Power and pragmatism: Top trends from Milan Fashion Week Fall Winter 2024

If Milan’s Spring Summer 24 outing was all va-va-voom hot pants, racy leather, and the excess of the pre-internet era, Fall Winter 24 was anything but. Conservative, cozy, and powerfully pragmatic, many collections erred on the side of safety in an attempt to counter criticism about impractical fashion in the current economic climate. A wise commercial choice, or perhaps running the risk of blending into the background?

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As though the Burberry collection served as a bridge from London to Milan, Milan Fashion Week exhibited many trends of the same textures, fabrics, colors and silhouettes we’ve been seeing through fashion month already; but not without moments of genius.

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The best collections had something more to say about everyday clothing; be it Marni’s primal rendering of fur textures, Bally’s practical oddities, Max Mara’s wearable sensuality, or Giorgio Amarni’s simple softness and timeless appeal. Kim Jones for Fendi put it succinctly;

"It's for the woman who's doing something rather than just being something."

With many critics citing the outlandish inflation of the current price points for luxury brands, it’s proving even more important for brands to keep their communities close and listen to their customer’s needs to foster loyalty.

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Glenn Martens is beginning to be the shining example of this kind of audience inclusivity, continuing his openness and transparency with the Diesel community. This time, Diesel offered an open-access live stream from casting to fittings to rehearsal, resulting in a live Zoom call projection in the background of the show, featuring 1000 participants who dialed in. 

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Donatella Versace knows her customers love a spectacle; between Gigi Hadid, Naomi Campbell, Anne Hathaway and K-poppers, Versace has TikTok in a chokehold. “The word luxury has been used a lot recently,” Donatella said at a press conference.

“Luxury, luxury, luxury. But this is real luxury. Most of these pieces will be handmade in the atelier.”

Referring to her show that featured handwoven tweed suits, coats and tailoring. 

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According to Vogue, Peter Hawking’s second collection for Tom Ford was a hit; well-received by buyers and the press, who noted the nods to the house codes that Ford himself forged to commercial success. Speaking of luxury, Milan’s biggest drawcard Bottega Veneta, swapped the more conceptual pieces for an everyday wearable wardrobe to further entice Matthieu Blazy’s top shoppers — the 1%, that is. 

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Where Milan got experimental was in the deconstructing, distressing and fraying of garments. From dégradés and burn-out treatments at Diesel, to shrug-style cropped knits at Fendi and Etro, Versace’s shredded tweed, to the artfully wrapped cape styles at Jil Sander. Prada used scissor-cut, layered skirts, a smattering of bows, and feathered caps to great effect, proving that tired trend motifs can constantly be reworked. 

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Trapeze coats, power shoulders, tweed jackets, and quilted outerwear remained steady trend contenders to rework the 9-5 wardrobe, while skirt suits in all lengths and degrees of tailoring remained a heavy presence across the collections.

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Cherry red was still the obvious color go-to at Versace, Antonio Marras and Ferrari but an influx of olive green, mossy, earthy browns and mustard have begun to take the throne, present at Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Alberta Ferretti and Ferragamo. Etro carefully balanced these darker, moodier colors to feel fresh and lively with controlled layering and artful paisley prints. 

What really made waves in Milan? Here are four of the top Fall Winter 2024 trends from the Milan Fashion Week runways. 

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The Skirt Suit

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While working women slowly filter back into the office, there are now even more reasons to take that morning commute. The skirt suit is well on its way to re-entering the boardroom, with all the charm and craftsmanship to transcend corp-core. Fendi offered padded hips and cinched waists for an hourglass effect, as did Versace who switched up strict tailoring with punkish tweed — Etro played with proportion, cut, and texture, while at Bally suiting and skirts were tightly edited for a cool, effortless take on workaday tropes. 

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Deconstructed Knitwear

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Knitwear is, of course, a constant during the fall-winter showings, so for a knitwear trend to stand out amongst thousands of looks, it may pay to take notice. From Etro’s half-sleeved-hooded sweater hybrids to Fendi’s spliced cable knits, several brands provided compelling ways to rethink layering. Diesel went for washed-out, burned and slashed sheer layers, while Jil Sander was among those to upend capes, jackets and wraps with visible frayed seams and raw finishes.

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Going Green

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Olive green has ousted pastel blues and cherry red from the color wheel’s top spot, proving its earthy versatility and longevity as a neutral with an edge. In fact, fashion trend data analysts say olive green has risen 19% in popularity and positive press coverage since January alone. Ferragamo showed buttery leather versions of monochrome green, mossy hues were injected at Bottega Veneta and Gucci, while khaki and grassy shades were taking head-to-toe Alberta Ferretti.

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Well-Worn Leather

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With the barn jacket a hit at Menswear FW24, the worn-in vintage appeal of distressed leather has become a talking point from some of the week’s biggest womenswear shows. Prada offered two tightly fitted, cropped biker jackets with worn edges, and Diesel mastered the trend with everything from jackets to trench coats and matching pants. Fendi and Bally offered a more polished take on distressed leather in coats and a scene-stealing maxi skirt, and it was hard to miss the two-tone leather pants on Amelia Gray for Versace. 

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