The 5 best shows of Milan Fashion Week Men's SS26 In a season when the boundaries between presentation and parade blurred
If this Milan Fashion Week Men’s felt as deserted as a big city on a summer weekend, in the scorching shadows of Milan’s buildings something began to shift. In the past, the runway show with models and catwalks existed as something distinct from the presentation that only featured garments, but this season we saw shows that resembled presentations and presentations that, through performances and informal “walks,” practically became runway shows. That was the case with Vivienne Westwood, who organized a non-show in San Babila, and also with PDF, whose show felt more like a performance than a traditional runway. Even in presentations, the models, used more like actors than classic “mannequins,” were everywhere mixed among the audience, engaged in gestures—some expressive, some not—like at Jacob Cohen or Antonio Marras. This is why, in this list, readers will find among the usual names a brand that didn’t exactly organize a runway show but whose presentation included a sort of catwalk with models walking it at intervals.
So here are the 5 best shows from Milan Fashion Week Men’s SS26.
1. Setchu
@mosomagazine COMEÇOU! A #setchu , de Satoshi Kuwata, estreou oficialmente na passarela da #milanfashionweek masculina S/S26, assinando nada menos que a abertura do calendário oficial. Vencedor do LVMH Prize 2023, o designer apresentou uma alfaiataria de verão marcada por drapeados, volumes distorcidos e construção autêntica. No styling, surgem ainda saias e acessórios de palha, avisando a todos que o artesanato seguirá em alta. E aí? Gostaram da coleção? : @voguerunway #moda #jornalismodemoda #fashion #moso #setchu #milanfashionweek som original - Mo.So
Usually, the first name on the schedule at any fashion week doesn’t carry symbolic meaning so much as it plays the role of an overture: a signal that the dance is about to begin. That’s why the very first novelty of fashion week was the Setchu show which, after off-site presentations and runway events, returned to Milan with its calendar date. Perhaps the occasion of the runway show made the brand feel the need for more spectacle compared to the deconstructed cleanliness of its lookbooks. Indeed, we saw a more playful Satoshi Kuwata, with more color, more draping, and definitely more straw hats and accessories than usual. A type of aesthetic that will evolve even better with time but that already brought a sense of novelty and freshness to Milan’s otherwise funereal tone.
2. Dolce&Gabbana
@nssmagazine Dolce & Gabbana has just presented its SS26 menswear collection in Milan. What do you think? #dolceegabbana #dolcegabbana #fashiontiktok #tiktokfashion #dietrolequinte #fashionshow #collection #milanfashionweek #mfw #milanfashionweek2025 #milano #milan Trilha de Desfile - Beatdohostil
A pleasantly summery collection from the designer duo, who for a moment (just a moment) set aside the Old Hollywood glamour of recent seasons to dream, like the rest of us, of a summer in pajamas. This show revealed the power of themed runway shows, where the garments seem to emerge from a single scenario and idea—in other words, it was a collection that was not only coherent but also invited the imagination. By stepping away from the brand’s usual dark color palette without resorting to overly aggressive visuals, Dolce&Gabbana created a collection that felt both unmistakably theirs and more carefree and lighthearted.
3. Emporio Armani
There was also a slight change of pace this season at Emporio Armani. The brand typically opts for relatively cool and desaturated palettes, even when using tones that are technically warm. This season, however, it was as if the warmth of Morocco evoked by the garments, the more natural (but no less sophisticated) layering, and a series of fabrics with a more tactile, porous texture yet visually lighter, had softened the always-practical Armani man, letting him drift into the kind of relaxed daydreams one might have on a hot summer afternoon, lying back in a majlis in Rabat.
4. Prada
@nssmagazine Taking you to the Prada SS26 show in Milan. #fashiontiktok #tiktokfashion #prada #milano #milan #milanfashionweek #mfw #pradashow #fashionshow #dietrolequinte #pradass26 Fade - Alex Lustig
For this season, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons planned a change in tone – the calm they evoked, however, was more cerebral and abstract than expected. More than a man, Prada’s protagonist this season seemed like a boy: a boy who might have stepped out of a work by Julian Opie or Ellsworth Kelly. The duo’s abstract and sporty minimalism, never without its touch of intellectual strangeness, spoke of a summer more disciplined than wild, one spent reading and training more than partying.
5. Mordecai
With one foot firmly in the show format, while maintaining the intimacy and immersiveness typical of a presentation, Mordecai became one of the season’s most interesting notes in Milan, improving with every collection. What stood out, beyond the architectural silhouettes which appeared much lighter and more practical, was the originality of a concept that, in a season filled with derivative ideas, felt fresh and inspired. We hope to see Mordecai grace the runway in seasons to come.