A critical analysis of Milan Fashion Week A lackluster week that left us asking: “What did we truly like?”

The phrase that opened the Prada show notes this season was “What are we capable of creating starting from what we already know?” It could serve as a general commentary on all the shows we saw during this Milan Fashion Week FW26. Surely, we will have to wait for womenswear to see the real fireworks, but over the course of this long weekend, it became quite clear that for many brands, menswear remains a rather limited playing field.

The main issue is that no brand showing in Milan has honestly asked itself how men actually dress in everyday life. With the necessary exceptions, the pendulum has invariably swung between formal suits and the most canonical streetwear imaginable. There have been very few nuances of the Old Money wardrobe and a series of projects that could be classified somewhere between TikTok algorithmic fashion, amateurish efforts, and performative gestures.

As many have already noted, the calendar emptied of big names has left ample space for a series of newcomers, both Italian and international, who have been particularly deserving and, with greater support, could soon turn Milan into a new creative hub.

So then, what did we like about this Milan Fashion Week?