At Appiolaza’s Moschino menswear debut on Friday, the designer took a trip to the beach, evoking seaside fun with raffia and beaded fringing. Raffia-style pieces were also in evidence at Dolce & Gabbana in the form of boxy shirts, brogues and super-sized beach bags. At Fendi, perforated beige handbags were fashioned out of recycled-leather offcuts from the atelier. Gucci featured intricate embroidery and embellishments, with its cult branding limited to accessories and footwear, “allowing the designs to speak for themselves”, says Simon Longland, buying director at Harrods.
Buttoned-down and undone
Last season, Milan’s menswear designers proposed formal clothes in fresh contexts. For SS25, the emphasis is on looseness and undoneness, most notably at Prada where last season’s suited-and-booted office worker has loosened his tie and headed out to party.
Guests in the Prada showspace were greeted by a white house, raised up in a corner of the room, with a thumping baseline and flashing lights bursting through the windows. On the catwalk, suits were visibly creased, printed floral shirts messily untucked and shirt and jacket collars starched at unexpected angles, as if the wearer had slept fully clothed. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons like to make fashion feel lived-in. “We wanted it to be already alive,” says Mrs Prada, backstage after the show. “As if they’re clothes that you already live with. Not too constricted by striving for [the] architectural or conceptual.”
“I have seen a ‘lightness’ to the season with a more relaxed approach; looser fits and softer fabrications but overall keeping a sophisticated look and feel,” says Mytheresa’s Jordan. “Tailoring is as important as always, but again, I feel there is a softness and fluidity, trousers are pleat-front with a wider fit, blazers are longer line and relaxed and often styled with a spread-collar shirt, which feels fresh and not literal.”
At JW Anderson, beige and gingham shirts hung loose from the bottom of sweaters, layered atop jersey track pants in contrasting pastel tones. Loose-fitting jeans, often with maximalist proportions, were haphazardly tucked into boots (typically one leg in, one leg out). The collection also featured three Guinness-logo jumpers, set to go viral as Anderson’s latest ‘if you know, you know’ piece (similar to his frog shoes and pigeon bag).