Texture & Grown Up Glamour At Milan Fashion Week

Feel Factor

This Fall/Winter season has been largely about texture across all of the cities so far, but no one does texture quite like Italy. From Louise Trotter's frayed silk, intrecciato leather, and shaggy fibreglass, materiality was the focal point for Trotter's sophomore collection. Fur motifs popped up elsewhere throughout the week, too, like at Tod's, where black and brown cowhide ponchos were sent down the runway between fur jackets of the same material. At Marni, Meryll Rogge's first venture for the house saw textural elements such as oversized sequins on pencil skirts and shift dresses spliced with fur jackets and trimmed ski hoods.

Grown Up Glamour

Aside from the majority of very sexy silhouettes at Gucci, the rest of the glamour at the shows was relatively subdued and grown up. In comparison to the heavy body exposure we've been witnessing since the end of the pandemic, this season was all about demure expressions of glamour. Gucci's interpretation of archetypal Milenese women wore pointed boots and knee-skimming dresses, while at Prada, nylon shift dresses were cinched at the waist, while at Jil Sander, bonded satin dresses featured theatrical trains.

Volume Proposition

A notable component of the shows in Milan was an emphasis on outerwear—most specifically, the giant coats that showed up in plenty of collections over the week. At Bottega Veneta, Louise Trotter played with proportion, not only with oversized shoulders, but with exaggerated fabric to make outerwear appear "thicker", while over at Maximillian Davis' Ferragamo, it was all about the oversized lapels on wool overcoats. Demna's Gucci saw trench coats reach the floor, while at Max Mara, overcoats took a softer approach, looking like bathrobes and capes in sumptuous, luxurious fabrications.

True Blue

For plenty of seasons, there is usually one color that shows up throughout the month across all cities. This season feels slightly different, and emphasises classic hues instead of bold color moments. We've seen this a lot with red for Fall/Winter, but also with a return to navy blue in Milan. Almost every collection I saw over the week featured some element of navy blue, from the neat suits and coats at Jil Sander to the leather and wool elements at Ferragamo, is navy the new black?

Grey Area

Another mainstay on the Milan Fashion Week runway was the grey suit. Offering a sense of daytime polish, Giorgio Armani, Jil Sander, Bottega Veneta, Ferragamo, and more all included different variations on the same theme. At Armani and Bottega Veneta, the looks were intercepted with warm-toned belts to break up the looks, while at Jil Sander and Ferragamo, Davis and Simone Bellotti respectively leaned into a 90s styling code with a white shirt underneath.