Milan
CNN
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It’s been a tumultuous start to 2025 globally – and the year’s first international fashion catwalks have reacted with themes of protection, resilience and comfort.
The latest menswear shows for Fall Winter 2025 in Milan left their usual cheerful mood at the door. Instead, the focus was twofold: timeless style featuring classic fabrics like shearling, leather and denim. and high-performance outerwear that is innovative with innovative materials.
“The world is becoming so conservative, and everyone asks us designers to be revolutionary, but what’s happening in the world is not a celebration,” Prada’s head designer, Miuccia Prada, told reporters backstage. said
He added that his collection was “a bit of a response to what’s going on, as usual.”
On Prada’s runway, faux fur-wrapped coats and jackets dominated a collection capped off by heavy-duty cowboy boots. The Italian fashion house leans towards a lovingly worn favorite – chunky frilled knitwear and patchwork leather suits.
Prada, and her co-creative director Raf Simons, paid particular attention to her use of shearling. Hoods and long sleeves made of special materials. Elsewhere, the talismans were embellished on shrinking and frills.
Here, “the shearling becomes a layer of sexual protection, worn inside and out,” Prada and Simons explained. The woven clothing, like amulets adorned with metal symbols, “was, in a way, protecting us,” he added.
For his third collection for Dunhill, the British menswear brand, creative director Simon Holloway spoke of “continuing a consistently tailored wardrobe” in his show notes. To do this, he looked to the sporty sensibility of the suits favored by the Duke of Windsor in the 1930s.
Holloway added a “regimental” navy-inspired bridge and moor—and dug into the fashion house’s prodigious archive to detail founder Alfred Dunhill’s car coat in double-faced suede and wool cashmere. The result was a forever investment staple.
Elsewhere, the Italian luxury footwear brand, Tods, celebrated “fussy and timeless style” — introducing a new ultralight nappa pashmi leather (a sought-after type of goatskin) and its driving show, Gumino, Who is the star of his show.
At Dolce & Gabbana, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana continue to celebrate their Italian heritage. This time, he looked to Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita,” which, he told the assembled journalists, gave rise to the term “Paparazzi” (the film’s main character, a photographer, is named Paparazzo). To emphasize the point, they showed camera-wielding models in head-to-toe black suits frantically clicking flashbulbs whenever a model appeared on the catwalk.
His collection has been part of the brand’s most popular signatures for the past three decades – from impeccably cut red-carpet-ready tailoring to double denim, the sparkle of leopard print, and a healthy sprinkling of sequins. .
Few things are as reliable in a man’s wardrobe as denim. This season, designers went big for hardwearing materials. Massimo Giorgetti at MSGM wore full double denim like Dolce & Gabbana, while at Prada the material came out as a trench coat.
Even brands that aren’t usually associated with true-blue staples hide in denim. At Brunello Cuccinelli, a brand more synonymous with its relaxed tailoring and cashmere neutrals, we saw raw-edged denim. While at Dunhill, a classic houndstooth blazer and neckerchief were paired with a perfectly pressed pair of jeans.
Brands don’t just look to the past for inspiration, but also embrace high-performance outerwear and material innovation. London-based designer Saul Nash, who debuted in Milan, expanded his sports-inspired collection, using Prima Loft padding to include wrap-around parkas that double as scarves and transform into cross-body bags. Chunky cummerbunds designed for
At Italian luxury fashion house Stone Island, “Bladerunner” was on the mood board. The collection features a new hardwearing gabardine transformed into an anorak made from its own cast-off material with rubber-covered buttonholes and a high-necked hood for “an extra layer of protection”. has been provided.
Similarly, Italian brand Brioni transformed its beautifully tailored blazer into a hybrid with detachable insulated gilets – a first for the brand. And Milanese leather goods brand Valextra expands its Assoluto collection made from regenerated nylon yarn EcoNyl – combining the latest technical details with the traditional craftsmanship for which it is renowned.
At Mordechai, creative director Ludovico Bruno said his show, “The Intelligence of Others,” was “an account of the resilience (and) extraordinary adaptability of human beings.” Modeled on contemporary dancers moving in pumped-up synchronization to Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” the collection featured oversized, padded and cocooning outerwear. Bruno said it was “designed to act as a shield,” adding that the outerwear is “ready for protection and comfort with its softness and enveloping design.”
The high-octane theme continued at the Giorgio Armani show — 13 full, head-to-toe, high-performance hiking-cum-skywear looks. The models were equipped with backpacks, ropes and sunglasses for their fashion campaign.
The resilient mood brought messages of hope from several designers who used their moments to encourage solidarity. “My wish for this new year is peace and tranquility in the world, and finally some encouraging signs,” Armani told CNN.
This was perhaps no better demonstrated than at JordanLuca, where co-designers and founders Jordan Bowen and Luca Marchetto surprised guests by getting married on the catwalk at the end of their show.
“In today’s nuclear world, love becomes more important and selfless than ever, as we walk together through what lies ahead,” he said.
