It seems to me that no one embodies the art of sprezzatura in Milan’s menswear quite like Norbert Stumpfl at Brioni. Poignant, laid-back, seductive, and undeniably luxurious, the Austrian-born designer’s vision for the Roman house ticks all the right boxes for me. The men featured in the autumn-winter 2025 lookbook are draped in sumptuous shades of ochre and burgundy, exuding irresistible chic in their cashmere coats and loosely tailored, pyjama-like suits. The thin, fringed scarves, tied nonchalantly around their necks, lend the collection an air of refined cool. Brioni is for the man who brunches at Giacomo Bistrot and dines at Il Solferino, yet never takes himself too seriously.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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Spencer Phipps knows that there’s no better person than him to promote his own brand. If you follow him on Instagram, then you’re guided daily by him on how to wear and style his very versatile clothes. You might be even subscribing to his YouTube channel, where he candidly discusses what’s like being a designer and owner of an independent business in our modern age (not easy, that’s for sure). So to appear in his brand’s autumn-winter 2024 lookbook was quite a natural step. These very persuasive and authentic, self-styled self-portraits are actually brilliant. Phipps doesn’t build his garments around far-fetched inspirations, but around people, “characters“, that exist in the collective imagination of the roads less traveled in America. Except that these people and their stories are not made up, but very much real. “Fringe characters” is how Phipps describes them. “It’s all very American Midwest-oriented,” he explained. “We have people living off grid, bikers, the weird old man; basically everyone I’m charmed by,” the designer said. Here and there, the designer is holding a Phipps branded ax, a chainsaw, animal crackers, and even a Phipps branded newspaper. All the props work perfectly with his signature, luxe fleeces, cargo pants and vintage-induced tailoring. And of course, the shearling chaps.
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Some of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons‘ ideas might not resonate immediately when seen on the runway. But six months later, the moment they arrive to the stores, these concepts become more approachable – and turn into obsessions. A menacing tension felt palpable once the models, dressed as corporate commuters, walked on the raised glass floor with a stream running through a meadow beneath. But when you put Prada‘s autumn-winter 2024 venue aside, you see great, great menswear – and accessories, like the wool caps in the most striking shades of green, yellow and red. The collection itself consisted of ultimate classics of menswear, as Simons listed for “the businessman, the working man, the thinking man.” The Prada twist was about touches that subverted these safe spaces of identity, enticing the wearer to surround himself with nature. Narrow-fit raincoats, tweed chore jackets, three-button gray topcoats, and gold buttoned naval outerwear all offered a route outdoors. This is a Prada outing that offers safeness and quintessence, clothes-wise.
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ERL, next to Bode and Greg Lauren, is the future American classic of fashion. What Eli Russell Linnetz so painstakingly and consistently returns to at his brand is so much more than only about clothes; it’s a feeling, crafted from 2000s nostalgia, unique male-on-male-gaze and a certain theatrical sensitivity. His clothes are Bruce Weber and Abercrombie & Fitch campaigns, blues and surf-rock, Venice Beach and John F. Kennedy Jr. (and also John Schlossberg – JFK and Jackie’s grandson, the internet’s latest obsession). And yet they feel so good – and relevant – in 2024. “I like going back to these benchmark things, even from a historical point of view,” he said, “Where did this outfit come from? I want to solidify the narrative of this look,” he continued, explaining that this season was about defining his take on his forever beloved theme, Americana. The spring-summer 2025 collection is titled “The Beach,” in a nod to the 2000 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as an all-American backpacker. Linnetz said that his narrative for the season was four boys, Tyler, Jason, Brad, and Chad, leaving water polo practice and stumbling upon a mysterious beach party. Though the looks could also be nods to the people he saw every day growing up in California. “A lot of those movies are just what people wore around me, so I never saw them as film costuming,” he said. “But this season I was reexamining all the athletes, the jocks, and what they wore.” So he made tiny swim shorts and cozy terry knits and transformed his popular swirl jacket into a loose gauge knit with a mohair insert. He made zip-off cargos and sherpa zip-ups. He also turned ’70s posters into charming ’90s airbrush tees, and produced dense and comfy striped tees with extra long-sleeves (“just like a surfer would have”). All that crafted in ERL’s studio (@whitepicketfence) and made in California, from most durable and high-end materials. This is the American dream.
Here are the pieces I would so get to ERL-ify my wardrobe.
When you’ve got Paul Thek’s “Spinning Top” installation, Peter Hujar’s “Shoe for Elizabeth” photograph, a Charles Rennie Mackintosh “Argyle” chair and Carlo Scarpa’ “Easel” scattered around the runway, then you know it must be a Jonathan Anderson fashion show. No other designer has such a sensitivity towards contemporary art like Loewe‘s creative director, who often works and creates like a curator. This season, however, Anderson resorted to radical restraint in regards of his menswear. “Razor looks” is how he described his approach. It indeed was sharp. Slim silhouette, very French C-suite tailoring with almond-toe leather oxfords in black opened the show. Shorts and t-shirts were painted with a cable knit shaped finish. Edged in golden piping and emanating a shiny gleam, they appeared almost ceramic. A short-sleeve shirt was fabricated in sections of tonal fringe that resembled a hairy houndstooth, while a long brown coat was made in nappa leather on its right side that gradually transitioned into ostrich on its left. Anderson said the gold or monochrome feathers were there to divide our view of the faces beneath them as part of his consideration of forced perspective. This was a collection that stimulated you to question exactly what it was you were seeing, without going for chaotic eclecticism that Anderson has been channeling lately.
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