Milan Fashion Week: catwalk antics, bombastic sex appeal and high-octane glamour, right? Not quite. This season’s inspirations ranged from nurses uniforms (Prada) to the people you meet on the street (Bottega Veneta). The autumn/winter vibe shift? Less designed-for-TikTok, more real-life relatability. Grey was the colour of the week. Wearable clothes emerged as The Big Trend.
It started at Fendi, where creative director Kim Jones, took the working wardrobe of 37-year-old Delfina Delettrez Fendi, a 4th generation Fendi and the brand’s jewellery designer as his inspiration. The result? Corporate-yet-cool shades of grey, navy and beige (including a new, must-try colour combination of sky blue and chocolate brown), lightweight wool tailoring and striped, ribbed dresses. “I wanted this season to be clean, no fuss, just all about the clothes,” Jones said. There were still plenty of nods to Fashion – see the detachable knife-pleat kilts that clipped neatly onto tailored trousers for a grown-up take on the 90s dress-over-trousers look.
At Prada, the stellar collection centred around the idea of uniforms; “mainly what I care about now is to give importance to what is modest, to value modest jobs, simple jobs, and not only extreme beauty or glamour,” Miuccia Prada said backstage, adding it was time to “bring beauty into everyday pieces”. With co-designer Raf Simons, they presented an elegant vision of low-key, everyday wear, with every fashion editor’s favourite item of clothing — the humble navy jumper - placed front and centre, styled with origami-filled, puffy white mini-skirts and oversized brown suede blazers.
A shift towards the classics means the black dress (little, long, sequinned, velvet, et al) was front and centre - and Giorgio Armani, the perennial go-to for a red carpet triumph, excels in chic simplicity that lets his clothes do the talking. “Timelessness is an essential element of my aesthetic approach and a core value for my brand,” the designer said, whose Emporio and Giorgio Armani collections were a masterclass in timeless wardrobe pieces that simply never date. “And that is not going to change any time soon.”
The coat line-up was a tale of two halves - floor-sweeping maxi coats (see MaxMara for the more details) or cropped, cinched-in jackets. Prada’s cropped navy duffle jacket, worn with a sleek midi skirt, topped editors’ wish-lists, while at Tods, shearling jackets, nipped in at the waist, were a welcome new shape. Plus, if the baggy-bottomed, wide-leg look isn’t for you - rejoice. Super streamlined cigarette pants - high-waisted and with raised seams - took the floor at Prada, Bottega Veneta and Ferragamo, where lean silhouettes and body-conscious tailoring begged the question; is the oversized, IG look finally over?
The surest sign we’re headed for radically practical times? The revival of walkable heels. Good news for podiatrists: sturdy boots, shearling ballet flats and the humble kitten heel emerged as the shoes of season; real-life wear needs real-life footwear to go with. At Gucci, mannish loafers had creeper soles, while the dominant heel height was a mere kitten - the easy-to-wear slingbacks were styled with denim, shirting and a classic trench no less. At Prada, white pointed-toe court shoes had low and curved heels. (Also perfect for a city bride, FYI). Bottega Veneta’s opening shoe resembled a chunky woollen sock - it was in fact knitted leather, but the dressed-down sentiment remained. Flat, lug-soled boots stomped down the runway at Fendi and MaxMara - whose show notes wittingly referred to its signature tonal collection as “Camelocracy” - while at Tod’s, the classic ballet flat got an autumnal makeover, in fuzzy, coffee-coloured shearling.
So no logos, no bold colours and certainly no indie sleaze, but that didn’t mean a complete absence of runway theatrics. The centrepiece on Diesel’s runway? A mountain-sized pile of condoms. Dua Lipa, Europhia’s Hunter Schafer and Sienna Miller were seated front row at Prada. BTS’s front-man, RM, caused near pandemonium at Bottega Veneta. Jeremy Scott went poetically punk at Moschino, while Kim Kardashian slipped onto Dolce and Gabbana’s FROW. MFW? Pared back, but still rather fabulous.
