Best of Milan men's fashion week fall/winter 2024 collections

To understand the just-concluded Milan fall/winter 2024 menswear collections, you have to bear in mind the current dire state of the world. Fashion hardly exists in a vacuum, and creator and consumer alike are heavily influenced by history, and respond well  ̶  or poorly  ̶  to prevailing social and economic conditions.

The overall subdued and conservative mood of the shows reflect the reality of galloping global inflation, mass layoffs, wars that are devastating and displacing millions, the plight of homeless immigrants, the uncertainties caused by climate change as well as advances in AI.

These conditions do not make for creativity to thrive. Which is why Italian menswear is taking shelter – in a position of defensive pessimism – in refining and rebooting the classics, stripping away the extraneous and the facetious, to create value – in the form of a cosseting swarm of a massive full-length coat, or a classic bag which can be worn for years and years to come. Or in the case of Fendi, introducing the Siesta Bag, for when you want to hit the snooze button on reality and burrow into a huge pillow-shaped bag that you can call home. Brands like Tod’s also presented sensible wardrobe staples made in the most luxurious of leathers in warm earth tones as if to soothe away anxiety in the honeyed comfort of familiarity. Labels like DSquared2 who express their brand identity in sexy, teenager club clothes risk looking out of sync with the times – do people still go clubbing?

GUCCI

Creative director Sabato De Sarno’s menswear debut was a mirror image of what he had done for his first women’s collection last September: He had shorn off all the magpie excesses of Gucci’s previous creative director Alessandro Michele, making his own Gucci Girl a minimalist, in bold, if unornamented, sportswear.

The menswear further developed and polished that basic idea of a spring-clean, leaving nothing but a sumptuous study of very accomplished wardrobe basics, beautifully judged in shape and sharply tailored in sumptuous fabrics. De Sarno’s menswear was a strong restatement of what “quiet luxury” must look like, offering expressions of the classic man’s wardrobe that appeals to sophisticated customers. Make no mistake, this is very much a client-centric, retail-friendly take on fashion: Handsome swaggering coats of all lengths, in wool or leather, many in a modest grey (when was the last time you saw a plain grey coat at Gucci – plain, and so grey); immaculate suits sans buttons in brown and blues, sweaters and hoodies and suchlike practicalities in monochromatic monoliths, all the better to bring focus on the extra-large Jackie Bag in delicious glazed leathers in olive verdi, caramello and oxblood.

To give the entire thing some visual energy and surprise, De Sarno added gloves and a choker/scarf that teasingly looked like a tie – or a leash. There was also a peppering of crystal beaded showstoppers (one glittering tank top with the lowest scoop-neck), a bejewelled collar or two, and a trio of elegant logo-patterned suits, all well-judged and delicate, quite unlike the costume closet fiesta that was Michele’s wont, and which had made Gucci theatrical.   

PRADA

It became clear quickly that this collection was Prada-lite, without any of the challenging concepts that the brand customarily presents. Perhaps this was the idea – the death of fashion as we once knew it. Piles of expertly tailored boxy suits were shown, in greys, blacks and navy, with ties and shirts, the sartorial expression of the set’s corporate blue office partitions. It is the timeless “dress for success” look favoured by the embattled British PM Rishi Sunak, perhaps a comment on the uncertainties of the Western leadership, but smart suits they were.

There was traditional outerwear, some in glorious, speckled tweed coats, some substantial leather coats, and sweaters in primary colours, which, together with cropped trousers, kept the looks youthful. Then there were the trench coats, cut very slim, and bags made very big to pack all your troubles in. This was power dressing with a military touch – brass buttons and all.

The Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada-designed collection added interest with a playful sense of colour (for example, red pants with a yellow belt and purple cap), and novelty touches in its accessories, for a quick hit of dopamine. There were knitted balaclava hoods, skull caps and swim caps, as well as goggle specs, wide belts, and strappy sandals to enliven an otherwise traditional menswear offering. In present difficult times, our emotional instinct is to attach to that which is familiar, and seek a kind of permanence in what we surround ourselves with, and Prada has offered a reiteration of traditional shapes and styles, something that will bind you the solidity of men’s fashion history.

DOLCE & GABBANA

Another way of creating a sense of the familiar and security is to look back on the masculinity of the past, and designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s offered up richly elegant looks fit for a period drama – right down to a pump with an exaggerated grosgrain bow.The severe, predominantly black monotone of the entire collection heightened the sense of a world before colour films – this was the escapist world of a Luchino Visconti (Italian filmmaker), all silken surfaces and wealth. There were unapologetically glamourous coats, glossy leather blousons, gleaming silk shirts with high necks or plunging decolletage, poet blousons tied with a bow, shimmering suits with cummerbunds.

The collection embraced the tailoring of the 1930s, capturing the absolute elegance of an era before social media, featuring bold shoulders and satin collars, spencer jackets, sweeping coats, and vests with wide necklines. The immaculate tailoring was complemented by some of the most beautiful white shirts in years. The disciplined line and controlled sensuality (bar a lace top and a leopard print) mark an aesthetic volt-face for the brand that is known more for their signature swirling baroque prints, richly riotous palette, and exuberant sexiness. This sea-change in creative expression surely is in step with the dour mood of the times.

ZEGNA

To showcase the brand’s expertise in cashmere and other innovative fabrications, Zegna’s collection was paraded around a mini hill of saffron cashmere tufts, with more fluffing down as the versatile and cosy looks came ambling out in a blend of the classic and the contemporary. Who wouldn’t want to live in a cashmere world?

Zegna’s artistic director Alessandro Sartori, who has become synonymous with the fabric house, in aesthetic and in ethos, presents collections that address the reality of climate change. Sartori’s designs are a refined fusion of traditional tailoring and modern leisurewear, with a focus on lightness and sustainability, designs that evolve organically over the years, clothes with permanence sewn into its seams. In material, he uses innovative fabrics made from pre-existing sources and traceable fibres, such as the upcycled cashmere seen here. In looks subtle and unadorned, the unusual colour palette added zing in layers of earthy hues: Notes of cheeses and creams, pumpkin and butter and granito, foliage brown and petrol blue, bursts of pink in soothing amalgamations. These are the civilised and sophisticated clothes that the world needs more of.

EMPORIO ARMANI

That we live in a world teetering on the edge of another world war is in no doubt evident in this collection that seethes with military inspiration. The collection sent out an army of Emporio Armani soldiers in a bold, clean-cut silhouette with broad, defined shoulders, draped in a sea of monochromatic earth tones (this is shaping up into a fall/winter 2024 trend), which is very much in the Armani vernacular. Do remember that this 1980s style of tailoring, now making a comeback because it is a classic masculine look, is a house signature which Mr Armani had made his name on, and put Italian menswear on the world fashion map in the 1980s.

Updated in endless array, jackets, trousers, and great coats with generous volumes, sailor jackets, gilets and peacoats have a raffish sea captain charm. Shirts are replaced by tops in the same fabrics as blazers in a new uniform that feels decisive and authoritative. Utility garments such as dungarees and work shirts nod to the “athleisure” genre, unadorned, save for snaps, zips, flaps and sailor charm, while the ever-present sharply tailored work suits in tweed, pinstriping and flocking, always in a single colour, cater to the gentlemen office worker. Keeping this 100-plus look collection cohesive is the restrained palette: A wine-dark mix of navy blue, steel grey, ice white and midnight black, as sombre, and ominous as a gathering of the clouds of war.