At Milan Fashion Week, femininity - and fur - is back
Divine power, and messy hair. Milan was a lesson in contradiction.
‘I know I’m not allowed to say it, but I said it.” The illicit phrase Raf Simons was said to have referred to backstage at the Prada show during Milan Fashion Week? Why quiet luxury, of course. It’s over. Or at least you’re definitely not allowed to talk about it any more.
In any case why would you want to when there are other things to talk about? Like the return of elegant fashion and that it seems as if fur (faux and vintage for the street-style set, mainly shearling but not always on the runway) is back. Like, really back – from chubbies and stoles to fur-trimmed jackets and full-blown, full-voltage fur coats. And what does it mean to see the return of skirt suits? Indeed they are back not only on the runway – spied at Ferragamo and Gucci – but Taylor Swift also was snapped in one late in 2024; so, too, model and skincare mogul Hailey Bieber in vintage Versace.
Another overarching trend – see floral applique at Marni, Max Mara creative director Ian Griffiths taking inspiration from the Bronte sisters, and the glitzy embellished skirts and belted-in cardigans at Fendi – was of unabated femininity.
Yet look a little closer and you can see that, across the board, things were a little off-centre. This was especially so at Prada, where Miuccia Prada can always be counted on to unpick ideas of things, including ugliness and femininity. Or as the designer told reporters backstage, “What kind of femininity can you maintain in this difficult moment?”
For this outing Prada and co-creative director Simons presented a collection that on first glance looked irrefutably pulled together – classic black shift dresses, sharp coats and pencil skirts. Yet look closer and things were wonky, the lines slightly off and even wrinkles deliberately pressed into pieces. Then there was the models’ hair – a right state, as one’s grandmother might sniff.
There was a sense throughout that these were not clothes to be restricted in. In fact they were intended for its wearer to break free. Simons said of the ideas behind the collection, “Within feminine beauty, when you think of its archetypes, there are lots of restrictions of the body – here, it’s free.”
Surely this counts for a lot when it comes to getting dressed in complicated times.
Divine feminine power was on fine display at Fendi, too. In 2025 the house celebrates its 100th anniversary and that it has been steered by three generations of women. Fendi is without a creative director following the recent departure of Kim Jones – another instance of the current mode for upheaval at the luxury houses.
However matriarch Silvia Venturini Fendi stepped in to design this collection, and fittingly so. The show traversed the house’s history and included a nod to designer Fendi’s memories. In 1966 Karl Lagerfeld, then creative director, had Silvia walk the runway, aged six. Almost 60 years later her twin grandchildren stole the show as they opened the doors for the models to walk through. The resonance of the brand includes how it has entered the cultural zeitgeist.
Among other celebrities sitting front row at the show was actor Sarah Jessica Parker (right). In Parker’s most recognisable role, as fashion-obsessed Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, she once fought off muggers with the line “it’s not a bag, it’s a Baguette!” in reference to one of the Fendi’s best-known handbag designs.
The sense that designers were thinking about how women would feel in these clothes could be seen in the collection from Matteo Tamburini, who joined Tod’s in 2023. Because while we may no longer talk about quiet luxury, what a lot of people want to wear fits this bill. Crisp, useful clothes that don’t shout and that are made well. Tamburini proved that pared-back clothes are just as interesting as those that shout, with asymmetric hemlines and leather lined cape coats. The smart colour palette of khaki and caramel was accented with punchy reds and mean business blues.
At Bally there was an exploration of shape, from cropped jackets to hourglass silhouettes in leather and organza, and a continued show of Simone Bellotti’s revitalisation of the Swiss luxury brand once known mostly for its leathergoods.
Griffiths, the long-time creative director at Max Mara, also offered the kind of smart clothes sophisticated women – many of them already his devotees – would love to wear. This season there was a focus on cinched-in silhouettes and a lesson in artful layering. The crux of which is that instant polish can be found in wearing clothes of similar hue but different texture.
On the other end of the spectrum, va-va-voom – and rather a lot of it – could be found as always at Versace. The brand has been the subject of much chatter about a sale following the blockage of a merger between Versace’s owner Capri Holdings and the Tapestry group, which owns labels such as Michael Kors and Coach in October 2024. On Monday evening Bloomberg reported that Prada were said to have moved closer to buying Versace in a deal reportedly worth up to €1.5 billion.
Donatella Versace, who has steered the brand since her brother Gianni’s death in 1997, is taking this uncertainty in her stride. As she said in a conversation at Milan’s Triennale museum on the Thursday before the show, “Being told what to do, being told what’s going to sell … I think fashion is creativity and creativity is instinct. If you try to please too many people, too many managers, creativity is gone.”
Still, there’s much to be said for knowing your codes and staying in your lane. Take Giorgio Armani, whose show was full of the Armani-isms on which he has built his brand. This includes fluid trousers, shimmering cropped jackets and, as the designer put it himself in the show notes, a palette that explored “endless nuances of greige”.
Enthusiastic maximalism could be spied elsewhere in the leather trench coats, blouses and little slip dresses at Roberto Cavalli, and shearling trimmed denim at Dolce & Gabbana. Experiments with maximalism could be found at Gucci, too, another house in flux as it awaits the arrival of a new creative director. Throughout the collection recognisable motifs such as the horsebit were emphasised, as well as nods to the sexiness of Tom Ford for Gucci era.
Ultimately it has been a season for things that shouldn’t work but do, from unexpected colour combinations such as purple and lime green at Gucci to shearlingtrimmed everything. A reminder, eternally, that rules are meant to be broken.
Fashion month continues this week with the focus moving to Paris, where the likes of Dior, Louis Vuitton and Chanel will show. Australian brands including Zimmermann and Christian Esber also will show on schedule.
More Coverage
Add your comment to this story
‘Musk knows’: Betting against Tesla is stupid
It’s easy to get swept up in dealership bombings and plummeting share prices. But you’d be stupid to bet against Elon Musk or Tesla. This is why.
Musk’s bombshell announcement, Tesla sinks
The global Tesla bloodbath has continued after Elon Musk’s company reported a staggering drop in profits.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout