Milan Fashion Week SS27: a comprehensive overview of collections and events

A fashion week of some contradictions. It ranged from Diesel's 'performance' shows with 200 dancers from (La)Horde, the Marseille-based artistic collective, to smaller brands like Biagini. Biagini is a historic made-in-Italy leather goods label that builds customer relationships through an intimate and passionate narrative of its work. The week also featured media events like Vogue World, which focus on fashion's 'big names' and 'VIPs', alongside trade fair stands like White Milano, where the products and the entrepreneurs behind them do the talking.

In short, Milan Fashion Week, which concludes today, September 28, with digital shows, seems to have made room for everyone. It included large and small labels, show business, debuts (such as Moschino's creative directors, Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo) and farewells (Glenn Martens from Diesel).

Prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, sat down with entrepreneurs

This fashion week also marked the official 'debut' into the fashion system for prime minister Giorgia Meloni. She attended the gala dinner on September 23, organised by Camera della Moda, and sat with entrepreneurs such as Frédéric Arnault (LVMH, ceo of Loro Piana); Luca de Meo (ceo of Kering); Andrea Guerra (ceo of Prada); and Alfonso Dolce (president and chief executive officer of Dolce&Gabbana). Also present were Diego Della Valle (president and ceo of Tod's Group); Brunello Cucinelli (president and creative director of Brunello Cucinelli); Remo Ruffini (executive chairman of Moncler); Gildo Zegna (executive chairman of Ermenegildo Zegna); and Renzo Rosso (president and founder of Otb Group).

Italian fashion represents around 5 percent of GDP

“Italian fashion represents around 5 percent of GDP and, throughout the value chain, employs about one million people. It has also always been one of the emblems of made in Italy worldwide. In a phase of profound economic and geopolitical transformations, dialogue and collaboration between institutions and industry are fundamental to continue enhancing and strengthening an extraordinary heritage of our country,” emphasised Carlo Capasa, president of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.

According to the figures, for Milan Fashion Week, which ends today, September 28, the impact of tourist spending will exceed 219.5 million euros. This represents a decrease of 8 percent compared to September 2025, but an increase of 1.4 percent on February of this year. A sum of 100.8 million euros will be allocated to shopping; 85.4 million to accommodation and dining; and 32.9 million to transport.

Nearly 141,000 visitors are expected. International visitors are up by 22 percent, while Italian visitors are down by 29 percent. The estimates are from the Study Centre of Confcommercio Milano Lodi Monza e Brianza, based on data from Istat, the Milan Police Headquarters, the Bank of Italy, Global Blue (average receipt data), and Banca Ifis.

Prada Galleria has opened

Among the week's new developments was the opening of Prada Galleria in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The Prada house project spans eight floors dedicated to retail, hospitality, art and history.

The space connects the two sides of the iconic nineteenth-century gallery's central octagon via a new underground passage.

Under the direction of Miuccia Prada, the complex merges over a century of family and company history with the “founding principle that Prada is not a fixed identity, but a continuous exploration, supported by dialogue with art, architecture, cinema, culture and sport”.

On the main floor of the Galleria, the permanent exhibition Pradasphere illustrates the brand's history from its founding to the present day. Alongside Pradasphere are the expanded Prada Uomo and Prada Donna boutiques, Marchesi 1824 and the Osservatorio Fondazione Prada. Additional floors dedicated to invitation-only shopping and private hospitality spaces have also been added. Prada Galleria brings these common threads together in a single destination, conceived for the kind of in-depth, exploratory focus that characterises the brand's history of research.

The Prada womenswear boutique, which occupies the original Fratelli Prada site, has been expanded with a basement level that has almost doubled its exhibition space. The renovated space houses the womenswear collections, an area dedicated to travel, and home and beauty offerings, surrounded by historical murals and archival objects.

A calendar with 60 physical shows and two exhibitions

The fashion week calendar included 211 appointments, 60 shows of which 53 were physical and seven digital, 93 presentations of which six were by appointment, and 58 events. Among the more cultural events was the beautiful exhibition at Palazzo Reale, 'Dalí and Fashion'. Fashion is also about creativity, intellect and thought, not just numbers, although the complicated times we live in can make us forget this. The exhibition was promoted by the Municipality of Milan Culture and produced by Palazzo Reale, MondoMostre and Civita Mostre e Musei, in collaboration with the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí. Another notable event was the one dedicated to the Dutch creative duo, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren.

The exhibition 'Viktor&Rolf. Spectrum' will be on display until November 22, 2026, at the 10 Corso Como gallery. It ranges from their debut projects, such as the simulated brand launch Launch (1996) and the creation of the conceptual perfume Le Parfum, to the most recent autumn/winter 2026-27 collection, Gilded age 2.0.

On the runway: strong showings from Daniela Gregis, Jil Sander and Emporio Armani

A timeless Max Mara intertwined the practicality of adventure wear with the sophistication of lounge looks. Linen and shiny gabardine define a collection where the safari jacket, reinterpreted, is the star. Draped and knotted at the hip, or long and flowing like a duster coat, the iconic explorer jacket brings a new idea of glamour to the heart of the urban jungle.

Simone Bellotti gave a fine demonstration of his talent by subverting Jil Sander's codes while still respecting them. Rigour, precision, order: three elements that characterise Jil Sander, a brand in Otb's orbit since 2021. These triumphed on the Milan runway, yet yielded to a few 'mistakes', to fragility and imperfection. “Creating a collection is like going to therapy. You take things apart to understand what you want to keep. Then you put them back together,” the designer noted in a statement.

The result is a collection that starts from the concept of the uniform and then diverges with volumes, pleats, proportions and layering. At the heart of it all, however, remain tailoring and an exercise in style that begins with rigour.

The colours are neutral, but this spring/summer 2027 collection from the brand founded by Jil Sander in 1968 is not without colour. “Faced with what seems incoherent, you understand more clearly what you want,” says Bellotti.

For its next SS27 collection, Missoni focused on movement. Dressing is done 'on the go', adding or subtracting according to the moment, moving from one place to another without overthinking the outfit. A hat with a crumpled brim provides shelter; thick socks envelop the feet even when the sandals have thin straps. Long, fluid shapes coexist with wide trousers gathered at the ankle, small cardigans, jackets and essential tops. The accessories are, of course, the wrong ones.

Emporio Armani presented the latest collection designed by the Armani family, with the womenswear proposals designed by Silvana Armani and the menswear by Leo Dell'Orco. “There is a cycle that is closing from a certain point of view, but there is also another one opening, which is much more interesting,” Dell'Orco told Ansa. In fact, the appointment of Dario Vitale as creative director of Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani accessories, effective immediately, dates back to September 16. He is the first person outside the Armani family to hold this role.

The collection, presented at the theatre on Via Bergognone, is characterised by a wardrobe in motion. It is a container, a place of exchange where masculine and feminine, formal and informal, coexist without hierarchy. It is also a wardrobe that prioritises the personality and expressiveness of the wearer.

Acid washes and cold dyes create irregular colour; linen reproduces the surfaces of worn garments in trompe-l'œil; seersucker is hollowed out and crumpled; lasered velvet becomes mottled; organzas overlap transparencies and reflections. Everything carries a mark of depth and memory. Everything floats, yet maintains firmness and structure. Lightness defines the wardrobe, both masculine and feminine. Linens, ethereal silks, shirting fabrics, viscose and jersey are the stars of the collection.

Touches of lurex and aquatic surfaces interrupt the tactile opacity of the narrative. Tailoring and transparency, jackets and small waistcoats, wide trousers and essential tops move from masculine to feminine and vice versa. The colour palette features irregular neutrals and black. The looks are completed with large bags, rope or fabric slippers and small headpieces.

Glenn Martens: "at Diesel the party always comes first. It's inclusivity, self-expression, pleasure and democracy of experience"

The latest collection by Belgian designer Glenn Martens for Diesel struck a completely different chord. “At Diesel the party always comes first. It's inclusivity, self-expression, pleasure and democracy of experience. The collection is the essence of Diesel: disruptive, sexy, fluid, fun. We are all part of the same thing: let's take one last ride together,” noted Glenn Martens, creative director of Diesel, who will now be leaving the brand.

The start of the show also brought to life a series of performance pieces by (La)Horde, the Marseille-based artistic collective. Among the audience, 200 performers engaged with guests and interacted with each other through displays of affection, kisses and risqué actions. Their actions, which might have seemed spontaneous, are part of the 'game' of everyday life. In the collection, daywear becomes so desirable you want to wear it all at once: a waxed leather jacket over a topstitched blazer, over a ribbed sweater fused with a tracksuit collar and shirt cuffs. These hybrid pieces run throughout the entire collection. Denim garments are coated and then laser-treated to achieve a leather-like effect.

At Gucci, the snob, the rebellious aristocrat and the eccentric walked the runway

In recent days, there was also great anticipation for the Gucci show. The Store show was the first collection to express Demna's personal vision for the Florentine brand. Staged in a space conceived as a retail outlet, the collection previews his aesthetic for future Gucci boutiques. The collection represents the full range of personalities that embody Demna's Gucci: the rebellious aristocrat, the snob and the eccentric.

From Florence to China: eastern brands are increasingly showing in Milan. This time, it was primarily the fashion industry of Futian, a district in Guangdong province administered by the city of Shenzhen, that generated buzz. By virtue of a collaboration with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and with special support from the People's Government of Futian District, Shenzhen, three brands from the Futian district presented their SS27 collections. Laurèl, Idpan and Yiner are the three selected labels. Laurèl presented its Atelier spring/summer 2027 collection, inspired by the theme 'Layers of time'. Founded in Munich in 1978 and with Bauhaus as its original design language, Laurèl (currently owned by the Chinese group Ellassay, based in Shenzhen, China) chose to come to Milan this year with its tailoring, which represents its core aesthetic language. The collection features suits that build a rational structure through architectural shoulders and precise proportions, while also incorporating more relaxed draping within clean cuts, allowing the rigorous construction the freedom to flow naturally.

The fashion brand Idpan, on the other hand, presented a collection inspired by the theme 'From Milan, back to Milan'. The collection, named 'Tribute to Craftsmanship — Modern serenity', rediscovers the warmth and value inherent in manual work, viewing craftsmanship as a timeless resource: a living heritage that encompasses humanity, society, know-how, culture and legacy. The brand is part of the Shenzhen MyStyle textile group.

Titled 'Nature imprint', the spring/summer 2027 collection from the brand Yiner, founded in China in 1996 and part of the Yinger Fashion Group, looks to the visual archive that time leaves on the forms of nature. The lines develop in radial, enveloping and overlapping movements, shifting from lightness to depth, from void to matter, and bringing a microscopic dimension to the everyday gaze. The three-dimensional cut is articulated around the curves of the shoulders, waistline and hems; soft lines follow the body's forms, while asymmetrical structures define a new order between deviation and balance.

Quintessentially Italian but international by vocation is the collection from Daniela Gregis, a niche brand that has built its solid reputation on quality and craftsmanship. The collection was shown at the Oratorio della Passione, next to the historic Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio. The garments are all in light tones: milky white, cream, pink, with flashes of yellow on long silk dresses with round necks and empire lines. Knee-length skirts in crumpled fabric with matching blouses were given free rein, creating a collected and discreet elegance. The bags are soft, almost like bundles, blending in with the clothes. Marta Bortolotti, daughter of founder Daniela Gregis, has, as always, skilfully interpreted the quality of the fabrics with creativity. She translated the collection into wearable pieces: wide trousers, loose shirts, and lines that caress the body, defining a proud character that does not need to show off but to feel in harmony with nature.

Linen, cotton, hemp and silk are the 'load-bearing' materials of a sunny collection, which finds an ideal space to be narrated in the courtyard of the Oratorio della Passione. Also on the runway for this collection was a smiling Benedetta Barzini, an acclaimed model from the 70s and an interesting face in fashion.

Yesterday, Sunday, Giorgio Armani closed the physical shows, as is now tradition. The collection, designed by Silvana Armani, was an alternation of distinctly masculine jackets with elongated, fluid shapes, and lines that follow the body. Ivory, black, gold. The butterfly marks the metamorphosis of both the women and the label, which renews itself while remaining true to itself and its nature.

The presentations: from Blauer Glam to Palmatic Studio, a brand founded in Rome by Benedetta Mia Formilli Fendi

Blauer presented B.Glam in Milan, a womenswear capsule collection for SS27. “We don't usually target just one type of woman in our collections. We dress women of all ages. For B.Glam, we imagine a woman who is 25 as well as 40, who works, travels, goes out. She knows the quality of Blauer, but doesn't want to hide her body inside a technical down jacket. She doesn't want to be just 'sporty'. She wants to use sport as a weapon of seduction. She is the woman who knows that a technical garment, if you make it transparent, shiny, tight-fitting, becomes sexier than an evening dress.” With these words, Enzo Fusco, president of Fgf Industry, explained the target audience for B.Glam, the capsule collection that opens a new chapter in the brand's evolution.

The collection is designed to establish Blauer in the premium segment of international womenswear. The capsule collection, presented in a historic Sicilian restaurant brightened by numerous shocking pink hydrangeas, represents the meeting of fine fabrics, technical innovation, stylistic research and a premium attitude, reinterpreting the brand's DNA through a contemporary, sophisticated and highly fashion-forward vision. Comprising twenty womenswear looks and distributed in a selection of international shops, the collection is the 'most exclusive' expression of the brand's universe. As for the price, “the outerwear is around 450 euros, while for the other categories we are below this figure,” Fusco pointed out. “The collection has been presented in Italy, Germany and Spain, our main reference markets,” added Fusco, who is already working on the new winter collection, which will be presented in mid-November.

Palmatic Studio also chose Milan for its official debut. The brand was founded in Rome in 2022 by Benedetta Mia Formilli Fendi, who belongs to the fourth generation of the Fendi family and is the niece of Franca Fendi. “The production is entirely Italian,” said Benedetta Mia Formilli Fendi, founder and director of the new independent womenswear and jewellery project. The spring/summer 2027 collection has been named 'The Hours, From night to light. The time of the Palmatic woman'. “It tells of the hours she passes through, the spaces she occupies and the way she transforms every moment of the day into an expression of herself,” explains Formilli Fendi.

“Fashion was once more of a purely aesthetic matter; now it is a social phenomenon that conveys messages and tells the essence and identity of people,” stressed the founder of Palmatic Studio, adding that her brand's team is all-female, just like her family's team that created and exported the Fendi brand to the world.

Rome is the starting point and constant presence in the collection. It is a city capable of holding together eras, rigour and instinct, monumentality and imperfection. The imagery looks to the suspended luminosity of Lawrence Alma-Tadema's paintings, to classical architecture, marble, drapery and a composed sensuality. These references are not reproduced literally but are translated into the contemporary language of Palmatic Studio, where the body remains the centre of the construction. Fitted silhouettes, draped dresses, bodysuits and transparencies are joined by denim, shirts, suits, outerwear and more structured garments. The brand's codes shift from a nocturnal dimension to a broader everyday life: a sensual top dialogues with tailored trousers, denim gains tension through eyelets and lacing, and a shirt or jacket maintains the same energy as an evening dress. The constructions alternate between closeness and fluidity, control and movement. Draping, cut-outs, corsetry, ruching, feathers and jewel details run through the collection as functional elements for the body, never as decoration for its own sake. The palette follows the transition from shadow to light: black, marble white, ivory, light blue and dusty tones. Roman light becomes a design material, illuminating surfaces, transparencies and volumes, and building a continuity between day and night.

Plenty of white, cream and black for Herno as well. The Herno womenswear SS27 collection celebrates the summer season with a wardrobe that combines lightness, elegance and functionality, developing across three narrative universes: Origin, Excellence and Advanced. Origin represents Herno's DNA, where high-performance materials, innovative constructions and iconic details define its essentiality, sophistication, versatility and contemporary nature.

Emblematic of this vision is the ultra-lightweight trench coat that reinterprets the volumes and palette of the eighties through a refined glow effect and vibrant colour research. Excellence expresses Herno's utmost study of materials and savoir-faire.

Fine fabrics, refined workmanship and leather details define silhouettes that are both essential and sophisticated. A jacket in a precious fabric with a peach-skin feel, featuring real leather toggles, and a linen dress with à jour work stand out, enhancing artisanal tradition through a decorative and sophisticated language.

Finally, Advanced proposes an aesthetic inspired by modernist architecture, where rigorous forms and fluid fabrics dialogue in a balance between structure and movement. Among the special projects, Herno D'Atelier debuted, a capsule of T-shirts designed in Italy and handmade by Indian master craftsmen, where embroidery, crystals, feathers, origami and three-dimensional workmanship transform cotton into 'wearable objects'.