, is a task that all designers, high, low, established and new must contend with. Every brand has triumphs and tribulations, and Prada's proposition fell squarely into the latter this season.

JW Anderson

At JW Anderson, youthful dressing always comes with a cheeky wink. It began with the first look of an oversized duvet coat, complete with mattress stitching to the bulbous knitted sweater jackets, which featured giant crocheted string, but looked truly otherworldly worn with slouchy boots. Leather jackets featured exaggerated collars and shoulder covers, and a cascade of bows in rainbow hues ruffled from the neck to the thigh. Exaggeration, in fact, is key to Anderson's shtick. Sure sellers will include the Guinness beer sweatshirt, tunic, jackets, and the Real Sleep bomber. Anderson likes a slogan and has mastered the art of novelty without serving cheese.

Gucci

A plethora of super short shorts are the bottom half staple of Sabato De Sarno's Gucci collection, which took on a youthful yet sophisticated surf theme. Pointy loafers worn with socks took on a life of their own in memes on social media, but Mr. De Sarno has stuck to his ideas of executing wearable clothes, once the collection is unpacked. Graphic surf shirts, long sleeve polos in various textures and colors, and double-breasted soft shell suiting were all nicely crafted and styled. Mr. De Sarno has been slowly building the new Gucci, which against an avalanche of criticism from the media cannot be easy. A behemoth the size of Gucci has to sell, and so far, the accessories and fashion drops that have hit stores seem to be resonating with customers, if not the fickle fashion press.

Valentino

What did get the press excited was the unexpected look book unveiled at Valentino, where Alessandro Michele was not expected to show his debut collection until the womenswear show in September during Milan Fashion Week. Perhaps that is why Valentino called the Pre-Spring 2025 collection Avant les Debuts.

A total of more than 170 looks across men's and women's cemented a new journey for Valentino and laid the foundation of the maison under Michele's multifaceted eye. As has become his signature, a kaleidoscopic and whimsical approach informed the styling, and at first glance, would appear to be a similar aesthetic to Michele's designs at Gucci. But this is not the case. Valentino, first and foremost, is an haute couture house, with an atelier that can master the most intricate designs worked into the most precious fabrics. This takes Michele's blend of the ornate to a new realm of refinement without sacrificing beauty for the absurd. Mr. Valentino was never a minimalist himself, and if Michele can pull off a resort collection in just two months on the job, the expectations for the September mainline will be highly anticipated.