What will you be wearing next season? At Milan Men’s Fashion Week, fashion brands threw out some ideas in their Fall/Winter 2026 shows. Ralph Lauren, for one, encouraged the mixing of patterned knitwear, preppy pieces and tailoring—a tried-and-tested formula for the American designer that feels especially fresh now. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons think it’s time for the return of the skinny suit, like the ones they showed at their Prada presentation. Other Italian fashion brands, like Zegna and Giorgio Armani, offered softer, relaxed silhouettes that didn’t compromise on sophistication. Ahead, we highlight all the pieces that we saw—and loved—from Milan Men’s Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2026.
Ralph Lauren rugby shirts
Ralph Lauren’s Fall/Winter 2026 show was a big deal for plenty of reasons: it was the American designer’s first show in Milan in 20 years, and only the third show that he has presented in this century that’s solely dedicated to menswear. Of course, in Ralph Lauren’s world, “menswear” means many different things, from the sportswear and preppy styles of Polo Ralph Lauren, to the elegant tailoring and eveningwear of Purple Label.
Mixing all of that together is very Ralph, and the eclectic results were shown at the salon-style presentation at the Palazzo Ralph Lauren: models wore striped polo sweaters with puffer jackets tied around their waists, folksy fleece sweaters were paired with jeans, and Fair Isle knits and fuzzy cashmere sherpa outwear were layered over suits. There was plenty of stuff for Ralph Lauren fans to collect, but the knitted rugby shirts with gothic lettering—a spin on his vintage Polo Sport shirts—are sure to become a Gen Z staple.
Prada’s skinny coats
Hedi boys may want to invest in Prada’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection: the Italian brand has introduced long coats and double-breasted suits constructed with a narrow, skinny silhouette. (In the age of Ozempic, the impoverished figure required to fit into those clothes is no longer hard to attain.) The slender styles are meant to offer precision and clarity during what Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons describe as “uncomfortable, unpredictable times”. The pair mused about “evolution without erasure”, about referencing and respecting the codes of the past in order to innovate.
In practice, that meant tweaking classic menswear pieces. For example, trench coats are layered, jarringly, with cropped capes in bright colours like teal, yellow and red (those will surely help you stand out against rain or snow). Knitted vests came with square necklines (perhaps Miuccia and Raf are still preoccupied with the apron, a key element of Prada’s Spring/Summer 2026 women’s show?). And, as a nod to the wear and tear of time, the classic shirt was deliberately distressed with stains and iron burns. The shirts also came with statement, oversized cuffs that seem to burst out from under the sleeves of jackets and sweaters. That styling trick, similar to what we saw at Max Mara’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection, is one that you can already adopt to spruce up your everyday outfits.
Zegna’s three-button suits
Over at Zegna, creative director Alessandro Sartori was also thinking about the passage of time. Zegna’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection was presented out of a giant “family closet”, featuring clothing owned by four generations of the Zegna family. There was also a piece of fashion (and family) history to behold: the very first Zegna suit, from the 1930s.
But Sartori wasn’t stuck in the past. He introduced the double-breasted suit with a nifty new detail: a third button on the centre, which allows the jacket to be worn the traditional way, or fastened in the middle for a looser fit. The tailoring and outerwear throughout the Zegna collection are just as forgiving; jackets and coats are longer and larger, while high-waisted trousers feature a wider leg. The clothes were also cut from the Italian brand’s soft and lightweight Trofeo wool.
As a result, the Zegna man, who was represented on the runway by models of all ages (including newly-minted ambassador William Chan), carried himself with both sophistication and ease—even as he cut an imposing figure.
Giorgio Armani’s iridescent silk shirts
The Giorgio Armani Fall/Winter 2026 menswear show, the first one since the Italian designer’s death last year, featured all his elegant signatures: minimalist knitwear, fluid tailoring in greige, mandarin collar shirts, and velvet blazers paired with relaxed trousers.
The collection was designed by the brand’s menswear director and Armani’s longtime right-hand man, Leo Dell’Orco, who introduced some newness—namely in the colour palette, which included purples and greens, and the use of the brand’s iridescent cangiante silk fabric. The latter was used in beautiful shirts that added an unexpected allure to the suits.
Brunello Cucinelli’s corduroy suits
Fans of Brunello Cucinelli’s “gentle luxury” will be happy to know that the Italian designer has not strayed from his signature style. The Fall/Winter 2026 menswear collection sees an outdoorsy influence: trousers are lined with cargo pockets, jackets are cut from leather and denim, and coats come with shearling shawl collars. There are casual pieces too, like a graphic tee with a print of Latin aphorism (Cucinelli is a fan of Roman philosophers like Seneca, who inspired the name of the collection) and even a pair of distressed jeans. Cucinelli has also taken a relaxed approach to tailoring, best exemplified by the double-breasted suits in a lightweight, corduroy-like fabric.
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
