The Kurator’s round-up: Milan Men’s Fashion Week AW26

Milan’s AW26 men’s season felt like a series of explorations into menswear’s practical and philosophical dimensions. Across the week, designers interrogated how clothes inhabit the body, the psyche, and culture itself - addressing movement, identity, memory, and legacy over instant display. The result was a lineup rooted in reflection and craftsmanship, each collection negotiating tradition, innovation, and context in its own way.

Alessandro Sartori’s Zegna continued its investigation into tailoring as a responsive system rather than an ornamental code. Jackets and coats were constructed to flex with movement; trousers offered volume without excess. Fabrics were technical yet softened, designed to respond to real life rather than stage presence. Zegna’s approach positioned menswear as infrastructure: clothing built to support complexity rather than advertise it.

Presented at the Deposito within Fondazione Prada on January 18, Prada’s collection explored menswear as a dialogue between past and present. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons deployed elongated, precise silhouettes that reference classical forms while questioning convention. Prints and fabric treatments evoked other eras, layering memory without nostalgia. The show framed menswear as a medium for reflection: clothing carrying traces of human experience, cultural resonance, and intellectual depth. Guests from film and music, including Rauw Alejandro, Maya Hawke, and Troye Sivan, underscored the collection’s cultural reach beyond fashion audiences.

Dolce & Gabbana’s lineup, The Portrait of Man, approached menswear as a canvas for individuality. Each silhouette acted as a psychological portrait, sculpted through tailored structure, fabric, and light. Deep velvets, matte silks, and brocades suggested multiple modes of inhabiting the world: the introspective, the creative, the sensual, the rational, the restless. Rather than archetypes, the collection offered nuanced interpretations of contemporary masculinity, affirming menswear’s role in encoding personal identity amid a world of uniformity.

Closing the week, Armani’s show under Leo Dell’Orco exemplified the house’s ongoing dialogue between legacy and subtle innovation. Centered on the concept of Cangiante - iridescence - the collection combined fluid, relaxed silhouettes with a refined color palette, punctuated by olive greens, amethysts, and lapis blues. Textures shifted between velvet, crêpe, chenille, and brushed cashmeres, creating garments that change with perspective while maintaining coherence.

Ralph Lauren’s Milan debut asserted the power of strategic consistency. The collection leaned into the brand’s established lexicon - double-breasted coats, evening tailoring, subtle heritage references - but avoided nostalgia or spectacle. By emphasising continuity, Lauren demonstrated that menswear’s cultural weight can be maintained through coherence, a form of influence rooted in persistence rather than reinvention.

Brunello Cucinelli’s collection exemplified the brand’s philosophy of calm and measured luxury. Soft tailoring, relaxed silhouettes, and tactile fabrics spoke to longevity and practical refinement. In a climate of fashion acceleration and volatility, Cucinelli offered reassurance: menswear that accommodates life rather than dictates it.

Dunhill’s presentation framed formal clothing as functional and adaptable. Precision remained central - clean lines, balanced proportions, subtle layering - but ceremony was absent. The collection addressed the evolving role of professional menswear, providing clarity and structure without imposing rigidity, reflecting the way contemporary dress codes are dissolving.

Qasimi’s collection foregrounded cultural and emotional context over decoration. Drawing on displacement, hybridity, and memory, garments embedded narrative in proportion, layering, and restraint rather than symbolic gestures. The collection suggested that clothing can accommodate identity and experience, rather than just projecting it.