This year’s edition of Milan Fashion Week reminded all that fashion, at its most exuberant, is a choreography of spirit, a call to dance, to live inside color, to become summer itself. Join us in celebrating stories of beauty, strength, and becoming by the industry’s most creative and innovative houses.
Brioni La Donna’s Timeless Intimacy
Courtesy of Brioni.
Courtesy of Brioni.
The Brioni La Donna Spring/Summer 2026 collection whispered seductively of Rome at midday, the city and its stylish inhabitants softened by sun. Tailoring appeared featherlight, dissolving into silk seersucker, linen blends, and breath-thin cashmere. Jackets curved at the shoulder and sleeveless blazers spotlit the décolleté, merging poise with delicacy.
Architectural wrap skirts and tuxedo gowns blurred the space between masculine rigor and feminine allure, as though caught between the marble geometry of the Forum and the fleeting drape of a veil. Colors recalled stone and sky: ochre, cream, faded azure, and a sudden bloom of powder pink. Evening descended in silk slips shaped from the ease of a v-neck tee, transformed into elegance with a gossamer gesture. Accessories such as bare sandals, softened pumps, and leather belts with unvarnished gleam echoed the theme of timeless intimacy.
Brunello Cucinelli Gifts Elements Resonance
Courtesy of Brunello Cucinelli.
“Fundamental principles fuel our creative spark, reaffirm the authentic value of our aesthetic journey, and inspire new visions that resonate with the contemporary world,” said the Brunello Cucinelli Spring/Summer 2026 notes. This presentation unfolded like a hymn to the elements. Earth, Air, Water, and Fire were at once woven into a single narrative of elegance personified.
“Fundamental principles fuel our creative spark, reaffirm the authentic value of our aesthetic journey,”
Brunello Cucinelli
Earth arrived in grounding shades of root, clay, and sand, made rich with tweeds and chevrons. Air drifted fragrantly through gauzy lace and open-knit forms, garments lifted as though by a refreshing current. Water shimmered across rippled fabrics and embroideries, and tailoring flowed naturally like waves across a shore. Then came Fire, a surge of crimson and molten tones igniting silhouettes with summertime passion.
Etro’s Enigmatic Flux
Courtesy of Etro.
Courtesy of Etro.
Etro’s runway proved to be a vital ritual, underpinned by the hypnotic score of La Niña. Prints danced across the body, imparting a new, liquid language, ruffles and fringes erupting with each swing of the hip. Metallic jacquards and crochet transparencies played with light, while biker jackets shimmied under cascades of beaded fringes.
A fever dream of colors rose to the occasion. Brocades bloomed, leather blousons bore inlays of kaleidoscopic pattern, and black struck as an ink-stained love spell. The collection thrived on contrasts, layering rebellion with tenderness, science with instinct. Accessories beckoned us further: swirling metal jewelry shaped like chameleons, wide-brim hats laser-cut into patterns of shadow, handbags softened into animalistic charms. In Etro’s world, garments are indeed alive, thriving on rhythm and chance.
Max Mara Revels in Rococo Modern
Courtesy of Max Mara.
Courtesy of Max Mara.
Rococo “embodies the spirit of punk rock and anarchism more than any philosophy,” once said author Novala Takemoto. Max Mara’s SS 2026 runway strutted through these corridors with vision sharpened by contemporary clarity. Jackets unfolded like coronas at the shoulder, skirts blossomed into organza petals, and trenches bore gilded crests reminiscent of acanthus leaves. Colors appeared almost intangible, shades of pale air and powdered light, recalling the delicacy of Madame de Pompadour’s salons.
Beneath the dreamlike silhouettes was a framework of power, with harness straps, tailored pants, and sharp belts anchoring each flourish. Prints drew from cabinets of curiosities, with fauna and flora of land, sea, and sky painted upon diaphanous fabrics, fusing history with play.
MM6 Maison Margiela’s Play with Perception
Courtesy of MM6 Maison Margiela.
Courtesy of MM6 Maison Margiela.
On the streets of Milan, MM6 Maison Margiela staged a surreal runway, turning pavement into stage. Models walked as intriguing passersby, dressed in blousons crafted from garment bags, coats reshaped from familiar forms, and dresses cut to question category. Shoulders propelled forward, hem lengths rose, and silhouettes were at once utilitarian and otherworldly.
Colors spanned post-it brights, muted neutrals, and phantom shades, interrupted by transparent inserts that played trompe l’oeil tricks on the eye. The twinset reemerged as a coat layered over its own reflection in dress form, while pants shifted identities, with jeans masquerading as tailoring, suiting rendered with denim ease. Accessories were sly interventions: cocktail glass jewelry, satchels tied at the waist, and metallic flats glinting like mirrors.
Fendi’s Everyday Romantic Elegance
Courtesy of Fendi.
Courtesy of Fendi.
“It’s about a relaxed and colorful sense of ease with a romantic elegance,” said Silvia Venturini Fendi. “It’s not about a single definition but a fluidity between everyday life and exquisite craftsmanship. Simple gestures with complex works behind them. This duality has always attracted me.” With this, Fendi’s new women’s and men’s collection for Spring/Summer 2026 unfolded as a love letter to the art of making, each piece a meditation on craftsmanship as poetry. Gathered in the audience were cultural creatives from across the globe attuned to the house’s artistry, including Fendi Ambassadors Bang Chan, leader of K-Pop powerhouse Stray Kids, actress Haruna Kawaguchi, and singer Ren Meguro, whose presence underscored the collection’s resonance beyond fashion.
“It’s about a relaxed and colorful sense of ease with a romantic elegance,”
Silvia Venturini Fendi
The runway glowed with garments cut as if sculpted from a knowing force, with impressionist floral details, iridescent finishes, and sleek sportswear creations. Effervescent shades felt like an optimistic embrace, where bubblegum, sunny yellow, and foamy turquoise met their match in earthy delights of glossy white, brown, and grey. Accessories were the icing on the cake, and the Fendi Peekaboo styles certainly caught our eye, with floral beaded cages and sequined inner pockets calling for warm weather merriment.
Pucci’s Passport to the Stars
Couresy of Pucci.
Camille Miceli, the skillful Artistic Director of Pucci, ignited a cross-cultural celebration with the latest Pucci collection. Starring the radiant Naomi Capmbell, a campaign by Oliver Hadlee Pearch accompanied the lush Milan presentation. “Passepartout” echoes an iconic Italian tv series which voyaged through culture over time and space, and energized the brand’s leader to develop an expansive, “all-access” fashion odyssey. “I can imagine a woman arriving to a gallery or a club,” remarked Miceli in the show notes. “Maybe she buys a Picasso, maybe she dances all night. This season, I really wanted to channel the impression that wearing Pucci opens doors—the feeling that anything is possible.”
“I really wanted to channel the impression that wearing Pucci opens doors,”
Camille Miceli
Revived archival prints, including Hawaii (1969), Labirinto (1969), and Collane (1970), whisked us away to another jubilant realm—a carnival of color where dresses spiraled with pure geometry. Lurex jersey dresses, shimmering gossamer creations, and winter jacquards embraced the body with rhythm and light. A spectacle of warm and cool hues—black, gold, pink, purple, and grey—met with the dazzle of turquoise across charming terry combinations.
