Ciao Milano! The spring 2027 season in the Italian fashion capital was packed with over 50 shows and more than 80 (!) presentations across seven days, but only one official creative-director debut: Sunnei founders Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo at Moschino. Still, there was no shortage of newness. Demna unveiled his most complete Gucci vision yet, Miuccia Prada’s lifelong devotion to the power of a skirt hit the runway and was further examined in the house’s new Galleria store, and Meryll Rogge continued to put her own stamp on the Marni universe. Add in freaky footwear, killer color combinations, and more than a few excellent hats, and there was plenty that stuck with us. Here, just a handful.
It’s a Prada World, After All
Prada’s newly expanded home in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is an eight-story deep dive into the house’s history—and a must-visit for true Prada devotees. The Pradasphere exhibition gathers treasures including the final look from Miuccia Prada’s historic first ready-to-wear collection for the house in 1988, while a room of rotating skirts nods both to the 2004 Waist Down exhibition and Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons’s skirt-centric spring 2027 collection. It’s part archive, part retail theater, and a mecca for Miuccia heads.
The Many Hats of Loro Piana
Loro Piana’s spring 2027 presentation may have been staged against the backdrop of the leather-bound books of Milan’s Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, but our eyes kept drifting upward. Nearly every look came topped with a hat, from buckets and beanies to a dramatic draped headpiece and, of course, the classic baseball cap favored by Succession’s Kendall Roy. The toppers lent the house’s famously restrained ready-to-wear a welcome dose of playful personality.
Demna Sets Up Shop for Gucci
One of our favorite things about Demna’s Gucci spring 2027 show was the set itself: a supersized fantasy version of a Gucci store, complete with racks, counters, and all the trappings of retail. Better yet, the models didn’t just walk through it—they browsed, lingered, and “shopped” their way around the space, turning the runway into a bit of live fashion theater.
Jil Sander’s Color Theory
At Jil Sander, the clothes may have been precise, but the color combinations were anything but predictable. Simone Bellotti’s spring 2027 palette paired Severance-worthy grays with Backrooms-esque butter yellow, tan with saturated pink, and muted neutrals with flashes of lilac, red, and Yves Klein blue. Much of the magic came down to stylist—and frequent ‘W’ contributor—Charlotte Collet, whose gift for unexpected color pairings gave the collection’s minimalism a welcome jolt.
Footwear Gets Freaky—Again
From left: Marni, Havianas x MM6 Maison Margiela, and Bottega Veneta
Following Chanel’s viral “naked” heel-capped sandals from the resort season, Milan Fashion Week produced a new crop of contenders for freakiest footwear. MM6 Maison Margiela and Havaianas collaborated on flip-flops—well, several, really—stacked six-high in a rainbow. At Bottega Veneta, Kendall Jenner and more walked with their feet encased in twisted fishnets, while Marni warped strappy sandals and Mary Janes with open backs, chunky buckles, and attached knee-high socks.
The Toes Stay in the Picture
Speaking of feet, for its 20th anniversary, Gianvito Rossi turned footwear into fine art, placing shoes—and the feet wearing them—inside living, framed tableaux.
Unapologetic Diva Dressing
Milan was in full diva mode this season. At Fendi, Maria Grazia Chiuri drew inspiration from Italian pop icon Raffaella Carrà, sending lingerie, lace, and unapologetically sexy looks down the runway; Giorgio Armani brought after-dark glamour with liquid tuxedo dresses, metallic bustiers, and paillette-embroidered eveningwear. And at Ferragamo, Anok Yai closed Maximilian Davis’s show in a dazzling gown inspired by the solarization experiments of Lee Miller and Man Ray. “I was inspired by the women of the era who were taking ownership of their own narrative: who were subjects of imagery but also traveled the world to create their own,” Davis explained in the show notes.
Waste Not, Want Not
We were mesmerized by the papermakers at Santoni’s spring 2027 presentation. Titled The Art of Encounter, the experience brought Cartiera Manualis—a Fabriano atelier steeped in the Marche region’s centuries-old papermaking tradition—into the shoe brand’s Via Monte Napoleone showroom to demonstrate their craft in real time. The reunion followed the two brands’ collaboration at Homo Faber 2026 and made for an unexpectedly satisfying meeting of materials: handmade paper, leather, and Santoni’s signature orange thread.
