Highlights From Milan Men’s Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2026

Milan Fashion Week Men’s Spring/Summer 2026 wrapped with no shortage of strong talent. But among the crowded calendar, three designers rose to the top to define what to look for next year on and off the runway. From bold colors to returning to the basics, Prada, Dunhill and Giorgio Armani showed us that sometimes the best inspiration is through introspection.

Prada

With escalating tensions in the Middle East, widespread social discontent and ongoing political strife, one may not think that a menswear collection could have a political message to it. But that, it seems, is exactly how co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons wanted to position their vision for menswear in 2026.

“We tried to make a change of tone, from powerful to gentle, calm…the opposite of aggression, power [and] nastiness.’’ explained Miuccia Prada, positioning the tone of this particular show into the wider conversations happening globally. And that dialogue between this collection and current events seems to have struck a cord for those following this runway season. Since debuting at the Fondazione in Milan earlier this week, this collection has found its way all over social media and the homepages of fashion magazines, not least for the leggy models strutting down the runway. Instead, it seems audiences have been inspired by the simplicity of the collection itself, a moment to breathe within the context of men’s fashion week, in juxtaposition to the intensity traditional menswear brands can bring to their collections, often hyperfocusing on restrictive tailoring and gloomy color palettes.

For Prada and Simons, their SS26 collection shows a return to nonchalant innocence that has long been a tentpole of Prada’s design language. Louche silhouettes and seaside detailing balanced the more traditional overcoats and blazers that draped on models down the runway. Navy, black and grey—de rigueur elements at any menswear show—were simply the canvas used for reds, mints and soft blues to shine. Perhaps most notably, models were dressed in impossibly short shorts (well-tailored briefs, really) which hammered in the overarching theme of this show in which vulnerable, quotidian moments have their own kind of beauty that are, according to Prada herself, meant to be celebrated.

Dunhill

In stark contrast to Prada’s more carefree SS26 collection, English brand Dunhill doubled down on heritage this season. With a nod to the British aristocracy, each piece in Dunhill’s runway show could easily have been incorporated into King Charles’ wardrobe as the Prince of Wales when he was the most eligible bachelor of the 1970s. Couple this with a bit of rock-and-roll swagger and it’s no wonder that Dunhill became something of a breakout in Milan.

This was in no small part to the presentation that Simon Holloway, Dunhill’s creative director, and his team brought to life, which took place in a hidden garden inside one of Milan’s palazzi. Models strutted across the greens with a borzoi or Weimaraner in tow, giving the show at once a subtle elegance while being a bit—dare we say it?—cheeky in the process.

But the real star of the show for Dunhill was the totality of their SS26 collection, with each piece being both wearable and so well situated into the overall thematics of this show. With a focus on draped layers and loose silhouettes, Dunhill showed us what we already suspected: the loose fit isn’t going anywhere. With a tonal palette of creams, browns and greens (often offset with a pop of red here, or perhaps a splash of yellow there), it’s easy to see Holloway envisioning these pieces finding their way into an aristocrat’s luggage for a posh weekend in the countryside.

Giorgio Armani

Tying Prada and Dunhill together was Giorgio Armani. Now in its 50th year, there seems to be a sort of retrospective at play for the brand. Couple this with Mr. Armani celebrating his own 90th birthday last year and one begins to wonder if the signor of Italian fashion may be using his SS26 as a sort of “greatest hits” for the fashion house.

With a whopping 116 runway looks, for any other designer it would be hard to find any cohesion to a collection. For Giorgio Armani? It seemed as if every garment in the presentation was intentional—necessary even—to tell his story. While Armani’s latest looks show us that he’s not strayed too far from the wardrobe for American Gigolo, which offered him international attention, the colors used for SS26 give us an insight into Armani’s personal evolution as a designer with sea foam greens, purples and sky blues stealing the show.

This is, in part, due to Armani wanting to pay homage to his favorite vacation spot, the island of Pantelleria off the coast of Italy. Mixing his signature loose-fitting suits and maximalist layering with more thematic motifs of palm trees and sharkskin iPhone cases shows just how far Armani is willing to experiment—while still staying true to the brand’s style that’s been honed over five decades.

What’s Next For SS26?

With Milan now behind us, Paris Fashion Week Men’s Spring/Summer 2026 is currently underway. With presentations from some of the largest fashion houses in the world still to come, this is a season of shows not to be missed.