What to Look out for at Milan Men's Fashion Week

Milan Fashion Week Men’s starts today, or better yet this evening, with Ermenegildo Zegna opening the five day event with a show at 8pm.

As Pitti Uomo in Florence finishes today, Milan is the next stop for editors, buyers and indeed the world to see Italy’s proposition for menswear next season.

The round of musical chairs last year saw a flurry of designers leave their posts, of which Italian houses were no exception. Zegna’s presentation will be the first show from incoming artistic director Alessandro Sartori, formerly of Berluti, and will be a top show of the week. This is the first time the artistic director will oversee all Zegna lines, including its younger and more contemporary Z Zegna brand.

Marni will also be closely watched with last October's surprise departure of its founder Consuelo Castiglione. Castiglione, who along with her husband founded the brand in 1994, sold the business to the Diesel group Only The Brave, OTB, in 2012. Former Prada designer manager Francesco Risso will take over the creative helm, and his first outing for the brand will be on Saturday at 3pm.

Salvatore Ferragamo also has a new creative helming its menswear. Guillaume Meilland, who left Lanvin after the firing of Elbar Elbaz, has been appointed its men’s design director. Mailland’s first outing for the house will be on Saturday.

Conspicuously absent from Milan Men’s Fashion Week is Gucci, who for the first time will be merging their men’s and women’s collections in one presentation. Their catwalk presentation will be held during Milan ready-to-wear in February.

Bottega Veneta, Jil Sander, and Cavalli are also off the runway calendar. Brioni, who parted ways with creative director Justin O’Shea after just one show and six months into the job, is also not showing. The company has yet to announce a replacement creative director.

Photo credit: Gucci.com