An emphasis on compelling product and ways-to-wear was the undercurrent in Milan, evident in collections that sought to evoke the analog. Discover the top trends, buzziest runways and how to get dressed now from the Italian capital.
The week at a glance
The city’s week of runway shows was where the collective effect of the great designer reset that began last year, by way of Gucci, Jil Sander, Marni, Fendi, and now Moschino, began to take shape - with a touch of urgency. Milan Fashion Week SS27 ignited a lot of talk about clothing for character, and whether this falls under cosplay or dressing for the everyday is the major distinction to be made.
According to Bain data, global luxury sales saw a 2% increase to 4% growth in the first half of 2026, with recovery driven by the US. However, the industry has lost about 70 million customers since 2022, and economic uncertainty aside, customers are overwhelmed by similar choices, and underwhelmed by quality. Collections have lacked connection.
To this end, the focus on product was pretty palpable, and not least because Gucci by Demna’s set was a blown-up replica of the store design, complete with racks, display cabinets and “customers”. A handful of designers were keen to strip away any superfluous artifact of a runway spectacle to expose the designs: Jil Sander’s Simone Belotti chose the same venue as the previous season for close-knit runway quarters, as did Bottega Veneta, and the Prada set was also identical to last season, and menswear.
This might suggest that along with tired consumers, designers are pushing back on creating all new stories, all the time. Especially when the right ones are working. Prada’s deep dive on the humble skirt (following a season centred layering), and Simone Belotti’s continuation of slightly twisted minimalism were the freshest concepts of the week, lending themselves to endless merchandising opportunities.
However, while Jil Sander and Prada exceeded expectations with exciting iterations on recognizable products, Gucci has yet to nail the product that makes it quintessentially Gucci. This is basically what Demna was trying to achieve with the store concept. Has the add to cart reference ever been so obvious? What we got was a cast of very real characters; the Sciura in the crisp white shirt, the party girl in her jersey dress and the heiress’ various incarnations of the skirt suit. The result was Demna’s most successful outing for the Kering brand to date.
For their debut Moschino show, former Sunnei designers Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo had their models wading through around 400 ‘pedestrians’ to illustrate the concept of dressing for everyday life; walking down the street, commuting to work. Ultimately, consumers mostly want to feel like themselves, or an elevated version. So, people-first design, in a people-first context is a good place to start.
Runway highlights
Meryll Rogge’s second Marni collection was an exercise in commercial eccentricity; the former Dries Van Noten designer’s skill set truly shone across fabric, pattern and colour use, where the once improbable seemed very wearable. Dolce & Gabbana riffed on its menswear themes of Euro-summer-ready embellishment and crochet, Bottega Veneta went heavy on proportion, while Ferragamo’s Maximilian Davis offered his interpretation of Saint Laurent with transparent latex, brown leathers and mustard gold.
Glenn Martens took an appropriately provocative bow at Diesel, where the designer’s greatest hits for the Gen-Z-coded denim brand paraded down the runway. Martens is off to focus solely on Maison Margiela, but it is important to note his work at Diesel reimagined the brand for a new generation, without losing the core identity: customers aged 16–25 accounted for 36% of Diesel sales as of February 2025.
The runways saw plenty of affirming continuations of the current season trends set to carry over into next year, including capri pants – Marni, Gucci, Moschino – where searches have increased 77% in searches over the past year, with 1.6million searches in the past month alone.
Soccer jerseys, understandably, have risen 134% over the past year, spiking at 4.8million searches during the World Cup, but will the momentum last for merch-style sportswear? Gucci and MM6 Maison Margiela think so; their rugby jerseys play into the preppy moment of now. As always, classic Milanese allure and boudoir-adjacent dressing was a handy drawcard, delivered by The Attico, Roberto Cavalli, Etro and Fendi.
The Trends
Here are the emerging trends from Milan Fashion Week SS27.
The new bourgeois
There’s a party, and you’re not invited. Exclusivity seems to be back on the table in Milan; for at Gucci the archetypes spoke to a certain level of living; think the Sloane Rangers of 1980s Chelsea, where it was all polo, prince of wales checks and rugby jerseys. The Sciura returned, the bratty heiress, and the socialites in their impossible jersey dresses. There was a greater presence of an affluent wardrobe built from recognisable bourgeois codes, crisp shirts, fine knits, trenches and equestrian references, but loosened up and provocative for a more contemporary woman. The mood was echoed at Max Mara, Bottega Veneta and Tod’s; country club arrogance at its finest.
Skirt season
The pencil skirt continues its domination, with the renewed interest in the silhouette taking it well beyond traditional officewear. WGSN already recorded a 1.4-percentage-point increase in runway presence at NYFW SS27. Prada's SS27 63-look exploration of the skirt included mischievous takes on the pencil, over shirtdresses and paired with easy bralettes. The contrast compared to the voluminous skirts seen in previous seasons points to an obvious fact running through the month: longer lines and slimmer shapes.
Controlled chaos
The voiceover at the Dolce & Gabbana show reminded audiences that there is “no single way of dressing.” And it was a message that permeated through the week In the search for the analog, imperfect and almost inconvenient, at Marni, Prada, Moschino, the overall styling felt buoyant, and took more than one glance to take in all the nuance. Overall the collections felt bolder, more embellished, experimental in proportion and silhouette with mixing and matching patterns and textures.
Slip away
This season the slip dress takes a more intimate turn, no better exemplified than at The Attico show where the audience sat on a long line of beds topped with pillows and rumpled sheets. We know from London, that Google searches have doubled year-on-year and lingerie-inspired dressing emerging as a defining thread across the SS27 runways. However, this time it’s less a CBK '90s revival but more a look embraces the imperfect, and expands its use beyond occasionwear and summer dressing.
Gatsby fringing
Fringing has been on the trend radar for a number of seasons now, spotted on the street-style set and has seen strong online momentum, but what’s going to make fringing really stick this summer? Glamour. Fringing has taken on a notable after-dark take, with beading and crystal embellishments key to movement, seen at Roberto Cavalli, Giorgio Armani and The Attico; something 1920s flapper-esque about it, with a dose of the risqué.
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