Fashion shows rarely run on time, as celebrities, press and buyers navigate the circus of photographers and crowds outside venues. But at Milan Fashion Week (MFW) Men’s this season, shows were surprisingly punctual due to a slightly quieter schedule. So much so that an abrupt start at Emporio Armani had some editors scurrying to their seats, with models fast approaching.
The timely start was reportedly following a call from Mr Armani himself, questioning why the show hadn’t begun. The 90-year-old designer is recovering at home after an undisclosed illness and did not attend the Emporio or Giorgio Armani shows this season, for the first time since 1975. News of his planned absence, announced by his team on Friday, sent ripples of concern through the industry: the consensus is that Mr Armani is Milan menswear. And as many major labels have opted out of showing in recent seasons, from Gucci to JW Anderson, Mr Armani’s two labels are a crucial pull.
Meanwhile, Prada, the other flagship brand on the schedule for Spring/Summer 2026, is undergoing changes. On the day of the show, Prada Group confirmed that the Prada brand CEO, Gianfranco D’Attis, will exit the company on 30 June. The announcement follows a plateau in sales growth for the brand for Q1 2025.
There may be whiffs of uncertainty at Milan’s tentpole brands. But even in the absence of brands like Fendi, Gucci and JW Anderson on the schedule, many buyers and press feel Milan’s rich presentation schedule makes up for a lack of blockbuster shows, and there’s no doubt the city remains the nucleus of menswear craft and manufacturing.
So there was plenty to see and do — both in Milan on 20 to 24 June and at preceding menswear trade show Pitti Uomo, which took place in Florence on 17 to 20 June. Here are our key takeaways.
Self-determined style
The Prada show spoke to a continued evolution of menswear, as brands combat the luxury downturn with a focus on practical, wardrobe-building pieces. This season, designers Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada didn’t want to overexplain. The set saw Fondazione Prada completely stripped bare, save for a series of fluffy flower rugs inspired by a print from the brand’s SS13 collection, and the show notes were unusually sparse. The collection was pragmatic, with tailoring and pea coats layered over earth-toned tracksuits (cropped and paired with loafers), nylon or canvas hiking rucksacks, and satchels in place of leather bags. In fact, there were no leather bags in sight throughout the show, which one editor referred to as a “recession indicator”.
At Dolce Gabbana, the show was dominated by striped cotton pyjamas, dressing gowns, sometimes combined with socks and sandals or flip flops that evoked a man venturing outside to collect a delivery or maybe grab some milk. Even the tailored looks, relaxed in silhouette, were layered over pyjama bottoms, with the waistband poking out like the wearer had gotten dressed in a hurry. The eveningwear section, typically reserved for tuxedos, featured pyjama co-ords, albeit with heavy embellishments.
“The overwhelming message we’ve seen [this season] is about self-determined style: designers and brands have created wardrobe-building pieces and prescriptive looks to help each person dress in a way that meets their specific needs and desires for self-expression,” says Bruce Pask, senior director of men’s fashion for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. Given the hybrid lives of many customers, their wardrobes need adjusting to meet these multi-tasking needs, he adds. “Many collections featured a flexible new uniform and the concept of ‘set dressing’ — a variety of jacket options, from softly tailored jackets to convertible sport jackets, shirt jackets, lightweight outerwear and zip jackets, paired back to matching trousers. We saw this concept throughout designer, tailored and sports collections, and featured at Canali, Marco Pescarolo, Slowear and many others. Ease is key.”
“This season wasn’t about a single item. The real takeaway was a collective reinforcement of values: quality, consistency and longevity,” says Simon Longland, buying director at Harrods, speaking of the shift. “That’s the message Milan delivered.”
Voyages, vacations and a nautical mood
Perhaps it’s the chilling nature of our reality, or a way of targeting the affluent Euro summer consumer, but designers offered escapism this season via collections inspired by travel, exploration and the great outdoors.
“The overall feeling [at Pitti Uomo] was one of escaping the city and an extended vacation, with more travel accessories, and raffia/woven-detail shoes and bags,” says Sophie Jordan, menswear buying director at Mytheresa. “There was a deconstructed take and a softness on the season as we walked the collections, driven by an elevation of fabrications; seeing more intentionally crinkled linens, lightweight silk blouson jackets and soft unlined suede sneakers.”
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Issey Miyake Homme Plissé, one of Pitti’s guest designers this season, propelled the vacation mood. Instead of its usual Paris Fashion Week slot (which has now been given to another Issey Miyake brand, IM Men), Homme Plissé will show at different locations across the globe, taking inspiration from each local environment. For Pitti Uomo, the design team visited Italy on several occasions, going out with a palette and paints, and colour-matching hues from their surroundings, be it buildings, trees or flowers.
The same vacation mood could be felt in Milan, via raffia hats at Setchu and Prada, gladiator sandals at Prada and Giorgio Armani, and at Paul Smith’s Milan debut, which was partly inspired by a trip to Egypt he took 25 years ago, as the designer explained via voiceover while the models walked the runway. Smith has shown in Paris since 1976, but after a guest designer slot at Pitti last season, he set his sights on Italy, showing in his Milan HQ. The collection was breezy, featuring short-sleeved shirts and shorts in vibrant colours and prints, while models carried oranges and lemons like they’d visited a cobbled street market. “The backbone to our collections is tailoring, and since Covid, the way people dress for work and life has changed,” Smith said post-show. “So, we have evolved some of our fits to be less structured… softer shoulders, baggy lined blazers etc — we have listened to what our customer needs from their wardrobe.”
The outdoors is another key inspiration for SS26, continuing a shift we’ve seen post-pandemic towards more technical clothes. Gorpcore continues to dominate men’s fashion, with a whole hiking section at the start of the Emporio Armani show and nylon camping rucksacks at Prada, alongside innovative outerwear collections from CP Company and Stone Island (the latter introduced water-reactive shorts this season, which turn camouflage when wet).
Nautical aesthetics remained a through-line between Pitti and Milan this season. At Pitti, tailoring label Kiton had a full-size yacht on its stand, with a pastel collection based on yachting attire, while Guess Man featured an entire collection based on sailing. Prada’s soundtrack was reminiscent of a sea shanty, as models walked the runway in boat shoes and gum-soled moccasins.
Footwear for all tastes
In Milan, there is also a growing focus on expanding the footwear wardrobe to allow the customer more personalisation for each occasion and specific need, Pask says. “Sneakers are still an important category, but we are also seeing an expansion of casual shoe options. Loafers that are comfort-driven and incredibly flexible due to their construction — epitomised by the hand-sewn process shown in action at Santoni and also seen at Tod’s and Church’s — have been a key style and offer variety to the customer, dressing up more relaxed looks and giving tailored clothing a nice ease.”
At Tod’s, footwear was a focus of the presentation this season, held as usual in Art Deco mansion Villa Necchi Campiglio, the brand transformed the orangery into a Roland Garros-inspired clay tennis court, to spotlight its gum-soled footwear range, from moccasins to sneakers. At the entrance, guests were greeted with a display of the brand’s signature gum sole.
Flip flops, which sparked debate just last week when Jonathan Bailey stepped out in a pair by The Row, were a trend of the season, appearing in neon green and pale blue at Prada; black fur at Dolce Gabbana. Elsewhere, gladiator sandals were paired with tailoring at Giorgio Armani and extremely short shorts at Prada.
New formats in challenging times
In today’s difficult macroeconomic environment, some Milan designers opted out of showing this season, or explored new formats to cut costs and/or create intrigue. At fledgling label Mordecai, designer Ludovico Bruno cast martial arts experts instead of models and held his show in a Milan fencing gym. Models periodically engaged in judo, before continuing to walk around the space in a runway procession, and the collection itself reinterpreted traditional judo outfits.
Mordecai is in its second season, and the designer acknowledges that it’s not been an easy few years for smaller Milan brands, as retailers pull back on orders. “With the problems we’re seeing in wholesale, we have lost some retail accounts,” he said during the presentation, “but we’re seeing growth in the US and Japan, so I’m still feeling hopeful.”
A Milan runway mainstay since 2021, Magliano created what designer Luchino Magliano described as a “sabbatical” collection this season, which was much smaller in scope; presented via a film screening on Saturday night in lieu of a show. “We meant it as a pause, a break from a routine that didn’t seem efficient,” the designer said the day after the screening. “The investment of a presentation is always a commitment in the economy of an independent brand… by committing to always doing something new and trying to avoid the fragility that comes from repeating the same formats.”
Shining through the gaps
The silver lining, when big brands drop off the schedule, is that it opens up space for others to make their mark.
In Milan, British brands helped fill some of the gaps. Alongside Paul Smith, many editors and buyers noted Dunhill as a highlight, while Vivienne Westwood staged a standalone menswear show for the first time since 2017. Held at traditional Milanese cafè Bar Rivoli, the latter handed out espressos and biscotti before launching into a disruptive, eclectic show, with men in towering platforms, sharply tailored suiting and printed catsuits exposing their abs. “Our menswear is an important part of what we do, and we want to show that,” said creative director Andreas Kronthaler post-show, when asked why it felt like the time to do a menswear show once more. “Nowadays, there is a return to a more tailored look, which has its origins in menswear and that’s why perhaps there is more of an interest in menswear again, for us anyway.”
“I like that Vivienne Westwood was back in Milan,” says Vogue Runway’s Tiziana Cardini. “It made for an exciting addition to a [sparse] fashion week. I hope they will keep showing.” She also noted Japanese designer Setchu, who made his debut this season, as a standout show.
Cardini also points to Fondazione Sozzani as a much-needed hub for emerging Milan talent. The Fondazione collaborated with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana this season, supporting artisanal Italian brand MTL Studio and headwear brand Agglomerati to show/present. The organisation also hosted shows from other growing brands in their showspace, including Pronounce and David Catalan.
He may have been around since 2009, but Milan-based tailor Umit Benan was arguably the breakout star of MFW Men’s this season, noted by buyers and editors alike. The designer, who is stocked at Mr Porter, alongside his made-to-order business, stopped showing in 2016, but this season held appointments to celebrate his new showroom, presenting what Mytheresa’s Jordan described as “one of the most thoughtful collections of the season”. “There’s a clarity to his vision that feels fresh and confident. It’s the beginning of a lifestyle brand that could have real staying power — a modern classic in the making,” she says.
Pitti helped to bolster the mood, with four guest designers this season instead of three. Alongside Issey Miyake Homme Plissé, the event featured shows from Japanese label Children of the Discordance, South Korean brand Post Archive Faction (PAF) and local designer Niccolo Pasqualetti, who is from a Tuscan small village not too far from Florence.
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“What emerged [this season] was a renewed focus on sartorial finesse, technical fabrics and a lifestyle-led approach to dressing. Italy continues to lead when it comes to mastering elegance, material innovation and the needs of a sophisticated, grown-up customer,” says Harrods’s Longland.
It’s tempting to compare Milan to Paris, and this season the latter is brimming with big shows and debuts. But Milan will always be central to menswear design, regardless of the ebb and flow of brands on the show schedule, says Vogue Runway’s Luke Leitch. “It s a different vibe here,” he says. “You know, I recently heard someone joke it s lucky Leonardo painted The Last Supper on a wall, otherwise we d have to go to Paris to see that too , but the truth is that Milan holds up for itself pretty well. Consider that Milan Fashion Week is part sponsored by ITA, the Italian national trade agency. The reason for that is that Italian fashion is a €65 billion export industry, which is much larger than France or the UK. So even if the hype is happening in Paris, the supply chain leads back to Italy.”
Others are rooting for some more mainstays on the show schedule, to complement the region’s unparalleled manufacturing capabilities.“I truly hope to see a renaissance for MFW Men’s — a reinvigorated moment where legacy powerhouses return with purpose, and international emerging brands find a creative home in the city,” Jordan says. “Milan has the heritage and the infrastructure to support both ends of the spectrum, and it’s this dual energy — the tension between tradition and innovation — that could bring the vibrancy back to life.”
Update: This story was updated to include mention of Fondazione Sozzani.
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