The Kurator’s Milan Fashion Week SS/26 round-up

Milan has always been the city of confidence – a place where tailoring meets fantasy, and where craft and excess live happily side by side. For Spring/Summer 2026, that energy felt renewed. Heritage houses dusted off their archives, fresh creative directors stepped onto the stage, and the week’s runways swung between playful pyjama silks, sculptural knits and unabashed glamour.

Prada opened with its usual knack for setting the tone. The SS26 collection was less about fantasy than functionality: utility shirts paired with midi skirts, colours jostling uncomfortably against each other, the familiar sense that “ugliness” might be the ultimate luxury. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons once again reminded us that unease is a design strategy, not an accident. Clothes that don’t flatter in the conventional sense – boxy proportions, awkward layering – become provocations, a challenge to the industry’s obsession with polish.

If Prada’s message was one of tension, Dolce & Gabbana leaned into seduction. Their SS26 outing reimagined boudoir codes for the street: slinky satin pyjamas, feather-trimmed robes, lace slips dripping with crystals. It was intimate, decadent, and unashamedly theatrical. Adding to the spectacle, Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci appeared front row in character for The Devil Wears Prada sequel – blurring the line between show and cinema, fashion and performance.

Moschino’s SS26 collection, titled Niente (“nothing”), was in practice anything but empty: guided by the motto “reuse, recycle, reimagine,” Adrian Appiolaza transformed humble and archival materials into pieces of striking wit and craft. Potato sacks, burlap, newspaper prints, and ropes found their way into evening tops, sculptural skirts, and appliquéd tailoring. References to Arte Povera were explicit - elevating the overlooked, embracing raw textures - while signature motifs like trompe-l’œil illusions, archival “Niente” T-shirts, and smileys reminded us that Moschino’s humour remains deeply sewn into its identity.

Missoni’s strength has always been its distinctive zigzag knits – instantly recognisable, but often trapped in a leisurewear pigeonhole. SS26 suggested a new ambition. Tailored jackets were cut in airy yarns, short hems and vests gave the collection a youthful snap, and the classic twinset was deconstructed into something more versatile. It was still Missoni, but designed for an urban summer rather than a Riviera holiday.

The most poignant moment of the week came with Giorgio Armani’s final collection, presented at the Pinacoteca di Brera. To the music of Ludovico Einaudi at the piano, models moved through a spectrum of warm neutrals, soft jewel tones and intricately beaded shawls. It was restrained, graceful, and unmistakably Armani – a parting statement that affirmed his lifelong belief in elegance, and a reminder of how profoundly his vision has shaped the language of modern fashion.

All eyes were on Bottega Veneta as Louise Trotter revealed her first collection for the house. She leaned heavily on the brand’s craft – the iconic Intrecciato weave appeared everywhere, from coats to oversized totes – but injected a freshness through sharp tailoring, fringed dresses, and clever material clashes. It was less of a rupture, more of a recalibration: Bottega as both heritage craftsperson and modern wardrobe engine.

In a season obsessed with wearability, Roberto Cavalli offered defiance. The runway glittered with gold – metallic lamé gowns, snake-print denim, animal motifs amplified to the point of parody. Subtle it was not. But Cavalli has never traded in understatement, and SS26 doubled down on that unapologetic glamour. If other brands were recalibrating, Cavalli was revelling.

Boss, meanwhile, reminded us of its strength in clean lines and corporate minimalism – strapless dresses, precise suiting, an elegant palette. The twist came in casting and staging: Ashley Graham and Paloma Elsesser walked alongside K-pop idol S.COUPS, who closed the show in a sweeping leather coat. It was modernist tailoring reframed through global celebrity culture.

The biggest question mark hung over Gucci, where Demna presented his first collection since taking the helm. Rather than a runway, we got a film premiere – Spike Jonze’s The Tiger – and a lookbook of 37 archetypes with names like “Nero” and “Direttore.” Clothes were deliberately extravagant, unapologetically sexy, but framed as an exploration of identity. Critics were divided: was this excavation of Gucci’s DNA bold enough, or merely cautious? With a full show due in February, SS26 felt like a prologue – a cinematic teaser rather than a manifesto.

Across the city, three themes stood out. First, tactility: woven leather, patchwork, fringe and knit textures dominated, suggesting that surface and hand feel matter as much as silhouette. Second, versatility: day-to-night dressing, fluid layering, and transitional pieces reigned. And third, heritage: most houses chose to re-engage with their archives rather than chase novelty.

Milan SS26 was a season of reflection, recalibration and, in Armani’s farewell, mourning. Yet in the tension between legacy and reinvention, discomfort and glamour, the city showed it still knows how to make fashion matter.