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.

ED’s SELECTION:

Prada Men’s Spazzolato Triangle Logo Penny Loafers

Prada Men’s Velluto Coste Corduroy and Suede Gloves

Prada Men’s Oxford Dress Shirt

Prada Men’s Relaxed-Fit Washed Denim Jeans

Prada Men’s Cotton Moleskin Jacket

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Sprezzatura. Brioni AW25

January 19, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

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.
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Idea of Wow. Bottega Veneta SS25

September 23, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Bottega Veneta show was livid. It made you love living life! Matthieu Blazy really starts feeling the Italian air and flair of dolce vita. His spring-summer 2025 was a joyous, vibrant finale of Milan Fashion Week – and a reminder to let your inner child out from time to time. “I was interested in the idea of wow, the wonder you have as a kid when you try something – it’s almost like primal fashion, your first experience of fashion when you try your parents’ clothes,” the designer said. He showed too-big jackets and one-leg pants under asymmetrical wrap skirts, and pieces like a black tank dress and khaki and navy shirtdresses with built-in wrinkles like they’d been crushed at the bottom of a trunk waiting for a game of dress-up. The details were pure fun: frogs perching at the neckline of a dress and clinging to the heels of shoes, lapels in the shape of bunnies on leather coats, a scarf top printed with giant fish. Humor was all over the spiky wigs and flower bouquets made out of leather (of course, it’s Bottega!). Blazy’s enthusiasm is perceptible and catching. This is exactly what we need in 2024.