Milan Fashion Week was a season of reckoning and renewal

Milan Fashion Week this September was as much an event behind the scenes as it was on the runway. The tides of fashion have rarely shifted as abruptly as in 2025, and both the spectacle and the machinery of the industry now unfold under intense scrutiny. According to the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, Italy’s fashion industry generates over 100 billion euros annually, accounting for more than 40 per cent of Europe’s luxury goods output. Yet this season underscored how fragile that dominance has become. The debuts that the fashion world had anticipated for months, Demna at Gucci, Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, and Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander, arrived in the midst of a luxury slowdown, with global sales growth projected to dip below 3 per cent this year compared with double-digit increases pre-pandemic.

Resolutions to come

The turbulence was not confined to creative shake-ups. Midway through the womenswear season, Brunello Cucinelli shares fell sharply after an investigation revealed the brand had continued selling full-price merchandise in Russia, sidestepping sanctions. It was a reminder of fashion’s shadow side, where reputations can unravel quickly. The once-unassailable “Made in Italy” hallmark remains under strain, with houses such as Dior and Loro Piana having outsourced elements of production to lower-cost facilities, eroding the cachet of the label. Meanwhile, succession questions weigh heavily on family-founded brands. The future of Giorgio Armani, and the fate of its minority stake once Mr Armani’s estate is resolved, remains unsettled. At Fendi, the industry is bracing for a new chapter after Silvia Venturini Fendi announced her departure from design duties to assume the role of honorary president. Maria Grazia Chiuri is widely regarded as the likely successor, with an announcement anticipated imminently.

And yet, Milan still delivered moments of clarity. The season’s most anticipated debuts, which will likely come to define this moment, were formidable. Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Dario Vitale at Versace, and Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander injected new energy into heritage houses.

From goddess to grit: Versace’s new street swagger

At Versace, Vitale dispensed with the goddess gowns that had long defined the brand and reintroduced sportswear with a provocative edge. It was a nostalgic turn towards the 1980s, underscored by the era’s soundtrackg, which included Wham!’s Everything She Wants and Eurythmics. But this was no simple exercise in retro. There were louche jackets with diagonal stripes in suede and leather, vest tops with open-cut sides, and trousers in washed blues and purples that felt unexpectedly modern. The collection suggested a Versace beyond red carpet bombast. Yet Donatella Versace’s absence was striking. After being ushered into retirement, she offered no public words of endorsement for Vitale. Having steered the house since Gianni’s assassination in 1997, her silence hints at tensions as the label prepares to join the Prada Group, a transaction due to close in October.

The weight of a debut

At Bottega Veneta, Trotter’s debut was closely watched. Once a discreet connoisseur’s brand, Bottega has become a commercial powerhouse under Kering, propelled first by Daniel Lee’s oversized intrecciato and discreet triangle motif and later Matthieu Blazy’s technical experimentation. Trotter, with previous stints at Joseph and Carven, leaned into Bottega’s artisanal core: intrecciato weaving appeared across sumptuous bags, suede, feathered coats and even knitwear. These are pieces resistant to high-street replication, embodying a level of craft beyond imitation. Still, the collection felt weighty, particularly in oversized tailoring and outerwear. This is a spring summer season, after all. The absence of the signature “Bottega green” suggested an intentional break from the recent past.

Minimalism recalibrated

Jil Sander, under Bellotti, offered a welcome recalibration. He drew from the brand’s minimalist heritage while softening it for the present. Shrunken knits, slight ruching in shirting, and discreet slits in dresses created a restrained sensuality. It was a collection that valued proportion and subtlety over spectacle. Commercial potential will hinge on execution and fit, but the direction felt in line with a house that thrives on understatement.

Utility in technicolor

If Bottega and Versace signalled transition, Prada confirmed continuity. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons remain unrivalled in capturing the zeitgeist without resorting to (too much) gimmick. Utilitarian workwear opened the show, but was reimagined in neon dresses and frothy skirts layered with unexpected colours. A salmon-pink coat with beige lining, paired with yellow shorts, green gloves, and a red-and-black handbag, demonstrated Prada’s genius for recombining elements into looks that appear over-styled on the runway but fall into place as separates in real life. There were weaker notes, the proposition of a flimsy bra-let and contrived suspended skirt dresses, but overall the collection balanced wearability with intellectual play.

From Hollywood to Milan, an enduring elegance

The week closed with an elegiac note. Giorgio Armani, who passed away earlier this month, was celebrated with both a commemorative exhibition, Milano, Per Amore, and a runway show. Armani’s deconstructed tailoring of the 1970s, his palette of greys and sand, and his ability to strip suiting to its essence, still looked modern. His aesthetic dressed stars from Richard Gere to Julia Roberts, but more crucially it changed how men and women approached their wardrobes. The tribute reminded Milan, and the wider industry, that true design legacies endure long after fashion week is over and quarterly results fade.