The standout shows of Milan Fashion Week SS27
Last week, Milan set the scene for some of the world’s most influential fashion houses as they unveiled their Spring/Summer 2027 collections. Set against the city’s striking mix of industrial spaces and historic addresses, more than fifty shows unfolded across Milan, accompanied by a packed calendar of presentations, events and celebrations.
As expected, Milan Fashion Week transcended the runway, becoming a whirlwind of celebrity appearances, front-row spectacle and street style that has become a show in its own right. Here are our highlights from the week, before all eyes turn to Paris for Fashion Month’s grand finale.
Gucci
Forget the traditional runway. For his second runway collection for Gucci, Demna transformed the show space into a fully realised Gucci boutique, complete with velvet seating, clothing racks and glass cases filled with the house’s accessories. Models moved through the store alongside a cast of guests and tastemakers, blurring the line between runway and retail.
On the runway, stars including Alex Consani and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley brought Demna’s vision to life, with Huntington-Whiteley appearing in an oversized faux-fur coat layered over a lace bodysuit and pencil skirt. The look reflected the collection’s collision of polished glamour and provocative dressing, with broad-shouldered tailoring, pencil skirts, tartan and leather set against exaggerated outerwear and body-conscious silhouettes.
Rather than committing to one version of Gucci, Demna leaned into the house’s ability to accommodate contradiction. Aristocratic references sat alongside pop-cultural codes, while polished tailoring met exposed skin and exaggerated silhouettes. The result was a collection that felt less like a single aesthetic and more like a wardrobe for a palette of larger-than-life Gucci characters.
Prada
At Prada, the starting point was considerably smaller: one garment, reworked in almost every way imaginable. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons centred the entire Spring/Summer 2027 collection around the skirt, treating its familiar silhouette as a framework for experimentation.
Velcro fastenings became decorative, embellished with crystals; crinoline escaped from underneath the clothes to become part of the design; and ribbons, bows and other traditionally hidden details were brought to the surface. Tiny novelty bras appeared repeatedly as tops, while coated cotton, latex and glossy Re-Nylon added a harder edge to the collection’s more traditional shapes.
The appeal was in the tension. Office skirts were paired with barely-there tops, functional details became ornament, and rigid silhouettes were interrupted by exposed skin. Rather than reinventing the skirt entirely, Prada and Simons demonstrated just how much can be extracted from a garment already embedded in the everyday wardrobe.
Max Mara
Max Mara took a different route for Spring/Summer 2027, looking to the globe-trotting women of the 1930s. Titled Far Horizon, the collection drew inspiration from explorers, aviators and travellers including Freya Stark, Osa Johnson, Eva Dickson, Amelia Earhart and Beryl Markham, translating their spirit of adventure into a contemporary wardrobe.
The safari jacket became the collection’s defining piece, appearing in textured linen and lustrous gabardine before being reworked into draped and elongated silhouettes. Cargo vests were engineered to sit neatly over matching tailored jackets, while aviator-inspired details, practical belts and transformable bags brought a sense of utility to the collection. Utilitarian overalls in organza, fluid gored skirts and slinky knits softened the more structured pieces.
For creative director Ian Griffiths, the collection centred on what the brand calls “utility luxe” — clothing designed to combine practicality with elegance and keep pace with contemporary life. The result was a wardrobe that brought the determined spirit of its 1930s inspirations into the everyday, balancing functional details with a more polished, sensual edge.
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