This season’s fashion palette cleanser: white. Milan fashion houses, as often this season, are opening their runway preview shows for next spring and summer with all-white looks. Tod’s emphasized white with tables of craftsmen making white driving shoes inside the showroom, and then opened the show with a stark white look, as did several other fashion houses this week, including Moschino, Alberta Ferretti, Del Core and Cavalli.
The fashion crowd arriving for the much-anticipated Gucci show passed through a white tunnel that burst into sunset colors along the length of the runway. Here are the highlights from the preview of most of the womenswear for next spring and summer on the fourth day of Milan Fashion Week on Friday:
Gucci introduces the ‘Casual Grandeur’
Sabato di Sarno began a new fashion cycle a year after presenting his first Gucci collection, focusing on some of his self-described passions: tailoring, lingerie, leather and 1960s silhouettes. At its simplest, a white tank with Gucci-striped piping was paired with dark trousers with a hemline slit over sneakers, referencing menswear. At its most elaborate, Gucci-monogrammed overcoats draped royally down the runway, and lingerie peeked out of shiny, textured leather.
Blouses slipped nonchalantly off the shoulder. Sequined dresses rustled. Crepe dresses were held together with bamboo-shaped hardware. Mini-skirts bubbled slightly. Floral headscarves or large sunhats completed the look. De Sarno called the collection “Casual Grandeur.” “Moment by moment, I have created my ideas for Gucci,” he said in the notes. “A casual grandeur that takes shape through my passions … and always with an uncompromising attitude.”
Gucci’s front row lit up with the presence of Jessica Chastain, Kirsten Dunst, Nicola Coughlan – who stopped to take selfies with fans – and Italy’s own tennis hero, Jannik Sinner, who is a Gucci ambassador. Crowds of K-pop fans chanted in anticipation of the arrival of another brand ambassador, Jin from BTS.
Versace played it safe
The opening movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Concerto signaled the start of the Versace runway show in the courtyard of the medieval Sforza Castle. But as the models walked the runway, the tempo changed to contemporary house music as a drone recorded the scene from above.
The spring-summer 2025 collection was conservative by Donatella Versace’s standards, combining satin pencil skirts, polos and modest cardigans made for good girls that could easily be paired with a car coat. The silhouettes and modern hairstyles suggested inspiration from the 1960s and 1970s.
The boldest ensembles included short-shorts paired with tights and platform heels, or a chiffony dress that opened to the navel, revealing a pair of wavy patterned panties. Gigi Hadid wore an off-the-shoulder floral midi dress that was pretty without being provocative in any way. A metallic-finish dress with a plunging cowl exuded the most sensuality.
The men’s clothing was very much like the women’s look: the same wavy weave in three colors, and satin floral prints in the form of shirts or pajama suiting. That is, many pieces to mix and match, which were light on attitude.
Tod’s celebrates the wisdom of craftsmanship
In a world buzzing about artificial intelligence, Tod’s highlighted the intelligence of artisans. Dozens of craftsmen were in the showroom, hand-sewing the brand’s trademark Gommino driving shoe. Models emerged from beneath the oversized white hands of sculptor Lorenzo Quinn, who was holding a spiral of leather. “The intelligence of the artisans is the opposite of what everyone is saying,” creative director Matteo Tamburini said before the show. “The focus is on a very advanced product, the cornerstone of Made in Italy.”
The spring-summer 2025 collection began with crisp cotton pairings: oversized shirts with trousers or skirts. The looks were recreated in soft leather, deliberately fluid for the warmer months, while the leather overcoat was more robustly vintage. Asymmetric cuts and wraps gave the collection a touch of casual elegance. The looks were completed with barely-there criss-cross sandals, the new Gommino or clog version in glove leather. Tamburini said he only uses AI to speak to journalists. “I’m no writer,” he said, laughing.
Sunni grew up?
The sunniest fashion brand, for its 10th anniversary, questioned the concept of “growing up” and cast doubt on the idea of ​​”maturing.” With a dose of irony and phobia for diversity, the brand’s founders Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina, both in their mid-30s, cast only older models, most of whom are aging, and presumably from among those over 65, who make up a quarter of Milan’s population, according to the show notes.
The pace of the show, spread over two floors, was kept slow, which the notes suggest was due to the stairs, but it may also have been due to the colorful platform flip-flops the brand created in collaboration with Camper. In any case, the collection retained the brand’s winning, youthful exuberance, represented in oversized garments like a bubble top gathered at the waist, a striped T-shirt so large it became a tunic, and a blouse that resembled a tent over an A-line pleated leather skirt.
This season’s trousers for men and women are gathered at the ankle with fan-like pleats. A more simply tailored pant has a built-in apron, topped by a utility belt filled with zippered pockets. The designers apparently acknowledged the failure of artificial intelligence, relying on the human design team for the prints of the collection’s six faces that appeared on dresses and tops, and which were available for purchase immediately after the show on Sunni’s website. Backstage, brand founders Rizzo and Messina celebrated with hugs, tears and shouts of “Bravissimi!” to their team.
