Milan Fashion Week F/W 2026

Beyond the schedules and the noise, this season felt grounded. Designers shifted focus away from spectacle and toward substance, presenting collections rooted in craft, emotion, and real-life wearability. Runways ranged from grand stages to intimate spaces, but the message was consistent: fashion is reconnecting with the basic foundations of humanity. These are our highlights that stood out from this season.

If there’s one show that truly stood out this season, it was Ralph Lauren. The styling? We are living for it. Americana vintage prep was pushed into the realm of Polo individuality, where classic dandy codes gave life to refined tailoring, sportswear, and relaxed silhouettes that felt like a return to 1990s American streets. Camouflage, rugby shirts, hand-painted washed denim, and subtle references to Indigenous craft appeared through textiles and meticulous pattern work.

The collection opened with vibrant colour combinations like orange or green before gradually settling into the iconic “Ralph” core: softer tones and masterful layering. Tailored vests, sweaters, and office shirts were worn under coats of all lengths, while even a leather biker jacket found its place, balancing the looks effortlessly. From Purple Label’s understated elegance to Polo’s reimagined preppy spirit, the Fall/Winter 2026 collection reflected the many worlds Ralph Lauren has lived in and continues to believe in.

Keeping up with our highlights, Setchu’s Fall 2026 collection marked another confident step for Satoshi Kuwata, who staged only his third-ever runway show in his newly renovated atelier in northwest Milan. Once again drawing inspiration from his favourite pastime, fishing, Kuwata turned a lifelong dream into reality after winning the 2023 LVMH Prize, travelling to Greenland to experience its nature firsthand, well before it became a trending topic. The raw environment, combined with Inuit culture and resourcefulness, shaped a collection rooted in smart construction and innovation. Known for his fabric experimentation, Kuwata introduced a silk-and-wool jacquard that subtly echoed the look of sealskin, alongside transformable tailoring, utility-driven outerwear, and garments designed to adapt, fold, and shift, delivering a fresh collection that got us living for it.

For Shinyakozuka and showing at Pitti Uomo, the runway became a snow-blind exercise in radical empathy, centred around the solitary, haunting image of a “lost glove” on a winter street. Kozuka, a Central Saint Martins alum with a penchant for poetic utility, leaned into the Fauvist spirit of Henri Matisse to transform French workwear archetypes into soft, emotional landscapes. Beyond the inevitable hype of the indigo toile and the Reebok heavy-hitters, there was a deeper, more visceral motive at play throughout the show. 

Kozuka effectively staged a tactile revolt; by treating a garment as a “lighthouse” for the wearer, he steered the collection back toward the messy, empathetic reality of the human experience and away from the cold, automated noise that has come to define the industry’s current output. By blending high-art references with the grit of 1930s chore coats and plush, snowy knitwear, Kozuka successfully guided the brand away from the coldness of contemporary “drops” and toward a deeply intimate, artisanal narrative that feels essential for 2026.

While the rest of the industry is busy chasing the ghost of “viral” relevance, Pronounce is busy building foundations. For Fall/Winter 2026, the label bypasses the noise and heads straight for the timber. By pulling from the Sun-Mao — the ancient Chinese mortise-and-tenon system that allows skyscrapers to flex without breaking —Li and Zhou delivered a wardrobe for the modern tectonic shift.

The result is a silhouette defined by structural defiance. There is a palpable tension in the garments, a collision between the rigid, disciplined lines of traditional carpentry and the fluid, technical requirements of modern street-level kit. This is “construction as decoration” in its most visceral form, where fabrics typically reserved for the gym are forced into sharp, brutalist shapes of high tailoring, resulting in pieces that feel both armoured and effortless. The palette remained earthen and disciplined, allowing the complexity of the cut to speak for itself.

Saul Nash had a solid collection for this season too, proving he’s still the master of making clothes that actually move with the body. Since he’s a dancer at heart, his "cut for movement" philosophy meant that everything on the runway was built to handle a full range of motion, whether you're commuting or caught in a spontaneous dance session. The show opened with a high-energy performance where dancers moved under a massive billowing sheet, sets of obscured faces creating a mysterious, high-concept tone for what he called the "Masquerade".

The vibe was all about being versatile without losing your edge. We saw deep muted-tone tracksuits and casual sets that looked incredibly wearable, alongside some bolder experiments like knits with nipple slits layered over high-neck tops. Nash also played with some clever visual tricks, like pinstripe tops that looked like formal tailoring from a distance but felt like performance wear up close. One of the biggest talking points was a new windbreaker (a teaser for his upcoming Lululemon collaboration). This collection was basically a cool mix of "gym rat" and "executive", blurring the lines between athletic gear and a night out.