Armani eyes 'beautiful comfort' at Milan fashion week

With soft fabrics, jeweled hues, and fluid shapes, Giorgio Armani's men's show in Milan on Monday was an ode to elegance and freedom of movement.

The legendary Italian designer, now 90, presented a fall-winter 2025-26 collection comprising belted baggy trousers and layered loose jackets, knits, and scarves.

A seasonal palette of greys and browns was punctuated with sumptuous velvets, wools, and silks in ruby red, emerald green, and royal blue.

"The catwalk for me is a proposal, my vision of the current moment, which this season is particularly free from constraints and conventions," Armani said.

"I like to imagine the clothes that enter the wardrobes and lives of men of different ages and attitudes and are interpreted by each according to their personality.

"Making fashion means creating tools that accompany life, making it ideally more beautiful and comfortable."

Actors Adrien Brody and Matt Smith were in the audience for the show, a highlight of five days of fashion in the northern Italian city.

Sharp-suited snappers

"Wild elegance" was the theme at Prada on Sunday, with Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons offering sheepskins worn over bare chests, straight-cut cigarette pants, and colored or patterned cowboy boots.

Knitted sweaters, fitted leather jackets, nylon bomber jackets, and tartan coats were among the clash of styles on a catwalk spread over three floors built out of scaffolding in the huge hall of the Prada Foundation.

In a world dominated by artificial intelligence, "the idea is to save the human instinct to liberate creativity and spontaneity", Miuccia Prada said backstage afterwards.

On Saturday, meanwhile, Dolce and Gabbana drew inspiration from the glamorous films of Italian director Federico Fellini for their show at the Metropole, the brand's headquarters and a former cinema.

In a nod to the "La Dolce Vita" character Paparazzo, who gave his name to pushy photographers worldwide, models dressed as sharp-suited snappers crowded the runway's entrance.

A model walks the runway during the Prada collection show at Milan's Fashion Week Men's Fall / Winter 2025-2026 in Milan, Italy, on January 19, 2025 Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

Lightbulbs popped as models walked the red carpet in the imagined style of off-duty actors, a mix of jeans, trainers, and luxurious coats.

Day segued to night with cropped jackets styled with caps and bags, giving way to tailored, loose-legged three-piece suits and sharp and sexy evening wear.

Set to a soundtrack drawn from Fellini's films, the scene featured tuxedos, bow ties, silk shirts, waistcoats worn with nothing underneath, and long scarves thrown over one shoulder.

The palette was black and grey but with flashes of brilliance from glittering, oversized brooches, fastenings, or necklaces.

Focusing on clean lines and luxury materials, the show confirmed the Italian designers' return to basics began in early 2023 after a brief foray into more flashy streetwear aimed at younger buyers.