Delightful Insouciance. Zegna SS25

June 19, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Mads Mikkelsen closed Zegna‘s spring-summer 2025 show, and also men’s Milan Fashion Week. Alessandro Sartori‘s take on the brand is always a pleasure to see, and a reminder that maybe there’s no need in reinventing the wheel. In the end, the best clothes are the ones that strike with quality and look always great, whatever trend is terrorizing the streets at the moment. Wearing Zegna, a man (or woman – Sartori confidently tips his toes in this field too!) doesn’t have to overthink his appearance, because these garments do all the work for him. The latest collection had a nuance of sensuality that was “quintessentially Italian, a certain idea of Italian elegance in the ’60s,” a feel for lightness and insouciance that seemed to break away from Sartori’s renowned, disciplined minimalism. The designer has translated traditional suiting into a luxe version of sportswear, and has given workwear an elaborate, rich new identity. His work is about hybridization of the highest refined order, with a constant tension in reducing the categories of masculine dressing and finding new solutions to liberate classics from the weight of their codes. He does it brilliantly, and with one of the best color palettes in the industry!

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe!

Men’s – Where’s The Flavor? Gucci SS25

June 19, 2024June 19, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

We’re entering Sabato De Sarno‘s third season at Gucci, but nothing has really changed since his debut. His menswear collections are slightly more persuasive than womenswear, but the spring-summer 2025 attempt largely feels like a Prada by Miuccia and Raf afterthought. The clothes are repeating: same over-sized coats, work-jackets and shirts return to the runway a couple of times, just in different colors and prints, as if De Sarno really believed they are reinventing the wheel. There are bits of kinky sprinkles that somehow add at least some flavor to the designer’s menswear – like leather briefs and fishnet tops – but that’s not enough to make a statement. The brand keeps on bringing up “emotions” in its communication, but I still feel nothing looking at De Sarno’s design. Believe me, I took myself to a Gucci store in search for all these “big feelings“, but these clothes don’t speak to me even IRL.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe!

Men’s – Irrational Approach. JW Anderson SS25

June 18, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Irrational clothing” is how Jonathan Anderson described the idea(s) behind his JW Anderson spring-summer 2025 collection. The sheer number of concepts the designer played with on his runway is a lot to take, especially at menswear Milan Fashion Week where most designers barely deliver one, substantial idea. The wearable collage of adjacently sourced thoughts all set on designing garments that aggravated and stimulated the outer reaches of familiarity. Liner jackets in lushly colored silk and hula-hoop-hemmed, billows-pocketed denim gilets were both delivered in steroid-shot proportions to transform them beyond their conventional categories. “Sometimes it’s about movement and sponginess and being tactile,” offered Anderson of the three inside-out knit mega bomber jackets that followed. Pastel leather supersized blouses that followed a few looks later just looked so delightfully squishy. But there was also a sense of utilitarian toughness, some sort of exaggerated mannishness rooted in historicism. Take the pants in the closing look, musketeer-ishly tucked into vintage military-style boots unlaced up from the shin. Anderson’s disruptively irrational approach to worn façades became even more evident in a series of three two-story cardigans and two taller shifts knit with purposefully homespun craftiness to resemble various English architectural styles. The designer also proposed a not-so-discreet return to the tie in menswear, in XXL sizes, creating a cartoonish caricature of a businessman’s attire. Shirts, jackets, and a coat were affixed with roundly folded supersized silk tags in harlequin colors that resembled deflated balloons. They were lovely and strange. And then, in a very JW manner, another random element that will be a hit: the sweats and knits featuring vintage Guinness advertising. The designer said this was partially because he is Northern Irish and a fan of Guinness and partially because he has always relished that non-fashion brand’s history of radical image making, from the vintage pieces showcased here to Jonathan Glazer’s 1999 surfer advertisement. Now I wonder which of these concepts will reappear – even subtly – in Anderson’s forthcoming collaboration on costumes for Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer” starring Daniel Craig, premiering this August in Venice.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe!

Deja Vu. Valentino Resort 2025

June 18, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

It’s a new dawn for Valentino. Gone are the days of Pierpaolo Piccioli’s minimalist sensibility and sharpness of cut. Alessandro Michele’s “surprise” debut collection for resort 2025 is an unabashed return to Valentino Garavani’s 1960s and 1970s opulence and over-the-topness. Is this nostalgia something people really want in 2024? Many wrongfully described the collection as “so Gucci”. The deja vu feeling is valid, but rather it’s “so Alessandro Michele”. But let’s be honest, this line-up could easily pass as any of Michele’s previous collections for the other Italian brand, and you’re really not the only one constantly mistyping Gucci instead of Valentino. More than 170 looks, none really memorable or distinct, is either a result of Michele’s prolificness or his overt maximalism – something I thought he would rethink and refine during his hiatus. When the designer arrived at Gucci, his debut collection – contrived at light speed pace – was a revolution-in-the-making and it shifted the way people dress for seasons ahead. His Valentino debut lacks that radicalness, and feels like a missed opportunity in making a strong point. The dense, thick retromania of this collection makes one feel simply tired.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe!

Men’s – Youthful Optimism. Prada SS25

June 17, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

After a couple of seasons dedicated to tackling problems of our contemporary times, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons maybe aren’t in an entirely optimistic mood, but they are hopeful for the future – and the young generation. The spring-summer 2025 menswear Prada collection was dedicated to the feeling of “just going” with your guts when you’re young and not overthinking it too much. That was reflected in the seemingly pre-loved clothes, crumpled and creased, mismatched and cropped as if a couple of sizes too small. Simons explained: “There are elements that are female, masculine, coming from mom, dad, grandad, grandmother. Maybe things from your memories… and fantasy!”, interjected Prada. Although the designers didn’t want their new season effects look too constricted or contrived, it a bit was the case with the Lego-colored boiler suits (Simons just can’t help but return to them. Maybe he will get it right one day?). But there were also pieces in this collection that truly feel investment-worthy: pony-hair black coat with short sleeves, tops illustrated with graphic artworks by Bernard Buffet, cool wind-jackets in rave tones, slinky cardigans. The first look’s blonde-haired model who opened the door of the show venue’s toy-ish, white house wore a very Milan-coded outfit: a thin, v-neck navy sweater, sartorially-elegant grey pants with pleats and a pair of vintage-y sneakers. How Prada!