5 key trends from Milan Fashion Week SS27 Women's What will we be wearing next summer?

The Milan Fashion Week has come to a close, amid the scandals that typically accompany it (this year almost exclusively directed at robots), eagerly awaited debuts (first and foremost that of Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo at Moschino), and pleasant surprises. With the conclusion of shows and presentations, the time has come to take stock of what we saw and attempt to identify the trends that will define the coming spring-summer season. 

Vintage Prints

This year's prints and patterns look as though they've been pulled from some indeterminate archive, somewhere between jackets with an old-world charm and bold graphics from the colourful '80s. Early in the week, Prada showcased a mix of abstract graphics — expertly paired with the kind of teased hair that graced the dancefloors of that decade — alongside a grey checked-print dress. Meryll Rogge brought to the Marni runway mini A-line dresses in buttery-toned check prints, as well as shirts and jackets featuring vertical stripes.

Stripes and checks also appeared at Maison Margiela for the MM6 line, rendered as asymmetric men's T-shirts (something of a reimagining of the rugby polo shirt through the house's deconstructivist codes) and relaxed shirts. Checked shirts featured at Glenn Martens too, who, for his final show for Diesel, played with layering different lengths and tones to achieve that youthful, undone aesthetic that has defined his creative direction over the years. While MSGM and Moschino opted for bold, clashing colours applied to the check motif — the former with knee-length skirts in pastel hues, the latter with layered jackets and more contemporary shirts — Gucci played it safe with tartan skirts and linings, which are, after all, still checks.

Visible Bras

The more forward-thinking observers had been expecting to see lingerie on the runway since last season. The scent of the visible bralette — the kind that defined fashion in the early 2000s (the Tumblr era, to be precise) — had already been in the air. Prada and Fendi drew extensively on lingerie as a layering tool: the former presenting a collection of skirts and bras worn both as an underlayer beneath jackets and as tops over shirts; the latter pairing them with fur collars and low-cut dresses.

Chinese brand Hui, founded by Hui Zhou Zhao, also used silk bralettes layered over dresses to create colour contrasts. At Marni, meanwhile, the bra became a structural element of the garment itself, inlaid directly into the top, while MM6 brought the construction of twisted bras into the full light of the runway, letting right side and wrong side blur into one another.

Exaggerated Utilitarian Details

Belts, zips, buttons: fastenings are becoming aesthetic details rather than functional ones. For the SS27 collection, Ferragamo presented complete looks broken up with leather belts on both blouson jackets and skirts (most notably the pale blue PVC suit that has been dominating the internet), as well as dresses with belts positioned at bust height, and men's gilets with silver zips lending a sportswear edge.

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons transformed press-studs into key decorative elements, exaggerating their scale and covering them in sequins. Marni followed the same conceptual thread, creating layering effects with buttons of varying sizes and contrasting colours — pink on chocolate, sky blue on cream — across blouses, skirts and leggings. 

Sheer Fabrics and Plastic Materials 

For summer 2027, it's the rule. Ferragamo bathed the runway in liquid, semi-transparent reflections, with an olive-toned tank dress and a chocolate-coloured jacket-and-skirt suit, both in a body-hugging latex-effect rubber. In the same collection, silk becomes almost weightless: a high-neck shirt and black balloon trousers offer glimpses of the legs beneath, held together only by a wide belt. Pseudo-plastic materials also appeared at MSGM, which sent down the runway an electric blue glossy nylon shirt whose surface recalls a K-way jacket reimagined as office wear.

Moschino also turned to the lightness of organza, with an oversized pale blue blouse layered over butter yellow, as did Sportmax, where sheer trousers peek out from beneath tailored bermuda shorts. Jil Sander, meanwhile, worked with layers of powder-pink veils in a draped dress that hints at the internal structure beneath. Sheerness also made its way into knitwear: Marco Rambaldi (the undisputed king of crochet technique) and Fendi put the body on display through long, romantic dresses. Blumarine, for its part, chose a more explicit kind of romance, with a nude tulle dress encrusted with raised roses (as the saying goes: go big, or go home).

Layer Upon Layer

When it comes to layering, it's no longer about piling on for warmth, but about constructing outfits in which each layer carries its own visual weight. At Moschino, in the debut of Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo, a short trench coat with voluminous sleeves reveals a acid green satin skirt beneath, itself worn over knee-length burgundy leather bermuda shorts with side knots. At Gucci, the game turned maximalist: a black bomber jacket with balloon sleeves covers a burgundy, green and red striped rugby polo shirt, itself tucked over a white shirt with a raised collar, the whole look finished with layered necklaces and a gold clasp on a knee-length tartan skirt.

At Bottega Veneta, Louise Trotter worked on the contrast between fullness and void, between texture and the absence of colour: a top covered in multicoloured intrecciato weave conceals a white puff beneath, layered over crinkled nylon trousers. Nearby, an enormous balloon collar — a kind of cloud resting on the shoulders — tops a simple top, while the show closes with a long black taffeta dress, draped and knotted at one shoulder into a cocoon silhouette. At Jil Sander, a long dove-grey trench coat opens to reveal a pink fluffy-looking skirt and a pale blue shirt, creating textural contrasts: for the collection, Simone Bellotti took the concept to its extreme, culminating in a yellow taffeta dress that wraps the body like an enormous petal. The message for next spring is clear: less is less, and more is always better.