Milan
by Alessandra Ricci
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Alessandra Ricci reports from Milan Fashion Week for Not Nothing.
Milan, Built Seam by Seam
Milan arrived this September with a schedule to match its ambitions: roughly 218 shows, presentations and events, a record for the city, and about 141,000 visitors expected, half from abroad. A crowd that size can produce noise. What stayed with me was how much of the week remained attached to the clothes.
Begin with Prada, which took the opening slot on September 22. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons built the entire collection on one garment, the skirt, in 63 wraparound versions ending near the knee. The idea is simple, and the execution is where it earned its place. Oversized Velcro straps served as closures, some set with crystals. There was technical black nylon, pleated skirts, sculptural satin bra tops, spray-painted leather car coats and prints that were deliberately, defiantly ugly. A fastening is usually something a designer hides. Here it was the design. Simons explained the logic plainly: a fully styled outfit leaves little room, while a skirt lets the wearer choose her mood. WWD called it one of the house’s easiest-to-like shows in years. It felt authentic because the argument and the construction were the same thing.
Gucci was the larger gamble. Demna rebuilt a Gucci store inside a convention center, with racks, display cabinets and “customers.” Staging a shop invites the question of whether the clothes can carry the same clarity as the set, and I would not call that question closed. But the tailoring was the real argument. It moved away from the oversized proportions we associate with Demna toward leaner cuts, peaked shoulders and closely fitted waists. The one-shouldered gown held by a teardrop-shaped metal weight was construction made visible, the same instinct as Prada’s Velcro. Equestrian references, polished Milanese dressing, 1990s sensuality and a rebellious edge were pulled into something that read as one house. The store was the theater. The cut was the substance.
At Fendi, Maria Grazia Chiuri put the body at the center: lingerie-inspired dressing, lace, embroidery and contrasting layers. The mirrored set distorted the audience’s view and projected guests onto the runway, which made the room part of the show. It was playful and more provocative than a heritage house usually allows itself, and it read as a real swing rather than a careful one.
Meryll Rogge’s second Marni show kept the house’s eccentricity and added an industrial, urban edge. Tubular silhouettes, leather shifts, duchesse satin, exaggerated buckles and buttons, exposed linings and proportions that were meant to be unflattering all showed a designer with real instincts for color and spontaneity. Mariacarla Boscono closed in a black leather shift beaded in aquamarine. My reservation is the one WWD voiced: the ideas are original, but the finish needs refining. That is a fixable fault, and a better one to have than the reverse.
Moschino’s debut was among the week’s most talked-about moments, and Who What Wear singled out its playful, deliberately undone approach.
Craft was the week’s stated theme. Vogue World: Milano opened it in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II with a five-act spectacle on craftsmanship and the human touch, moving from the Artisanal Revolution through Made in Italy to the Age of Intelligence and the Imagination Revolution. It framed Italian fashion as a bridge between handwork and technology. Supermodels, dancers, opera singers and major houses took part, and the guest list was long. WWD named Jennifer Lopez, Uma Thurman, Ciara, Naomi Campbell, Hunter Schafer and Jordyn Woods.
What I will carry away is the pragmatism under the spectacle. The mood was bold and social, but the prints, textures and embellishments still translated into clothes someone could wear on the street. The caution is in the styling. Clashing colors, exposed lingerie and deliberately undone dressing excite critics, but may divide the buyers who have to commit to them.
Alessandra Ricci reports from Milan Fashion Week for Not Nothing.
Curated Round-Up
Milan SS27: Skirts, Seams and the Return of Substance
Milan’s Spring/Summer 2027 week ran September 22 to 28 and filled a record schedule of roughly 218 shows, presentations and events. The critics’ verdicts were more aligned than usual, and the clothes did most of the persuading. Here is where they agreed, where they hedged, and what the construction tells us.
The verdict on the week
Vogue said the season “fizzed with excitement” and named its defining moments: Gucci’s reconstructed store, Prada’s skirts, Moschino’s debut and Vogue World. BoF was more measured but equally positive, calling the edition “unusually solid and convincing” and noting a commercial urgency that ran through the schedule. Two publications with very different house styles reached the same conclusion: this was a week with something to sell and the clothes to back it up.
The shows that decided it
Prada: the consensus pick. WWD called it “one of their best and easiest-to-like shows in years,” crediting a return to the house’s “feminine, functional and intellectual” ground. The discipline is what stands out. Sixty-three wraparound skirts, most ending near the knee, closed with oversized Velcro straps, some set with crystals. WWD also noted technical black nylon, spray-painted leather car coats, sculptural satin bra tops and deliberately “ugly” psychedelic prints. Raf Simons put the idea simply: a fully styled outfit leaves few options, while a skirt allows several moods.
Gucci: a breakthrough, with an asterisk. BoF’s headline asked whether Demna had solved the house’s identity crisis and called the show “a breakthrough.” Vogue saw a clearer synthesis of Gucci’s strands: equestrian references, polished Milanese dressing, 1990s sensuality and a rebellious edge. The tailoring moved from oversized to leaner cuts, peaked shoulders and fitted waists. The set was a Gucci store inside a convention center, complete with “customers.” Vogue quoted an analyst calling it “a defining moment” that makes the house more relatable and commercial. The asterisk is BoF’s framing: a breakthrough is not a finished resolution, and the staging only works if the clothes carry the same clarity.
Fendi: Chiuri’s bigger swing. Vogue reported that the mirrored set distorted the audience’s view and projected guests onto the runway. The collection centered the body through lingerie-inspired dressing, lace, embroidery and contrasting layers. Coverage read it as a more adventurous statement than a cautious heritage exercise.
Marni: originality, unfinished. WWD praised Meryll Rogge’s second show for its industrial, urban edge on top of the house’s eccentricity, with tubular silhouettes, leather shifts, duchesse satin, oversized buckles and exposed linings. It also admitted the proportions were “willfully unflattering,” and its one note was: “All she needs is a bit more polish.” That is a criticism of finish, not of ideas.
Moschino: a debut worth the talk. Vogue listed it among the week’s key moments, and Who What Wear singled out its playful, deliberately undone approach to dressing.
Craft as the week’s theme
Vogue World: Milano opened the week in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II with a five-act spectacle on craftsmanship and the human touch, moving from the Artisanal Revolution to the Industrial Revolution, Made in Italy, the Age of Intelligence and the Imagination Revolution. The message was that Italian fashion bridges handwork and technology.
On the runways, that idea showed up in the materials: leather, sheer layers, vinyl and translucent PVC, lace, embroidery, technical nylon and duchesse satin. The clearest examples of construction as statement were Prada’s Velcro-closed wraps and Gucci’s gown, which hangs from a teardrop-shaped metal weight.
Trends the coverage converged on
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Skirts as the core garment. Prada made it literal, but knee-length and longer hemlines appeared widely.
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Softer, elongated tailoring. Suits relaxed, with longer lines and less rigidity.
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Outerwear in the lead. Lighter, fluid coats and jackets moved from supporting role to centerpiece, with Etro, Gucci and Bottega Veneta cited as key references.
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Graphic animal prints. Designers pushed beyond conventional leopard.
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Eclectic mixing. Clashing colors, prints and textures replaced tightly coordinated looks.
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Lingerie and exposed underlayers. Fendi led, while Who What Wear flagged exposed lingerie, scoop necks, glossy vinyl or PVC, belts and pastel pink as recurring Milan signals.
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“The lady is back.” British Vogue called the dress code “super-smart,” pointing to Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Jil Sander, Dolce & Gabbana and Max Mara.
Beyond the headline shows
Beyond the headline houses, Bottega Veneta under Louise Trotter and Ferragamo under Maximilian Davis offered mature, wardrobe-minded collections. The Attico staged its slip-dress presentation around a long line of rumpled beds, and Roberto Cavalli worked in the same boudoir-adjacent, party-dressing vein. Among accessories, Prada’s East-West nubuck bags, Fendi’s sequin- and fringe-trimmed Baguettes and kitten heels stood out. The prevailing mood favored people-first design and the idea that getting dressed should be fun again.
The room
WWD’s guest list included Jennifer Lopez, Uma Thurman, Ciara, Naomi Campbell, Hunter Schafer and Jordyn Woods. Vogue World added supermodels, dancers and opera singers. Vogue and WWD both ran dedicated street-style coverage. Vogue stressed that the season’s prints, colors, textures and embellishments still translated into wearable clothes.
Where the critics hesitated
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Marni’s finish: the ideas outran the polish.
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Gucci’s clothes against Gucci’s set: the staging made a bold argument that the garments must still sustain.
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Maximal styling: Who What Wear’s reading of clashing colors, exposed lingerie and undone dressing suggests an exciting direction that may divide commercial buyers.
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Familiar ground: some commentators felt that, in a cautious economic climate, certain houses retreated into bourgeois comfort and archival revivals.
Sources
Direct coverage cited in this round-up
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Business of Fashion: season assessment and Gucci review
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Vogue: season overview, Gucci, Fendi, Moschino, street style, analyst commentary
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Vogue World: Milano (event coverage)
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British Vogue: runway dress-code summary
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WWD: Prada, Marni, guest list, street style
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Who What Wear: Moschino, lingerie and styling signals
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Consulted, with no individually attributable claims
7. Fashionista
8. Vogue Arabia and Vogue international editions
9. The New York Times
10. ELLE
11. Metal Magazine