Milan Fashion Week Men’s is heating up this weekend, as the stacked calendar features some of the biggest names in Italian fashion.
Gucci opened the week as the first physical fashion show on Friday, followed by 1017 Alyx 9SM and Dsquared2‘s runway show with presentations from Kiton and Billionaire. Zegna will close the festivities on Monday night. In between, fall/winter 2023 collections from Fendi, Prada, JW Anderson, Armani and more will be must-sees.
Below, a look at everything you need to know about Milan Fashion Week Men’s fall/winter 2023 season, from buzzy runway moments, the best shoes at presentations around the city, and the top trends from showrooms, parties and more.
Tod’s
For fall winter men’s 2023 collection, Tod’s continues his journey to rediscover the essence of Italian style and chooses modern elegance without nostalgia. The collection’s sartorial sportswear classics are enhanced and embellished this season with a strong metropolitan accent, which do not neglect casual elements of everyday life. As for the shoes, Tod’s iconic W.G. becomes more elegant and urban, in treated and shaded leather. The more casual proposals have a padded effect, enhanced by the contrast of the suede with the stitched fabric. Traditional masculine shoes are also seen, formed in lace-ups and ankle boots which make an important appearance in brown and black leather, they are soft and light, with the sole stitched by hand.
Plein Sport
Plein Sport showcased its fall winter 2023 collection in Milan on Saturday. The centerpiece of the show was the Plein Sport Truck, first unveiled in June at the brand’s spring summer 2023 event. The brand’s first mobile store travels across Europe to several cities to bring them the full offering of Plein Sport. One of the key elements this season is the camouflage design, inspired by the power within. The looks also include touches of fluorescent contrast details, with accents of hot pink, fluorescent green, burning orange on classic bases of grey and black. What’s more, the brand also introduced the Thunder Stroke Gen.X.02 sneaker, a new, limited edition NFT by international 3D artist Antoni Tudisco. Offering six different colorways, this NFT sneaker will be available for one month following its release.
Etro
For creative director Marco De Vincenzo’s first men’s collection at Etro, the designer paid homage to the houses’ fabric roots while also giving a nod to his own roots. He did this by exploring items from his childhood home, resulting in a cozy collection full of crochet knits, interesting jacquards, and fuzzy pullovers. According to Etro’s show notes, the ideas was to merge “the public and the private, the homely and the social.” As for footwear, De Vincenzo opted for a clog look – unveiling a felt clog with thick sole and studded clog sneakers. Other accessories included jacquard velvet shoppers and oversized laser-cut totes.
Santoni
At Santoni, design got inventive in the reinterpretation of its signature styles. The Italian luxury shoe specialists worked its degrade patent leather effect into a plethora of nuances, sometimes unexpected such as teal green, for penny loafers embellished with a metal buckle. Santoni also updated a range of dressy boots and monkstraps with chunky soles, becoming kind of a blueprint for the brand lately. This season also sees the introduction of a new loafer style called “Andrea,” as in the company’s founder name. This new style was inspired from the company’s archives, its silhouette tapered with a flexible sole. New sneakers complemented the offering. After debuting the DBS low-tops last season, now available in a version with a thicker sole, it introduced SneakAir, a high-top, basketball-inspired design bearing spraypainted motifs and the Hy-run running style.
MSGM
MSGM went back to school in its fall/winter 2023 “Dreamers University” collection runway show, which took place on Saturday in the brutalist buildings of the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Milan. This season, creative director Massimo Giorgetti was heavily influenced by the 1989 film “Dead Poets Society,” which can be seen across the collection in V-neck sweaters paired with fleece joggers, coats and coach jackets worn over jackets and cardigans, and flannel ties and Oxford shirts. Stripes, madras checks and micro-checks are revisited in a contemporary way, while tailoring is updated with trousers in classic fabrics cut with large cargo pockets. References to Ivy League culture and American sports can also be found in the footwear. This season, Giorgetti focused on the penny loafer – styled with sporty socks – as well as a calf hair boot, boat shoe, and two styles of retro-inspired sneakers.
Dsquared2
Cowboy boots reigned supreme at Dsquared2’s co-ed fall/winter 2023 show in Milan on Friday night. Found in a range of colors, the leather boot was part of the prep-meets-cowboy theme that ran throughout the collection. In its show notes, Dsquared2 said it was inspired by its first women’s runway show in 2003 and continues to find its roots in new forms of teenage troupes – the geek, the jock, the goth, the emo, and the femme. The return of the underwear peeking out of from low-rise jeans was also a major theme as models wore cropped jersey tanks printed with ‘Darlin’ and ‘Emo’ with fringed jackets and denim. Other boots on the runway included desert and biker styles, with retro sneakers also making an appearance.
1017 Alyx 9SM
This season sees a collaboration between 1017 ALYX 9SM and the American artist Mark Flood that culminates with a retrospective of the artist’s work during the designer’s fall/winter 2023 show. Pieces from this season feature a selection of Flood’s work as well as graphics developed specifically for the collection. As for footwear, fall 2023 features a new chunky sole that has been integrated into all shoes featured in the collection. According to the brand, the sole was developed using the techniques used to make the Mono range from prior seasons. The result is a thick statement sole that is visually impactful while lightweight. The signature sole is then mounted upon a range of textured leather uppers, in a mid boot shape, recalling an exaggerated biker boot and is featured in all mens looks of the collection.
