Milan Menswear SS23: Gucci, Armani, Brioni, and More

In its newest collection, Brioni paid tribute to its home city of Rome. Softly tailored silhouettes abound in summery, painterly hues. Light and playful yet formally constructed evening and seersucker suits, trench coats, field jackets, and workwear jackets for all occasions moved freely with the body and emphasized its gestures, their urban dignity accented with leather sandals and round-toe loafers. Material echoed this ease as much as form: washed silk, fine wool, rich suede, soft seersucker, and strong linen interplayed between innerwear and outerwear. The spontaneity of Brioni shone not only in its fabrics but in its colors: dense, bright, and earthy browns, yellows, grays, and whites contrast and meld with pinks, oranges, and blues for an effect that reflected sensual ease and the enduring beauty of the transient everyday.

Dsquared2’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection was an ode to the ease and adventurousness of the surfer. Multicolored patches, appliqués, and prints like flowers, stripes, and the tricolor Jamaican flag were interspersed with tailored bike wear, bearing the logo of Honda, Dsquared2’s collaborator for this collection. In unexpected and eccentric twists, maxi shorts were paired with check nylon, and tie-dye shirts and hoodies with denim bell bottoms, finished with ringed leather sandals and biker boots. Waist-tied sarongs and matching beach shorts sported sunny patterns in bright green and yellow, while nubbly knitted cardigans and vests were layered above with oversized tailored jackets and long-sleeved V-neck knits. Mini denim shorts were studded with metal eyelets and accessorized with crochet totes, patches, and beanies. Pastels offset and accented these rich colors through ‘80s prom jackets and long board shorts.

Armani’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection of pieces flowed across tailored but playful, soft-shouldered, and loose-cut suits, with workwear jackets, blousons, trousers, and shirts. Mandarin and crew collars were paired with double-breasted blazers, peasant blouses, espadrilles, and derby sandals for an effect that was both radical and formal. Shimmering washed-silk, stout fine linen, and chunky knit prints were enriched with purples and blues in alternately deep royal and light pastel hues. Loosely draped silk shawls and ties in playful prints both highlighted and subverted this formalism.

Gucci’s newest release, “HA HA HA,” was the product of a collaboration with longtime friend of creative director Alessandro Michele, British singer-songwriter Harry Styles. Michele envisioned a “dream wardrobe… starting from those small oddities that come together in childlike visions,” utilizing '70s and bohemian cuts as Styles subverted and reimagined traditional English models of menswear. The result was an easy and playful elegance displayed in jackets, coats, pants, shirts, and shoes from the boldest silhouettes, like double-breasted lapels and pleated kilts, to the finest details, like mother-of-pearl shirt buttons and frog fasteners. Prints and colors, too, echoed this natural spontaneity and historical eccentricity, from Prince of Wales check to rich-hued velvet suits and treated denim jackets.

Kiton continued to honor its visionary hand-crafted reinterpretations of traditional Neapolitan tailoring for its Spring/Summer 2023 collection. Sartorial formality melded with the comfort and liveliness of leisurewear: shirts were freed to become overshirts, light jackets, and blousons, while outerwear took on innerwear and shirt materials like washed silk and cotton. These new silhouettes were themselves deconstructed: pleated pants widened at the waist and tapered at the ankles, suit jackets bore light linen or Japanese nylon and were paired with Bermudas instead of trousers. These ultrafine fabrics lent themselves to unique layers and subtle hues, ranging from moss and olive green to brick and cherry red to classic blue and white. Accessories, too, accented this laid-back elegance: tasseled and tasseled loafers, laces, and monk straps paired with white soles evocative of boat shoes.

Zegna’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection utilized sartorial details and forms that are both contemporary and timeless, structured and comfortable, pragmatic and experimental. Silhouettes were free and followed the body: kimono-cut jackets, lightweight coats, trousers without pleats, blazers without colalrs, and tops that doubled as outerwear. Fabrics were so weightless as to be fluid, ranging from mesh, terrry, nylon, wool, rubberized leather, lacquered Nappa, and fine cashmere. These layers came in earthy tones of pale ivory, yellow, pink, brown, and gray, enlivened by intarsia and jacquard knits and screen-prints. Speaking on the distinctive ethic of the collection, Artistic Director Alessandro Sartori said, “The idea is to use our craftmanship as a progressive tool, keeping the finesse, the attention to detail, the respect of materials while experimenting with shapes that are light and materials, solutions and finishes that give these shapes a new technicality, to mostly building up a new silhouette where effortless and innovation create a new style for men.”