Milan Fashion Week champions artisanal craftsmanship, creativity and quality materials

There was a great deal at stake during this edition of Milan Fashion Week. From the highly anticipated creative director debuts at brands like Gucci and Fendi to srutiny over the Armani brands, now creatively managed by Pantaleo Dell'Orco and Silvana Armani following the founder's passing, the event served as a litmus test for a revitalised fashion week.

The industry is navigating with increasing uncertainty. The consumer crisis, a growing disinterest in logo-driven brands, and ongoing global conflicts have been compounded by the war in Iran. An already complicated situation has become highly complex and difficult. Against this backdrop, creativity and fashion have, in some instances, offered a return to aspiration and dreams.

The fashion week, which took place from February 24 to March 2, brought Milan to life with a total of 186 appointments, including 54 physical shows, six digital shows, 89 presentations (nine of which were by appointment), and 37 events. The spotlight was boosted by the Olympic Games and the prior Sanremo festival, which proved to be another significant platform for brands, particularly Italian ones.

During the event, the total economic impact from tourist spending was expected to exceed 217 million euros, an increase of 17.7 percent compared to last year, according to estimates from the Confcommercio Milano Study Centre. The expected number of visitors also grew to over 132,200 (+17.4 percent). Of these, 55.3 percent were Italian and 44.7 percent were foreign. One hundred million euros will be allocated to shopping; 84.8 million to accommodation and dining; and 32.6 million to transport. The per capita tourist expenditure is 1,644 euros (+0.2 percent compared to 2025).

The estimate from the Study Centre of Confcommercio Milano, Lodi, Monza and Brianza (based on data from Istat, Milan Police Headquarters, Bank of Italy, Banca Ifis) showed that of the total impact, 120.5 million euros came from Italian visitors and 96.9 million euros from foreign visitors.

Emporio Armani focuses on gilets, trench coats, enveloping coats, jackets, suits and cardigans

Returning to the shows, the Emporio Armani fashion show took place during a fashion week far from the splendour of past years. However, it was full of good intentions and attentive buyers, and passed the test with flying colours. Anticipation was high for the creative duo Silvana Armani, responsible for womenswear, and Leo Dell'Orco, head of menswear. The two collections went hand in hand. “We had fun. We hope the result respects Mr Armani's style. I think it's more relaxed, with some elements he might not have approved of. But that's okay,” explained Armani after the show.

The catwalk featured gilets, trench coats, enveloping coats, jackets, suits and cardigans. The collection also includes pleated Bermuda shorts and some denim pieces. Wide shirts worn over short trousers created a new take on the suit. Small crests referenced the world of clubs and the brand's history, while crystal embroideries resembled raindrops.

Also from the house of Armani, the Giorgio Armani collection gracefully surprised with each look. The women's ready-to-wear AW26 collection, designed by Silvana Armani following her appointment as creative director after the founder's death, was presented on Sunday.

There was no radical change, but a precise creative direction that made its mark through continuity. The collection's signature conveyed a greater freedom of dress. It hinted at a desire to pamper women, offering an elegance that was fluid, enveloping, and measured yet comfortable; assertive yet delicate.

The show, named 'New Horizons', closed to the sound of the unreleased track “A costo di morire”. The song, a 1967 Fausto Leali track, was covered by Mina for the first time as a tribute to Giorgio Armani, who passed away last September.

For Prada, layering reflects personal and collective stories

Prada's AW26 collection promises to leave a mark on people's dressing habits. Indeed, the collection by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons encourages an embrace of the transformations that clothing facilitates throughout the day, with each look encapsulating a multitude of identities.

Among the guests who attracted attention at the fashion show were Maude Apatow, Nina Kraviz and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Returning to the catwalk, the layering of garments symbolically represents layers of stories, both personal and collective, of memories and experiences.

A cast of 15 women wore these ever-evolving clothes, focusing attention on each of them. This allowed the audience to explore the infinite and changing facets of their character. An apparent simplification can, paradoxically, serve to convey complexity.

Pure yet wearable creativity seen in new Cavia collection

Pure yet wearable creativity was seen in the new collection from Cavia, a brand founded by the talented designer Martina Boero. The idea was born during the first lockdown. Unable to go out, the designer sought to express her creativity using materials she found at home.

This led to the creation of a fully sustainable project that uses only existing or recycled materials, thereby reducing the environmental impact of new material production.

'Le Chant des formes' is a winter collection conceived as a visual and material song. Characterised by irregular lines, chromatic contrasts and vibrant textures, the garments are a hymn to manual workmanship and intentional imperfections.

At the heart of the collection is hand-made multicoloured knitwear, worked in mohair and warm yarns, capable of creating soft, three-dimensional, almost pictorial surfaces. Each stitch carries a different rhythm; each colour variation becomes an emotional accent.

Daniela Gregis, the Bergamo-based brand, delivered another strong performance on the catwalk. For AW26, the collection featured deconstructed suits and elegant wool culottes with turned-up hems, worn with crisp silk shorts. Three-piece velvet looks were presented for both men and women. There were also plays on layering with wool, velvet, silk and cotton. On the feet were flat velvet shoes or black or brown leather clogs worn with short wool socks over tights. Sinuous trousers and long skirts gave rhythm to wool pullovers, which grazed glasses held by a chain, almost like a necklace.

Marta Bortolotti, daughter of founder Daniela Gregis, skilfully interpreted the quality of the fabrics with creativity, translating the collection into wearable, elegant and warm pieces.

On the catwalk at the Oratorio della Passione, next to the historic Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, was, as always, Benedetta Barzini. The acclaimed 1970s model remains an interesting face in her mature years.

Among other 'excellent' debuts was Demna for Gucci

“This first show of mine for Gucci introduces a universe of people, archetypes, consumers and dress codes destined to inspire my creative language for the future. It is a beginning, but already mature and full of intention,” Demna wrote in a letter.

However, it is well known that numbers are what count. In this complicated moment, sales data matter. Gucci's recent history, after incredible season-on-season growth, has come to a halt. In 2025, with around 40 percent of sales, Gucci remains the main key to understanding the performance of the Kering group. In 2025, the house recorded a 19 percent decline on a comparable basis.

The logo and the brand's history, while important and significant, are not enough on their own. The creative direction and the label's language must learn to speak again to an 'old' clientele and a new one. This new customer is increasingly less sensitive to brand names and more distracted by a thousand other appeals. A strong, clear identity is needed. What emerges from luxury analyses and reports is that buyers make no concessions to anyone. This is especially true for those who believe they can win easily with their name, history and logo.

Certainly, Kate Moss returning to the catwalk at 52 to close Demna's long-awaited Gucci debut makes a statement. She wore a sparkling black dress with a deep neckline at the back. This is even more so when the neckline reveals a thong with the double G in white gold, studded with ten carats of diamonds. The sensuality of the seamless minidress in pure hosiery fabric, worn with a femme fatale attitude, also helps. All this adds to the brand's openness to multiple ways of dressing. This is a politically correct and sound approach to avoid displeasing anyone. The same jackets are alternated with skirts, legging-trousers and trousers, “casually crossing the office, the bar and everything in between,” as the press release states.

“This collection, and more generally my vision for Gucci, is based on a principle of pragmatism. It is about creating desirable and authentic objects capable of accompanying different people, enriching their daily lives and making them feel good. Products that exist and assert themselves for what they are, without the need for pseudo-intellectual justifications,” explains the brand's creative director.

In a few months, the luxury giant Kering will assess the desirability of these items and see if its 'flagship' brand is back on track. Meanwhile, a selection from the Gucci Spring collection is now available in selected boutiques and online, ahead of the official launch from July 2026. For women, horsebit pumps are priced at 950 euros; a Gucci trademark crystal ring at 350 euros; a biker jacket with Web detail at 6,900 euros; an oversized T-shirt in light silk at 820 euros; and a large Bamboo tote bag at 3,600 euros, to give an idea.

Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri made her return to Fendi, presenting a sensual and delicate collection in Milan, featuring furs and leathers worked like lace. An established designer with a past at Dior and Valentino, Chiuri returned to Fendi 35 years after her debut at the Roman house. This first autumn/winter co-ed collection featured black, white and green furs, attracting the attention of animal rights groups.

Indeed, fashion week was also the scene of anti-fur protests by the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (Caft), which is calling on the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) to adopt a fur-free policy. “The protests are part of a growing global campaign launched on January 8 by the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (Caft), which calls on the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) to adopt a fur-free policy,” Caft explained in a statement.

Redemption's aristopunk

From Chiuri's sensuality to Redemption's aristopunk collection, creative director Gabriele Bebe Moratti's work expressed a balance between meticulous, elegant tailoring and late-seventies punk-rock influences. Moratti used delicate materials such as lurex georgette, devoré velvets and hammered satins, juxtaposing them with more substantial and intensely worked fabrics like brocades, sequins, embroidered tweeds and eco-leather. The colour palette plays with a mix of purple and red alongside classic black and white, illuminated by metallic accents.

The collection's protagonists were both long and short dresses. They were fluid and sensual, characterised by deep necklines at both the front and back.

The Tod’s women's AW26/27 collection focuses entirely on craftsmanship, paying homage to its excellence through a choral performance where gesture is the protagonist. Alongside Tod’s artisans, masters of various arts work live, demonstrating the know-how that defines the excellence of 'Made in Italy'.

Tod’s creative director, Matteo Tamburini, envisions a wardrobe where artisanal know-how and the quality of materials, the result of meticulous research and selection, are central. Leather is the absolute protagonist, reflecting a synthesis of tradition and modernity. Saddlery workmanship, precise stitching and hand-finishing meet lightness and material depth.

In ready-to-wear, ample, enveloping volumes contrast with more fitted garments featuring shortened sleeves and defined waists. Iconic pieces like the trench coat and peacoat are reinterpreted with sartorial tailoring. A quilted bomber jacket in soft, antiqued calfskin completes the wardrobe. Scarf dresses in graphic patchworks conclude the story. The palette includes intense natural tones, burnt caramel, ginger and chocolate, juxtaposed with graphic black and white accents.

Marco Rambaldi's collection was also interesting. Sartorial codes were subverted with minimal yet radical interventions, such as revealing the internal construction of trousers, skirts and jackets, thus creating a new classic.

Traditional animal prints are reimagined as a multifaceted and heterogeneous fauna disguised as a Dalmatian, the oldest of companion animals. In knitwear, the idea of the proper suit is desecrated and reinvented in two directions. The matryoshka twinset, where a second trompe-l'oeil twinset is hidden under a heart-patterned cardigan, and the tracksuit, the least classic of suits. The collection is thus based on the idea of layering and return.

Crochet returns to its basic element, the doily. It is enlarged to show off its constituent details or veiled like the most scandalous of notions. This season, Lineapelle once again accompanies the collection as a common thread, integrating naturally into our universe through leather: suede and enveloping, or lived-in and protective.

The footwear, created in collaboration with Hispanitas, combines Italian vision and Spanish craftsmanship in an emotional elegance made of clean lines, material details and plural femininity.

Staying on the theme of footwear, Santoni presented its Aurora women's AW26 collection during Milan Fashion Week. It is inspired by the subtle light that precedes the dawn, slowly emerging to reveal the essence of things. In this slow, precious light that frames the winter landscape of the Marche region, the brand's homeland, a harmonious encounter between essentiality and luxury is born.

The protagonist of the collection is Velatura, a hand-colouring technique that embodies the brand's quintessence. The colour is applied layer by layer to achieve unexpected depth, subtle vibrations and a tonal richness that enhances the natural character of the leather. Among the models proposed for the next cold season, the Sibille pump and the new Ira Double Buckle stand out, a sophisticated reinterpretation of one of the brand's male icons.

'Made in Italy' is once again the protagonist in the collaboration between Springa and Gaia Segattini Knotwear. The project stems from the meeting of two brands that share the same vision: excellent 'Made in Italy' workmanship, conscious recovery of resources and a creative approach to the product.

Springa, an Italian brand specialising in autoclave-vulcanised trainers, bases its DNA on experimentation, upcycling and limited-edition collaborations.

Gaia Segattini Knotwear, a pop knitwear brand with production in the Marche region, works exclusively with deadstock yarns, making each creation by nature unique and non-replicable. From this affinity comes an unprecedented project: a vulcanised knitwear trainer, the first of its kind, which combines manufacturing expertise, sustainability and a strong expressive personality.

The sole is handmade from natural rubber and vulcanised in an autoclave in Puglia using Springa's exclusive process. The upper is made from knitted panels of regenerated cotton from production waste from the Marche supply chain.

Completing the design, a detachable side pompom introduces a playful note that recalls the knitwear brand's playful spirit. Recovery, excellent 'Made in Italy' workmanship and pop expressiveness thus converge in a product that redefines the concept of the contemporary trainer.