Welcome to our Men’s Fashion Week Milan roundup where we’ll be keeping tabs on everything that’s been going down across the city’s shows and presentations. The first few days have already delivered plenty: Ralph Lauren’s celebrity-filled return, Dolce & Gabbana‘s Sicilian escape, Brunello Cucinelli’s lesson in understated luxury and Setchu‘s clever take on fishing gear. Add in suede jackets, teeny tiny shorts and enough expert tailoring to fill a grand Italian hotel and it’s safe to say SS27 is off to a strong start. Check back daily as we bring you the highlights, the standout pieces and all the bits we’d quite like to take home with us. Emily Phillips
RALPH LAUREN
WHAT WE SAW: Ralph Lauren was back in Milano once more with a double bill, showcasing the brand’s Polo and Purple Label collections. After, last season, showcasing his first menswear catwalk in the city in over 20 years, this time around the American fashion titan returned with a star-studded frow. Guests included Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton and Tom Hiddleston.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: Drumming down into the collegiate and gentlemanly codes at the heart of the house. “My approach has always been cinematic, creating visual stories and aspirational worlds. Each a tribute to the personality of the man who lives to push creativity, competition and expressions of personal style to the limit.”
WHAT WE WANT: Patchwork denim was a true standout. As were suit jackets in boating stripes and a bomber jacket that was Frankensteined together using old collegiate flags. Paul Toner
BRUNELLO CUCINELLI
WHAT WE SAW: Off to the Brunello Cucinelli presentation we went. Guests enjoyed champagne and delicious mini focaccia sandwiches while looking through the collection, which was modelled by both mannequins and handsome gents from the Brunello world.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: This season was about crafting a wardrobe for a “free thinker” said Mr Cucinelli. “An aesthetic traveller. A man who blends seemingly distant influences, never losing sight of elegance. Style becomes instinctive and personal, cultivated yet effortless.”
WHAT WE WANT: Suede safari jackets and those big leather hold-alls. The cable knits were also great, particularly in the salmon pink. Also is there a way that we could have those mini focaccias everyday of the week? PT
CARUSO
WHAT WE SAW: Tailoring experts Caruso took over an elegant room inside the Grand Hotel et de Milano to unveil its SS27 suiting. The collection was packed with a suit for every occasion, in an array of different fabrications.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: The work of photographer Irving Penn was a starting point for the brand’s design team. “In Penn’s portraits, composition, space and posture sharpen the subject’s presence. That same focus on identity is reflected in a controlled vision of contemporary menswear elegance, where image, proportion and intention define every look,” wrote the brand.
WHAT WE WANT: A slender, chocolate-hued trench coat and a safari-style jacket in aubergine. PT
DOLCE & GABBANA
WHAT WE SAW: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana transported us to Sicily, building what looked like the courtyard of an elegant, marble villa that overlooked the island’s postcard views.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: The design duo look to their hometown as a source of endless inspiration. “Sicily is the starting point: the source and soul of a house whose creative expression has always been shaped by the island’s light, culture, contrasts and craft,” read the press release. “For millennia this beautiful island at the heart of the Mediterranean has been coveted and conquered by a wide succession of cultures. Each left fragments of its own identity, adding a fresh layer to Sicily’s richly complex character.”
WHAT WE WANT: Shredded jeans frosted in giant jewel embellishments. Shirts made to look like lace using a Broderie Anglaise technique. And those teeny-tiny shorts, obvs. PT
MSGM
WHAT WE SAW: Skipping the catwalk this season, Massimo Giorgetti staged his first combined men’s and women’s collection inside Ordet, a gallery space that he has supported since its opening in 2019.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: The designer set out to create a collection that “does not seek synthesis. It seeks friction”. With the looks displayed on mannequins, a video installation by the artist P. Staff, combining hand painted animation with hazy film shots, echoed colours and motifs that could be seen throughout the collection.
WHAT WE WANT: Polo shirts with chunky stripes in contrasting hues. Buttery leather jackets and a western-inspired trucker jacket with studs across the collar. PT
SETCHU
WHAT WE SAW: Satoshi Kuwata welcomed the fash pack back to his studio space for another strong collection that included his biggest womenswear offering to date.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: Titled Caught in Nets, the collection drew on the designer’s interest in fishing through clothes that were elegant and innovative in their construction. Many looks were cast in leather cords, tied to resemble a Japanese square not, that looked like fishing nets.
WHAT WE WANT: Long-lined suit jackets paired with straight legged jeans. A deconstructed trench was also a standout, and the heeled okobo shoes? Major. PT
Photography by Christina Fragkou
PRADA
WHAT WE SAW: Fondazione Prada was transformed into a giant white box, with a transparent floor that exposed light-up beams. Guests were sat on Perspex benches that snaked around the showspace.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: The collection was about stripping things back. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons wanted the collection to be an “exercise in clarity”, building the collection around a super tight silhouette that took jeans and a denim jacket and reconfigured them in a slew of different materials and colours.
WHAT WE WANT: Those slender leather trousers in all those candy colours! Lime green, pink, purple, the lot! The matching jackets with the perfect cropped fit just about the waistband *chef’s kiss*. And those big chunky belts with the nylon bags hanging off them – gimme, gimme. PT
SAUL NASH
WHAT WE SAW: London-based Saul Nash took us to one of the oldest sport halls in Milano where he continued to fuse sportswear and tailoring with healthy dollop of sex appeal.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: Nash was thinking about the male pin-up, studying both male athletes and guys in corsets to help guide his body-conscious fits.
WHAT WE WANT: Compression tops with a graphic inspired by a wrestling singlet. Also semi-transparent tracksuits and the final instalment of Nash’s Lululemon team-up. Ace stuff all round. PT
Giorgio Armani
WHAT WE SAW: It was 40 degrees in Milan, but Leo Dell’Orco’s second outing for Giorgio Armani menswear took to the courtyard at the brand’s palazzo on Via Borgonuovo for an al fresco show, proving you can still look chic in the blazing heat. Alongside it, Silvana Armani unveiled her debut cruise collection for the house, with about 160 models total walking across terracotta-toned carpets to the groovy, tropical tones of Matteo Ceccarini, Kuumba and more, produced by Deriva Collective.
WHAT IT WAS ABOUT: Titled Mediterranean Market, the SS27 collection looked to ports, spice routes and seaside trading posts for inspo, finding its footing in clothes that felt easy, luxurious and entirely wearable.
WHAT WE WANT: A slouchy ivory twinset from the cruise offering would be great for a lavish evening spent sipping champs in St Tropez. And for men, the multi-pocket cargo jackets were a standout, while a criss-cross button-up cardigan in midnight blue that hung down to the knee, paired with a striped poplin shirt and barrel-leg denim trousers, had us hitting save-to-wish-list instantly. We’ll take three please! EP
PIACENZA 1733
WHAT WE SAW: Piacenza 1733 welcomed guests inside its brand new – and gorgeously air-conditioned – showroom in Milano. Built to house both the brand’s apparel collections as well as its textile offerings. The company uses some of the world’s finest natural fibres to create its garments, consistently employing knitwear innovations into its collections.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: The brand’s SS27 offering was chock-full with sustainable, woollen blends. Highlights included Aeria, an in-house ultra fine 13.5 micron Merino wool, as well as compact cotton sourced from Egypt, India and Turkey that has a 18-gauge construction, making it smooth and lightweight.
WHAT WE WANT: Those polo shirts! The brand’s hero piece came in candy colour ways and a bunch of different patterns, including a diamond stitch and gentle stripes. PT
THOM BROWNE
WHAT WE SAW: It was off to Thom Browne’s garden we went, and bloody hell, wasn’t it a scorcher! The designer returned to Milan for the first time since 2008, plotting 400 seersucker flowers in the courtyard of Palazzo Serbelloni which was baked in the gleaming sun.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: With the gardening theme in mind, Browne’s boys were inspired by groundskeepers. They came in beekeeper veils and boater hats, clad in check suits that were adorned in honey-comb motifs and insect motifs that crawled over jackets.
WHAT WE WANT: All those gorgeous check jackets in pastel shades, particularly anything baby blue and lemon. There was also a jacket that had a print that looked as if it was melting in the sunshine, kind of how we felt this whole MFW! PT
Photography by Christina Fragkou
MONTBLANC
WHAT WE SAW: The last day of MFW began with a brekky with Montblanc, where creative director Marco Tomasetta showed guests his SS27 collections.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT: Lots of new writing instruments and travelling bags that will keep the Montblanc customer well-equipped and will ensure their penmanship is pristine.
WHAT WE WANT: A new larger version of Montblanc’s Writing Traveler, built to fit loads of goodies in and available in a range of hues – the dusty blue is the best. PT
Top image: photography by Christina Fragkou.
