Celebrity-packed front rows, a surprise drop-in from Madonna and an ‘anything goes’ attitude: Milan Fashion Week highlights

Milan (CNN) — The strapline to the recent Spring-Summer 2025 shows at Milan Fashion Week should read: “expect the unexpected.”

The runways staged across the Italian city were a stark contrast to Milan’s usual doubling down on house codes and familiar signatures. Just six months ago, designers were offering up collections filled with practical everyday clothes. This week, many of those same labels largely went off script in pursuit of fresh perspective. The result was a season that was hard to take a temperature of.

Brands that could usually be relied upon to deliver a strong point of view, gambled on a throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach — while others who have drifted into predictable ground in recent seasons had the audience sitting up in their seats. Even Miuccia Prada, whose collections usually act as a yardstick of a trend and arbiter of an important message, said that she was “very very nervous” about presenting this collection. FYI if Mrs Prada says she’s nervous, it sends shockwaves and as a result, the entire week of shows felt somewhat unhinged.

But, the general consensus? Experimental Italian elegance is in — but an iron is most definitely out.

Crunch time

Let’s start with the comeback of creases. At Prada, where collars were threaded with wire and styled wonky. At Ferragamo, too, trench coats were covered in puckered lines; while Max Mara’s tailored shirt dresses were permanently wrinkled. Most captivating of all, however, was Bottega Veneta — where its normally precision-pressed ensembles looked as though they had been left in the washing machine too long when wet. Against the odds, it all worked, presenting as a choice rather than a rush to get out of the house.

Stepping away from their usual flawless finishes, the stimulus was different for each designer. At Prada, Miuccia Prada spoke of “unpredictability as a measure of human creativity” while Max Mara creative director Ian Griffiths said it related to chaos theory, which he had studied ahead of the show.  “The creasing is the opposite of impeccable smoothness — for everything you expect there’s the opposite.”

Ferragamo creative director Maximillian Davis said that his raw finishes and unpolished accents were deliberately designed to “contrast with the collection’s purity” imbuing a more relaxed sartorial mood that nodded to his Caribbean heritage. And Matthieu Blazy had the most literal explanation of all. “It’s like that first day at school when (you arrive) looking impeccable and you come back at the end of the day crumpled,” he said after the show.

Perfectly imperfect

High octane glamour was dialled right down, too. At Fendi, Kim Jones presented a 1920s-themed collection anticipating the brand’s centenary next year. The delicate Art Deco dropped-waist frocks and sheer tea dresses were nearly all styled with chunky lace-up boots by Red Wing. “I didn’t want it to be too ladylike when you have these dresses which are very ‘20s looking, I wanted to make it more into the girl that I know,” he said backstage, name-checking close friend Kate Moss as his high-low muse. “When you’re on holiday (and) you’re watching Kate get dressed for dinner, it’s quite fun to see the amount of different clothes getting tried on just to go for dinner on the beach.”

Elsewhere at Prada, intricate couture-worthy ball gowns were worn with yellow tourist-shop cagoules, while tailored trousers and a clean-cut suede shacket were dressed down with dirty white cowboy boots. This season, the brand eschewed its usual Milanese off-beat polish for a collection that was “a bit of everything” rather than three or four themes as usual, Prada told journalists post show. Meanwhile, Gucci’s Sabato de Sarno even titled his collection “Casual Grandeur.”

The blouse is back

Normcore banished the blouse to the back of the closet, but she’s made her way to the front for next season: from the flowery, frilly and even a return of the pussy bow at Prada, to buttoned-up Peter Pan collars at Jil Sander. Blouses also popped up at Marni, N°21 and Bottega Veneta — ranging from clean cut, office-ready designs to the more flouncy and feminine.

At Jil Sander in particular, creative directors Lucie and Luke Meier presented chinoiserie-inspired styles made from jacquard silks and satin buttons in cream and baby-blue hues.

Make some noise

Quiet luxury has been a buzz-phrase for years, but next seaon you’ll be able to hear a grand entrance before you see it. Shimmering dresses dripping with embellishments jingled their way down the majority of catwalks — bad news for fans of the French exit.

At Marni, Francesco Risso’s return to the schedule heralded a rare moment of hyper-elegance as huge rhinestone-embroidered ball gowns rustle their way around the audience. Later at N°21, Alessandro Dell’Acqua hand-embroidered “couture-glam” dresses with sequins cut into strips mimicking the look and sound of armour as models clattered their way passed the audience.

At Gucci, a long sleeveless gown and pencil-skirt co-ord adorned with all-over mirrored paillettes were the standout looks. And at Versace, Donatella ventured into 3D printing to make her gold wiggle dress — a 2024 take on the iconic Versace metallic mesh dresses of the 1990s, she told press before the show.

“That was a joyful moment, there was happiness, not too much thinking, it was more casual,” she said. “Fashion sometimes wants to be very intellectual, and you can do that but honestly with what’s going on in the world we need positivity and freedom.”

Celebrities at play

Madonna was guest of honour at Dolce & Gabbana, arriving at the show to a spontaneous standing ovationas she took her front row seat. The collection that played out on the runway before her featured a conical bra with every corseted look and models sporting corkscrew-curl blonde wigs.

Madonna-philes were quick to identify the references to the superstar’s 1990s Blond Ambition tour, the wardrobe for which was famously designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Gaultier was not, however, involved with the collection.

“Madonna has always been our icon,” said designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana who have worked with their muse since 1992. “It’s thanks to her that a lot of things in our lives changed.”

Later in the day, Bottega Veneta’s Mattieu Blazy had his guestlist — which included Julianne Moore, A$AP Rocky, Jacob Elordi, Kendall Jenner and Michelle Yeoh — sit on nappa leather beanbags, each depicting a different animal. The leather menagerie of chickens, foxes, whales, birds and rabbits was inspired by the scene in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 movie, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” when Elliot’s mother fails to spot the titular character nestled amongst her son’s cuddly toys.

The childhood imagination theme chimed with that of the show, as Blazy explored “the idea of the wonder you have as a kid, the first experience of fashion when you try on your parents’ clothes and play dress up,” he said after the show on Saturday night.

To see more standout moments from the Milan shows, scroll on.

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