Milan
CNN
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Spring and summer in Italy are all about the beaches: from the Adriatic to the Amalfi Coast, colorful “lidos” (private beach clubs) are one of Italy’s greatest exports.
The Italian delegation to the Milan Fashion Week schedule seemed intent on paying homage to the country’s sun-drenched shores during the Spring/Summer 2025 showing weekend, with Italy’s beloved “al mare” (sea) a recurring theme on mood boards backstage.
At MSGM, designer Massimo Giorgetti celebrated the brand’s 15th anniversary.Number For the anniversary, outfits were introduced that evoked the hallmarks of beach resorts: sun-stained stripes, shiny bathing suit shorts and cut-out motifs of crabs, mermaids and dolphins that recalled childhood toys abandoned in the sand.
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MSGM designer Massimo Giorgetti was inspired by the scents of pine, agave, salt and resin as the brand celebrates its 15th anniversary.
A native of Rimini, a seaside city famous for its 15-kilometer stretch of sand lined with umbrellas, Giorgetti used images of his adopted seaside home 300 miles away on the Ligurian coast as the collection’s main motif, a place he says was inspired by its evocative “scents of pine, agave, salt and resin.”
Remembering the Grand Tour
At Dolce & Gabbana, Stefano Dolce and Domenico Gabbana naturally took to the beaches frequented by the jet set in a collection called “Italian Beauty.” The collection used a lot of raffia (seen on boxy jackets, shoes and bags) and featured coral embroidery throughout, evoking the glittering keepsakes found in the “galleria” (jewelry stores) of Capri and Portofino, where Italians go window shopping at dusk.
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Dolce & Gabbana showcased ruched silhouettes in luxurious materials.
“Since the 19th century, the Grand Tour has made Italy a destination trip and one of the most iconic places to visit for summer holidays,” the designers wrote in their show notes, adding that the Italian hotspot “has become a place of pure beauty,” and the designers paid homage to that snapshot with ruched silhouettes in luxe fabrics.
Between the city and the beach
At Gucci, where Sabato De Sarno presented his second men’s collection for the brand, the city’s recognized leather jackets and polos were fused with icons of maritime culture. “This collection is about the meeting between the city, the beach and people who love life – ‘icontori’,” said the Naples-born De Sarno. His sharp cuts contrasted with a breezy sensibility reflected in the repeated prints of dolphins and surfers that popped up on shirts with retro Cuban collars (the latter inspired by author William Finnegan’s autobiography, “Barbarian Days, Surfing Life”). Elsewhere, terrycloth polo shirts in Neapolitan gelato hues were teamed with board shorts and rubber sea shoes, arguably De Sarno’s first big hit and the basis of most of the looks.
Despite the possibility of a derivative, stereotypical presentation, the Italians eschewed gimmicks to offer authentic clothes that had more to say than the popular but homogenized “quiet luxury” collections that have proliferated in recent times.
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Actor Paul Mescal, a known fan of Short Shorts, sat front row at the Gucci Men’s Spring/Summer 2025 show.
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“The collection tells the story of the encounter between the city, the beach and people who love life – ‘Ikontri’,” De Sarno said.
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Rubber sea shoes also featured repeatedly in Sabato de Sarno’s second collection for Gucci.
Amid growing political and humanitarian conflict, the homage to Italy’s coveted summer of dolce vita and a throwback to simpler times has sparked collective optimism.
Clothes that combine playfulness and practicality
Similarly, Prada was all about youthful optimism, freedom and energy. Entitled “Closer,” the show notes said, Prada sought to capture “the power of reality in a world of fantasy,” with close-cropped, creased shirts, whimsical prism patterns and trompe l’oeil-style dropped-waist belts on trousers. Sweetly naive and a reminder that nothing is what it seems, it’s easy to imagine the clothes as the kind of wardrobe that might find its way onto Rimini’s promenade, tossed into the suitcase of some innocent girl, hopeful at the last minute, with an invitation to have a good time.
Miuccia Prada denied that the collection was about escapism: “Actually, I’m proposing something positive. I don’t think you should escape reality,” she said backstage. Instead, she and co-creative director Raf Simons wanted to make something “playful and useful,” Simons agreed.
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At Prada, trompe l’oeil-style dropped waist belts were painted onto trousers.
“We wanted to create clothes that have a life of their own,” they said in the show notes. “These clothes have a sense of spontaneity and optimism, they reflect a choice that is both instinctive and deliberate, a freedom.”
A celebration of simplicity and familiar comfort was also seen at JW Anderson by designer Jonathan Anderson., Originally from Northern Ireland, he sent me some summer knitwear featuring a picture of a child depicting the quintessential British “two up, two down” look. At Moschino, where creative director Adrien Apiolaza presented his first menswear collection, the collection featured postcard prints on skirts and scenes of traditional Italian dinner tables on blazers: “True individualists wear clothes that speak of an outside exploration, away from the city to the Italian countryside, the wilderness of the jungle and, ultimately, to find tranquility – inner peace,” the brand said.
Lev Tanju’s Filaplus treated editors to a presentation that recreated an Italian home in the 1990s: Kids were watching soccer in the living room, Grandma was knitting an Italian flag blanket, and three men were playing the card game Scopa around the kitchen table, all wearing tracksuits that Tanju had reinvented from the illustrious archives of the 113-year-old Italian brand.
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Northern Irish designer JW Anderson’s collection was a celebration of the humble British “two-storey, two-storey” terraced houses, with just two rooms on each floor.
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The Fendi collection featured a coat of arms that was first used during Karl Lagerfeld’s tenure at the company.
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Fendi’s theme of reflective team spirit is reflected in sporty collegiate silhouettes.
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At Moschino, Creative Director Adrian Apiolaza presented his first menswear collection, inspired by classic Italian landscapes.
At Fendi, Silvia Fendi created a collection based on photographs she found in the archives of an Italian soccer coach wearing a Fendi suit.. The theme of reflective team spirit was reflected in sporty collegiate silhouettes featuring the Fendi coat of arms – the squirrel, Fendi stripes and a Roman god. The coat of arms, first used by former creative director Karl Lagerfeld, represents “a person who sees from two perspectives, one from the past and one from the future.” “The preservation and experimentation of techniques – this is the essence of Fendi,” Fendi said backstage.
Rooted in hope and experimentation, the Milan season was a collective celebration of the dolce vita (sweet life).