Milan Fashion Week SS27: Part 1

BOTTEGA VENETA
At Bottega Veneta, Louise Trotter seems intent on proving that extraordinary craft needn’t come with extraordinary preciousness. The house’s technical prowess of course remains at the heart, but this season it was the ease with which she treated it that felt most interesting.

Preciousness in designer clothes is always a funny thing because, ultimately, we want them to be worn - unless you’re a Birkin hoarder displaying them on shelves as collectible art, for which there is always a time and place. Louise, however, wants people to live their lives in her clothes, allowing Bottega’s extraordinary craft into the everyday rather than saving it for a special occasion.

For SS27, tailoring became noticeably skinnier, contrasted by oversized jackets and more generous proportions elsewhere. Intrecciato remained, naturally, but nothing felt overly guarded or pristine. Trotter leans into the atelier’s expertise in craft; she’s making it feel increasingly effortless with jaunty hats, everyday materials like raffia, and newspaper printed cases. And perhaps the greatest luxury is actually using the thing you’ve paid all that money for!

GUCCI
Demna has continued his conversation around the Gucci customer: who actually wears Gucci, and who might they want to become? His debut runway collection left opinion firmly divided, it shocked, surprised and, crucially, sold. So this season, he took those customers and placed them in their natural habitat: the Gucci shop floor.

The cast of characters was broad, rebellious aristocrats, snobs and eccentrics, but the Demna signatures were unmistakable. Severe shoulders, puffed outerwear, slouchy denim and bourgeois skirt suits were joined by tartan, lingerie and plenty of Horsebits, from oversized hardware to belts cinched around the waist.

It raises that perennial question surrounding a new creative director: how much should they repeat, evolve or entirely rewrite a house’s codes? There’s no doubting Demna’s Gucci has a point of view, but whether the clothes themselves feel wholly Gucci, or whether adding a Horsebit and a belt is doing much of that work, remains up for debate.

DIESEL
Gone are the days when Diesel meant little more than a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. For Glenn Martens’ final collection after six years at the brand, before turning his full attention to Maison Margiela, he gave us one last reminder of just how far he has pushed it.

A sultry cast of models initially commanded our attention, walking through a purpose-built club in barely-there jersey, slashed denim and trompe l’oeil layers. But slowly, eyes began to wander towards the audience. Hazy-eyed figures started gyrating in their seats, massaging and kissing one another, seemingly falling under some rather horny collective trance. It transpired that 200 performers, directed by (LA)HORDE, had been planted among us.

Soon enough, the audience had become the show. It was a moment made for virality, and judging by the fact our feeds are still consumed by clips of fashion editors awkwardly avoiding the advances of their neighbours, it worked. For his final Diesel outing, Glenn certainly gave us something to remember.

PRADA
Prada may have just set the ultimate trending item for SS27: the skirt. Of course, Miuccia loves a good skirt, preferably one with enough interest in its construction, colour or fabric to do all the talking, styled simply with a jumper on top which ultimately lets everyone know you’re a true “fashion” person.

For SS27, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons took that formula and made the skirt the entire premise. Pleats ballooned away from the body, crinolines became outer layers, crystal embroidery appeared over Velcro and familiar florals sat alongside industrial Re-Nylon. Elsewhere, skirts were paired back with shirts, bras and those aforementioned knits, letting the bottom hold the conversation. The obsession extended beyond the runway, too: a tour of the newly opened Prada Galleria, curated by Miuccia Prada herself, revealed an entire room dedicated to the skirt.

There will inevitably be plenty to unpack from Prada this season, but our immediate takeaway is rather simpler: start looking for a good skirt.