The top five trends from Milan Fashion Week AW23

Milan Fashion Week drew to a close on 27 February – but not before some of the biggest luxury houses in the industry showed their autumn/winter 23 collections.

Gucci took attendees back to the office, literally, with an olive green set reminiscent of our 9-5s, albeit with more stylish outfits. It is the Italian label’s last collection before new creative director Sabato de Sarno takes the helm in September, for the house’s SS24 collection.

Co-creative directors of Prada, Muiccia Prada and Raf Simons, reiterated their take on the uniform, with wearable, work-ready looks in neutral slate grey and pastel tones taking their turn down the runway.

But this being Milan, there was plenty of flamboyance – with flashes of siren red, all leather-looks and ostentatious, shaggy textures on the runway, alongside delicate, barely-there dresses.

Drapers examines the leading trends from Milan Fashion Week AW23.

Sense and sensibility

The new season means business for Italy’s leading fashion houses. Fendi (main collection above) showed a series of smart collar pencil dresses, pleated skirts layered on top of tapered trousers, and sensible, charcoal grey pleated dresses ready for the office. Gucci’s AW23 collection was created by its in-house design team, and ranged from tiny bikini tops, to grown-up tailoring.

Prada showed prim workwear that included pastel pieces such as pencil-dresses, tapered trousers and round neck tops. While Maximilian Davis, the UK designer and who is the creative director of Ferragamo presented a collection that varied from charcoal tailoring, to flashes of canary yellow and siren red.

Slipping into something more comfortable

Delicate dresses that skimmed the figure were a leading trend for the AW23 season. Alberta Ferretti showed cowl neck, full length designs held by spaghetti straps. Bally’s satin-look styles flowed over the body, while slip dresses in a delicate shade of blush were seen at Diesel and Philosophy Di Lorenzo Serafini.

Teddy textures

Sensible, romantic looks were interrupted by flashes of bold, bright outerwear in shaggy textures. At Bottega Veneta, creative director Mathieu Blazy showed a cloud-like turquoise style coat. MSGM showed a canary yellow jacket, at Jil Sander, teddy bear textures were reimagined in a green colourway, while Missoni showed a multicoloured design.

Red alerts

Milan is the city of glamour, after all, and a number of houses showed scarlet top-to-toe looks. Blumarine showed a flowing, halterneck dress, while godfathers of glamour Dolce & Gabbana showed a sheer, long-sleeved design. At Ermanno Scervino, the shade was taken onto tailored pieces, while MSGM showed a roll neck, tie-detail dress.

Hell for leather looks

The Milan catwalks were given an edge by rebellious, leather-look designs. Co-ordinating blazers and trousers were seen at Annakiki and Han Kjøbenhavn. Annakiki played with the silhouette, while the look was kept rigid and strong at Danish designer Kjøbenhavn’s show. Glenn Martens, creative director at Diesel, showed a biker jacket and skirt set, while at MM6 Maison Margiela, the look was softened with loose-cut trousers and tunic tops.