MILAN — Designers had ease and wearability top of mind over the past week here. A tour of the city’s showrooms and presentations during Milan Men’s Fashion Week offered plenty of options aimed at elevating a closet with approachable pieces, whether one is seeking timeless sophistication or to tap into trends.
Here, WWD rounds up the key items to get when building a wardrobe for spring 2025.
The Knit: Massimo Alba
Even in a collection that heavily leaned on versatile jackets and lightweight suits rendered in a charming color palette of soft pink, beige, mustard, copper and shades of blue, Massimo Alba’s expertise in knitwear shined through. This season, the designer showcased innovative uses of linen and mulberry silk in timeless crewnecks and cardigan styles, while he blended mulberry silk with organic cotton in the Jacob V-neck knit, which made for the ideal transitional weather essential with its casual elegance.
Massimo Alba Spring 2025 Men’s Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion Week
Courtesy of Massimo Alba
The Camp Shirt: Altea
An arty vibe ran through both the Altea collection and presentation, staged at the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi and showcasing artworks from Jamaican-born, France-based artist Danny Avidan. Yet it was an exhibition of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi’s work that inspired creative director Luigi Fila in favoring soft, muted tones and injected a serene mood into relaxed tailoring, lightweight shirts, loose pants and crafty crochet knits. For a touch of eccentricity, he added muslin camp shirts splashed with original prints inspired by nature.
A look from the Altea spring 2025 collection.
Courtesy of Altea
The Leisure Suit: Slowear
Traditional suiting has become relaxed and breezy this season, even among the most traditional menswear players. Slowear took the concept up a notch with the introduction of a leisure suit — at the crossroads of workwear and pajama styles — consisting of straight-leg pants and an overshirt in lieu of a blazer. Crafted from a technical yarn blended with cotton and available in a wide range of colors, it was complemented by Bermuda shorts, joggers and a bowling shirt in the same fabrication, making it a travel-ready wardrobe in itself. In the same vein, a functional set consisting of wrinkle-free technical pants matching a blazer, bomber jacket and overshirt allows customers to personalize their outfit based on occasions of use. Slowear — which is home to pants-maker Incotex; Zanone knitwear; Glanshirt, and Montedoro outerwear as well as Officina Slowear accessories and footwear — is progressively trying to shift from an umbrella for distinct brands toward becoming a cohesive menswear label rooted in laid-back elegance.
Slowear Spring 2025 Men’s Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion Week
Courtesy of Slowear
The Denim Pants: Jacob Cohën
At Jacob Cohën, denim reigns supreme. The brand is a specialist in the fabric and this season artistic director Jennifer Tommasi Bardelle pushed the experimentation envelope further with cuts and processes, including blending organic cotton and lyocell in the Sean five-pocket pants. Denim overshirts and jackets added to the lineup, which Tommasi Bardelle keeps expanding to offer total looks, comprising fine polo shirts, suede jackets and crisp trenchcoats. More is expected to come, since at the end of last year the company took full control of JC Industry, the firm formerly managing its production and distribution, to bring such operations in-house.
Meanwhile, the label collaborated with upcycling denim brand Scpt to breathe new life into 1,416 pairs of jeans that didn’t pass Jacob Cohën’s high-quality standard tests but were gifted and reinvented in couture-like pieces displayed at the presentation here.
Jacob Cohën Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion Week
Courtesy of Jacob Cohen
The Striped Shirt: Harmont & Blaine
Gen Zers on the streets of Milan during fashion week were already wearing oxford shirts in oversizes, unbuttoned versions and layered over rib tank tops. Although the item skewed more traditional in the Harmont & Blaine spring collection, there were plenty of summery options, from the multicolored striped styles to more subdued gingham designs. Inspired by ‘90s designs found in the brand’s archives, the shirts matched the expanded beachwear assortment aligning with the season’s “Summer Euphoria” theme hinged on optimism. The overall resort vibe nodding to Capri and other summer destinations was heightened by the Popsicle-colored, tie-dye-like and bandana prints on sweaters and short-sleeve shirts.
Harmont & Blaine Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion Week
Courtesy of Harmont & Blaine
The Suede Jacket: Brett Johnson
Suede ruled the outerwear category during Milan Fashion Week and American designer Brett Johnson had handsome ones with a silky touch and patch pockets outlined with a 3D effect, a detail scattered throughout the collection and in accessories, too, used instead of a logo. Suede bomber jackets came with hoodies and canneté waistbands on both sides, while a blazer version incorporated subtle utilitarian details, including zip pockets. Overall, the collection, inspired by a trip Johnson made to Portofino, the tony seaside resort recreated in the setting of the presentation, continued to highlight the designer’s commitment to craftsmanship and the quiet luxury aesthetic.
Brett Johnson Spring 2025 Men’s Collection at Milan Fashion Week
Courtesy of Brett Johnson
The Tracker Pants: Fila+
Elevating one of its hero pieces, Fila+ — the more trend-driven and upscale line hinged on modernizing the archives, revealed in January — went for high-end interpretations of the acetate tracksuit, hand sewn with pants slightly roomier and bearing the Fila flag and F-Box logo. Paired with cable-knit sweaters, it conveyed a cool preppy look. Fila+ creative director Lev Tanju, founder of British streetwear brand Palace, teleported guests of the presentation into the early ‘90s, recreating apartment rooms with vintage furniture and having models and real people of all ages pretend they were playing cards at a table, listening to music in their teenage bedroom or tricot-ing one of the Fila+ knits on the sofa.
Fila+ Men’s Spring 2025
Courtesy of Fila+
The Workwear Jacket: Carrer
Marc Forné and Manu Rios know a thing or two about style. Hopping from one front row to another, they have seen enough fashion shows and traveled around the world enough to have mastered the art of putting together a suitcase in the blink of an eye. Mirroring their packing practice, picking basics that could be easily combined and styled together reflects the spirit with which the Spanish duo launched their brand Carrer last year, rooted in wardrobe essentials with a utilitarian flair and streetwear sensibility.
Along with ribbed knits, overshirts, slim-fit tank tops, fleeced hoodies and ripstop cargo pants, the lineup included parkas and versatile workwear jackets, like the Barrau design that has quickly become one of the label’s bestselling items with its distinctive look featuring cargo pockets and an approachable price point of roughly 250 euros.
“The idea was to give access to our wardrobe and offer styles that enable [customers] not to think too much but look good,” said Forné about the mission of the brand, which was two years in the making.
Manu Rios and Marc Forné wearing Carrer.
Courtesy of Carrer
The Sleeveless Top: Cultura
Cultura worked ’80s-inspired volumes and stonewashed treatments in sleeveless tops, safari jackets and cargo pants. Inspired by the Paris-Dakar Rally race, the brand mixed shades of sand with color-blocked stitches inspired by local cultures of the desert. It additionally integrated prints portraying desert landscapes and numbered patches nodding to the car and motorcycle competition.
Cultura Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion Week
Courtesy of Cultura