What’s Gucci Today? Gucci AW25

February 27, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Gucci‘s autumn-winter 2025 collection begs a question: do big brands need creative directors? Look at Loro Piana – it’s lead by a largely anonymous design studio, and it’s selling like hot buns. Their clients really don’t care about who’s designing what: it’s the quality that matters – and the overall image of the brand. After Sabato De Sarno’s departure from Gucci – and his very plain, very mild tenure – the brand is facing identity crisis. Should it go maximalist à la Alessandro Michele? Should it revert back to Tom Ford’s minimalist sensuality? Should it tap Hedi Slimane or an under-the-radar-name? At the moment, there’s no right answer. Even though the line-up that opened Milan Fashion Week wasn’t bad (it was way better than anything De Sarno presented), it left you with an impression of incompleteness. If not for Suzanne Koller’s masterful styling, the trendy-looking color palette, a bunch of faux-fur coats and silk slip dresses had little to say.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Naughty Boys. DsQuared2 AW25

February 26, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Yesterday in Milan, Dean & Dan Caten celebrated 30 years of DsQuared2: three decades of naughty bravado, sultry hedonism and campy glamour. Their autumn-winter 2025 fashion show, which had everything from a Doechii performance to Naomi Campbell finale walk, was a glorious look-back at the Canadian brothers’ all-time favorite runway characters. There were cowboys, lumberjacks, bombshells, BDSM aficionados, high-octane starlets. It all ended with Brigitte Nielsen dressed as a police officer, arresting the Catens – who, dapper in tuxedos and towering platforms, broke free from their cuffs, kicking off a raucous after-party. Fun fact: the Dsquared2 line-up included collaborations with Magliano, Vaquera, and Bettter, all of whom were welcomed into the Catens’ archives to rework past designs. The brothers still know what’s up.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Maestro. Giorgio Armani AW25

January 22, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Let’s be honest: 99.9% of menswear designers in Milan this season look up to the Italian maestro: Giorgio Armani. As they should. He’s one of the last living legends. And he just doesn’t stop.

The designer’s autumn-winter 2025 collection was just sublime. Gorgeously weathered leather jackets looked as if they could have been adapted straight from Armani’s archive on display in his Silos space in Milan, worn this season against ruby velvet shirting and roomy gray trousers in loden-thick wool. Oh, the velvet! The best kind of: meaty, but cascading. Just sumptuous, whether in electric ocean-blue or deep, deep burgundy.

Armani’s clothes look credibly contemporary and quintessentially Milan. Forever.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Radically Elegant. Dunhill AW25

January 21, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Simon Holloway’s revolution at Dunhill makes one want a bespoke suit. The designer’s knack for radical elegance in menswear is both: seductive and aspirational.

Especially when we’ve got this ultra-fine collection formal car-coats and blazers, crafted from high-end British traditional fabrics (think Melton, Donegal tweed, wool whipcord, cashmere tartan) into lighter versions – and tailored with a softer, more supple construction. Holloway is also an accessory guy: leather driving gloves are his signature, just like a proper velvet bow-tie.

Doing traditional, occasion-driven menswear without veering into archaic territory isn’t easy, but Holloway has a knack for striking that balance. The autumn-winter 2025 collection felt fresh and cohesive, and its rigor – absolutely handsome.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Homo Sapiens Chic. Prada AW25

January 20, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

As the world is in flames and the U.S. is entering the second presidency of Donald Trump, it seems we’re jumping from one dystopian vision… to another. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons aren’t pretending to have all the answers like they once did. But they surely know how to dress men in this strange, strange world.

Crude furs. Rough cuts. Bare chests. Primary instincts. The return of homo sapiens chic. This is what Prada is for autumn-winter 2025. “It is a bit of an answer, as always, to what is happening. So we have to resist with our instinct, and our humanity, and our passion, and our hands in a world that is becoming so conservative,” the Signora mused.

Nothing is ever obvious with these two. But this season, the designers are offering somewhat obvious building blocks for a man who isn’t certain of tomorrow. Anorak puffers, slightly over-sized tailoring, very heavy knitwear. But there’s space for beauty, that little sparky thing that makes us human. A pink flower-brooch tucked into a jacket’s label, for instance. Or the wallpaper print ornamenting the surface of a barely-there t-shirt, worn by a modern-day Narcissus.

Keep your eye on the donut, not the hole.

R.I.P. David Lynch.