Milan, ever the city of excess and elegance, closed another Fashion Week with a heady mix of anticipation and debate. Spring/Summer 2026 belonged to the debutantes—not fresh-faced newcomers, but creative directors stepping into the spotlight at some of Italy’s most storied houses. Their first collections were less about reinvention than revelation, each unveiling a new chapter in a continuing myth. The result is a season that kept editors, critics and fashion’s devotees on edge, searching for signs of change and moments of magic.
Jil Sander by Simone Bellotti
Simone Bellotti’s Jil Sander debut opened Milan’s week with a coup de théâtre. The casting alone spoke volumes: Guinevere Van Seenus, the ’90s supermodel synonymous with razor-sharp minimalism, glided onto the runway in a cropped sapphire knit and a crisp white pencil skirt slit with pleated panels. Paired with sheer black tights and polished leather Oxfords, it was both homage and evolution—an image of purity fractured by unexpected detail.
Bellotti’s vision thrived in nuance. A mere shift of proportion—five or ten centimetres here or there—transformed rigour into imbalance. He layered horizontally pleated silk like mille-feuille, rendered sheer dresses with seams turned into sensual provocations, and tailored coats that cinched at the waist with a sleight of hand. This was minimalism, yes, but imbued with seduction and wit. Bellotti proved himself not merely suited to Jil Sander, but symbiotic with it.
Gucci by Demna Gvasalia
Demna’s first foray into Gucci came not as a runway show, but through a short film, ‘THE TIGER’, and a family-style lookbook, ‘La Famiglia’. It was a prelude, a whisper before the grand performance due in February, yet it reignited the house’s pulse.
His debut revisited Gucci’s storied past, drawing on silhouettes and codes bequeathed by his predecessors, then layering them with his own hand. Tom Ford’s louche sensuality resurfaced, but sharpened for the now. From bow-tied white swim briefs to monogrammed coats paired with sky-high boots, and ostrich-feathered outerwear drenched in colour, Demna’s Gucci oscillated between restraint and riot. It was less a revolution than a rekindling—a reminder of Gucci’s power to seduce the fashion world when desire and daring align
Versace by Dario Vitale
No show stirred conversation quite like Versace under its new helmsman, Dario Vitale. Where many expected a return to the supermodel-charged ’90s, Vitale rewound further, to the decadence of the ’80s. The runway pulsed with disco energy: broad-shouldered tailoring, baroque-print shirts, high-cut tanks, and high-waisted trousers in clashing jolts of emerald, crimson and lilac.
The baroque codes of Gianni Versace resurfaced, though filtered through a streetwise lens. The womenswear occasionally veered towards retro pastiche—like stepping into a mother’s long-forgotten wardrobe—but the menswear struck a deft balance, drawing from retro sportswear and Versace’s inherent sensuality. Vitale’s debut was less about nostalgia than about opening the door to new possibility. The tension between past and future will define what comes next.
Bottega Veneta by Louise Trotter
Louise Trotter’s first collection for Bottega Veneta was a quiet storm. A sunshine-yellow faux-fur knit paired with a pencil skirt went viral, a sign that Trotter was steering the house away from the hushed codes of “quiet luxury” and back towards its eternal lodestar: craftsmanship.
Intrecciato leather was reimagined in sumptuous nappa coats woven at varying scales—heavy for summer, but monumental in presence. Knitwear mimicked basket-weave lattices, oversized shirts and strong-shouldered sweaters balanced with fringed skirts spun from recycled fibres. Precision tailoring borrowed from classic Italian menswear, offset by intrecciato handbags in both archival and newly reworked guises, anchoring the looks in Bottega’s timeless codes.
Trotter’s debut was not a rupture but a refinement: an evolution that honoured the house’s past while re-energising its ready-to-wear for a new generation. Her clothes, grounded yet powerful, carried the promise of Bottega’s next great chapter.
