Above (L-R): Bally, Prada, Jil Sander, Bottega Veneta

Ladies first! If we had to come up with a catchphrase for Milan Fashion Week autumn/winter ’24/’25, it might very well be that. There was, perhaps inevitably, an abundance of cool weather clichés. (When in doubt, send a big coat down the runway.) But the strongest collections approached the season with thoughtfulness. Their shows were measured and driven; they were of the time and referential, but also a forecast—for the future of a heritage label, for how we might be dressing in a year or decade’s time—in a way that felt pragmatic and not fanciful. 

Prada was one such example, a presentation that saw Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons coalesce Victorian bustles, military headgear and ’50s cocktail dresses into silhouettes that felt modern; season after season they have a knack for making the familiar feel fresh. Meanwhile, at Bottega Veneta, Matthieu Blazy eschewed illusion for honesty. In place of his anything-but-leather leather, he embraced clothing that was exactly what it professed to be, in celebration of the “everyday”. Still he clung to craftsmanship and splendour in his simpler, more minimal focus. And then, there was Bally, where Simone Bellotti married corporate cool with Swiss elegance. Here were suits to swan in, to stride in, to walk into an office. They would do all the work for you.

Here, discover the six key runway trends to know from Milan Fashion Week.

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Above (L-R): Ferragamo, Bally, Gucci

Green as grass

Beetroot may have been the hue de la semaine in New York, but the designers at Milan Fashion Week gravitated towards the opposite wedge of the colour wheel. Spotted on the runways at Ferragamo, Bally, Bottega Veneta and Alberta Ferretti were greens of a mossy variety, splashed onto leather totes and boiled wool coats. At Fendi, it grew lichen-like on shift dresses and sheer skirts, blooming with the occasional pink polka dot, while at Gucci, Sabato De Sarno spun the colour into cashmere and sheered-out negligées. Here the contrast was between the delicacy of the fabric and the affront of shade, described by the Gucci team as “rotten”—hardly the ripe cranberry of spring/summer.

Above (L-R): Bottega Veneta, Prada, Bally

Office siren

Milan had its own take on the corporate minimalism that flourished at NYFW. Trust the Italians to add a dash of olive oil and sex appeal; the tailoring was spare, slick and cut with a patrician precision. This was certainly the case at Bally, where Simone Bellotti told the press he was designing “garments [so] comfortable and proper that you could wear [them] for office life in a Swiss bank”; hence the graceful jackets and pencil skirts, which were almost austere but still undeniably feminine. In focusing on the everyday this season at Bottega Veneta, Matthieu Blazy also conjured pieces for a sultrier 9-to-5; your work crush is wearing his slim boiled wool suits and colour-blocked midi dresses. Tweed-and-silk skirt suits at Prada offered additional inspiration, while a noir-heavy Max Mara spoke to the office siren with darker tastes.

Above (L-R): Bally, Marni, Versace

Ladylike leather

The lady, Milan declared this season, wears leather. This much was clear at shows like Ferragamo, Marni and Versace, where leather in deep hues came in cuts usually reserved for more anodyne fabrics: trapeze midi dresses and gloves, sweeping double-breasted coats, button-downs tucked into pencil skirts. The pattern continued at Bally and Tod’s, where Bellotti and debutant Matteo Tamburini experimented with slim leather shifts and dresses, cut at the knees and cowled at the neck. Of course, it was Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford that turned up the dial on sensuality. His leather trench coats and bustier dresses were supercharged with dominatrix energy; they were the kind of clothes you imagine celebrities wear to be papped in, oversized sunglasses in tow.

Above (L-R): Gucci, Fendi, Ferragamo

Thigh high

We’re used to seeing boots for autumn/winter, but this season, the imperative from Milan was quite the tall order. The boots at De Sarno’s Gucci stretched well beyond the knee—perhaps to make up for a lack of pants. But such was also the case at Fendi and Ferragamo; even when hems weren’t high, the boots reached for the sky, sheathing the leg. A significant portion arrived in moss green—further proof this was the shade of choice for the Italian style set. Make like the Milanese and put your best foot (and knee, and thigh) forward.

Above (L-R): Jil Sander, Sunnei, Bottega Veneta

Ahead of the curve

Strength doesn’t just come with hard edges; wearing curves is another way you can wield soft power. Luke and Lucie Meier proved as much at Jil Sander, where they pursued “an enveloping feeling”, evoking comfort with rounded shoulders and infinity-hem cape coats, all doused in striking pinks, cobalts and tomato reds. There was colour and curve aplenty too at Sunnei, where puffer jackets shrouded the body like quilts, gathered cosily around the neck, and at Bottega Veneta, where tailoring was executed with a gentle hand, but remained sumptuous and generously sized.

Above (L-R): Diesel, Tod’s, Jil Sander

Shag your feet

One of the quirkier details that designers in Milan shook hands on this season? Shoes that were furry and fringed and full of life. Goat hair spurted from the soles of heels at Jil Sander, while at Tamburini’s Tod’s, red driving shoes bristled every which way with leather fronds. Perhaps it’s not the most practical takeaway from autumn/winter ’24/’25, but not all fashion is functional. What do they say again: live, laugh… kick up a fuss in hairy shoes?

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