Hot on the heels of Pitti Uomo, which saw myriad Chinese buyers and editors return to the fair after a four-year, pandemic-induced hiatus, Milan Men’s Fashion Week (MMFW) returned with a sartorial bang.
The MMFW schedule’s opening day was a fitting pursuit of firsts. Italian label Stone Island put its debut set on a colossal scaffold podium, while Sabato de Sarno’s inaugural menswear showcase at Gucci was a kink-fueled affair that harked back to his womenswear premiere last September.
Schedule fixtures, including Dolce & Gabbana, Tod’s, and Dsquared2, also put their own spin on the ever-evolving, and ever-coalescing, definition of menswear. That same approach to fluidity continued at JW Anderson’s penultimate show — where pants were optional — and during Prada’s nature-inspired take on the rising “Grandpa core” aesthetic.
Jing Daily breaks down the most popular moments during the week below.
Setting this season’s schedule into motion, Sabato De Sarno unveiled his inaugural menswear collection at Gucci on Friday afternoon at a disused ironworks in north Milan, four months after his eagerly anticipated womenswear debut. The creative director’s new vision for the brand – a sexier, easier antidote to Alessandro Michele’s maximalism – was again noticeable in his menswear pieces. Ties were replaced with silk ‘leashes,’ tailored overcoats brushed the floor, and colored leather gloves melted into the handles of handbags (each bag and glove combo was a perfect color match). A number of silhouettes were also reminiscent of those evident at September’s womenswear show; an intentional move by De Sarno, which he described as “mirroring.”
Dream team Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons brought audiences into the office and to the outdoors for the Prada menswear show on Sunday. Behind a set of blue office cubicles and computer screens, audiences tentatively took their seats in ergonomic swivel chairs. The glass runway, suspended above a stoney creek with flowing rivers and flora, was world’s apart from its surrounding environment – a commentary on the dichotomy between the businessman and nature. That polarity continued in the clothes, where swim caps were paired with suits, chunky belts with slim trousers, and colorful grandpa core turtlenecks with cinched blazers.
Not one to shy away from a reference or two, JW Anderson’s latest menswear collection used director Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 erotica thriller Eyes Wide Shut as the blueprint for its designs, manifesting mostly as poinsettia plant brooches affixed to jumpers (the flower is an often noticeable detail in the film). Fluid styling was also on the agenda with models foregoing trousers in favor of tights, which Anderson described as a “sensual second skin.” Those who did cover up sported puffed-up bloomer shorts or cargos. As part of the collection, the designer also teamed up with the director’s wife and artist Christine Kubrick to create a trio of knit dresses which, when laid side by side, molded into one big image of her paintings.
Even a slight curtain mishap couldn’t dent the drama that was Stone Island’s debut MFW showcase. Situated at the industrial warehouse space of La Cattedrale, north of the metropolis, audiences and VIPs gathered in front of a three-story scaffold, where 54 models stood inside a series of cages, to take in the spectacle. While leaning into its subcultural ties and embracing material modernity, the Italian outerwear label went all in on textile innovations, from down jackets made from metal mesh nanotechnology to liquid-metal parkas and cashmere military coats.
Like Prada, Fendi looked to the outside world for inspiration for its FW24 collection. Rooted in the “noble pursuits” of the urban outdoors, Silvia Venturini Fendi’s collection went heavy on the town and country references, but with a modern, fluid twist. Super longline shorts, for example, gave the illusion of skirts, and were paired with waxy fisherman jackets and monogram polos; an outfit tied together with a pair of good old leather wellies. As the boundaries of what constitutes menswear today continues to blur, on Milan’s runways, anything goes.
