The 5 Best Shows of Milan Fashion Week Women's SS27 And they're not the usual names

This season in Milan was all things considered an enjoyable one: the need to be commercial pushed designers toward a renewed sense of practicality, and as a result the collections were more readable, more focused, more solid — even if not always particularly exciting. It was fascinating to see the gap between major brands and independents narrow in terms of casting, location, and of course production quality. The city therefore felt positively more alive, but clearly the absence of lows was counterbalanced by an absence of highs: normality reassures, but it can also leave you cold.

That said, the season was not without its standout shows — and so here are the 5 best shows of Milan Fashion Week Women's SS27.

1. Ferragamo

A personal best for Maximilian Davis at Ferragamo, who this season truly gave everything with a show brimming with ideas, highly pragmatic yet solidly conceptual and coherent. Particularly compelling was the decision to build nearly every look around a palette of earthy and ochre tones, lit up by flashes of white and black, green, blue, and red. A skill that has not gone unnoticed, yet within the broader fashion system often makes Davis feel like a light hidden under a bushel, to borrow from the Gospel. Needless to say, with rumors swirling about Vaccarello's departure from Saint Laurent, many have begun suggesting that the Ferragamo designer's light would shine all the brighter from the creative chair of the French house. And we couldn't agree more.

2. Bottega Veneta

Is Bottega Veneta an "easy" brand? Not because its design is simple — its intricacy is part of the brand's very identity — but because from Lee to Blazy through to the current Trotter, its identity has become increasingly tied to an approach that favors materiality and its manipulation alongside recognizable yet abstract silhouettes and volumes. Although Trotter has always been exceptionally talented, this collection was directed with a surer hand, a cleaner line, and above all an abundance of intriguing details that were a genuine feast for the eyes.

3. Institution by Galib Gassanoff

His work may or may not appeal depending on one's perspective, just as opinions on the designer himself can vary. But it must be said: Gassanoff is the designer who brings to the runway the most complex and architecturally considered work in the entire city. This collection, inspired by the traditional kelaghayi of Azerbaijan, demonstrates how elements of a particular culture can be integrated into a collection not as surface decoration but within the very stitching and construction of the garments. The pale pieces trimmed with colored borders that closed the show were stunning — entirely original in their conception — and managed to feel simultaneously almost conservative in the full coverage they offered the body and utterly avant-garde in their complete absence of rigidity.

4. Jil Sander

Jil Sander, along perhaps with Prada, is the brand everyone always has something to say about: is it minimalism or not? The truth is that minimalism is a narrow playing field, and if we want to talk about clothes that are genuinely practical for everyday life, we would have to limit ourselves to five or six classic, unchanging pieces. But this season Bellotti wanted to do more: by altering relatively little — the height of a button, the construction of a jacket — he shifted the entire shape of the garment itself. It is an imperceptible change, until it suddenly isn't, so to speak. The idea of a "wrong" volume that, by distorting a familiar piece, expands its meaning was explored with a kind of quiet energy this season. And it seems Bellotti is only just beginning to enjoy himself.

5. Francesco Murano

Francesco Murano is an example of a simplicity that never becomes stagnant. His clothes are rich and elaborate, but never to the point of tipping over the edge of meaning: his design is clean, surgical, clear about what it is and where it wants to go. It takes a certain strength of character not to yield to the temptation of eccentricity. His brand, like others in Milan and beyond, is minimal — but it takes enormous discipline to be minimal without being boring. One would certainly love to see him tackle daywear and other categories, but in an era of exaggerated volumes, borrowed trends, and bralettes everywhere, there is something almost calming about a designer with such precise and focused taste.