The Most Memorable Fashion Moments at Milan Design Week

The presence of fashion brands at Milan Design Week continues to stir debate—especially as the citywide fair feels increasingly crowded—but legacy houses undoubtedly offered some of the weeklong celebration’s most noteworthy design moments. Conspicuously absent this year was Loewe, which often enlists independent designers to recast household objects like teapots with their distinctive touch, as well as Saint Laurent, which stole the show last year by reissuing four lost Charlotte Perriand furnishings. But a wealth of beautiful moments ensued this year, owing to legacy brands, from luminaires fashioned by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance inspired by Dior’s couture heritage to Chloé’s unexpected reedition of a classic radical Italian furnishing. Below, we rounded up some of Milan Design Week’s biggest fashion-forward highlights.

1. Fendi

At an event hosted by Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri, Fendi celebrated the “Baguette 26424” re-edition, which now includes six Milan-exclusive designs. Each bag arrives in a wooden box featuring a special re-edition metal tag, with the boxes on display in a special window display during Milan Design Week. Additionally, the house announced its inaugural Fendi Design Prize winner, with the special honor going to Swedish designer Gusta Craft, who was recognized for his project titled “Via.” Craft’s work, which includes chairs, a mirror, a rug, and a side table, is inspired by the streets of Rome.

2. Chloé

Originally conceived in 1970 by French designer Christian Adam for Poltronova, the Tomato chair emerged from a period of creative liberation in Italy, proposing a softer, more instinctive relationship between body and object. Chloé recently reissued the sculptural seat in naturally tanned leather, offered in cream, cognac, sand, and black, renewing its sensuous presence.

3. Dior

A new chapter in Dior maison’s fruitful collaboration with Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance arrived through the Corolle lamps, inspired by the house’s couture heritage. Their fluid curves reinterpret the iconic lines of the Corolle skirt, translating the movement of pleats and draped fabric into luminous, sculptural silhouettes crafted in mouth-blown Murano. In each piece, light filters through layered transparencies to accentuate the glasswork’s depth and nuance. 

4. Issey Miyake

In Milan, Issey Miyake presented “The Paper Log: Shell and Core,” conceived by Satoshi Kondo and the Issey Miyake project team in collaboration with Ensamble Studio. The project is comprised of rolls of wafer-thin, pleated sheets that are used to protect fabric as it’s fed through the pleating machine. Kondo and the Ensamble Studio team each approached the fabric from their own discipline, resulting in chairs, tables, and benches, placed in conversation with abstract forms throughout the flagship store.  

5. Prada

Rarely can Design Week attendees find time for Milan’s traditional cultural landmarks, but this year’s Prada Frames prompted detours. The Formafantasma-curated symposium returned to Santa Maria delle Grazie—the historic complex that houses Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper—with a program called “In Sight” that examined image-making as a defining condition of contemporary culture. Discussions with the likes of Alice Rawsthorn, Paola Antonelli, and Hans Ulrich Obrist occurred within the Sacrestia, a Renaissance interior attributed to Bramante and distinguished by inlaid cabinets depicting early 16th-century biblical scenes.

6. Hermès

The latest home collection from Hermès features geometric patterns familiar to the house alongside sculptural gestures and nods to an ancient goddess. From a Palladion vase hammered in metal, combined with leather, horsehair, or wood, to a gladiatorial disc centerpiece that evokes antique armor, and a cashmere throw in a vibrant weave, the collection is a testament to the house’s artisan innovation.

7. Bottega Veneta

At Bottega Veneta’s Via Sant’Andrea store, Korean artist Kwangho Lee’s site-specific light installation took hold. Titled “Lightful,” the display, which marked the artist’s third collaboration with the fashion house, featured new light sculptures woven from Bottega Veneta leather strips in bespoke shades of black and green in a way that explored the effects of light and shadow.

8. Gucci

At Fuorisalone, Gucci unveiled an immersive exhibition that traced the iconic fashion house’s 105-year history. Curated by Demna at Milan’s Chiostri di San Simpliciano, “Gucci Memoria” unfolded across cloisters, centered on a cycle of 12 tapestries and a garden installation inspired by the House’s Flora motif. Custom vending machines added an interactive element, with canned beverages created by Gucci Giardino. To coincide with the exhibition, Gucci also introduced a series of handbags and accessories featuring the Flora motif.

9. JW Anderson

In collaboration with sculptor and Yeoman Basketmaker Eddie Glew, J.W. Anderson introduced the Basket Bag, which is handmade using traditional techniques passed down through generations, and is finished with chocolate brown tanned leather. At the J.W. Anderson flagship store during Milan Design Week, Glew hosted a live demonstration using a shave horse, draw knife, and his hands to carve flowers from a single piece of wood.

10. Loro Piana

Loro Piana configured the fabrics it presented in its Milan installation around luxurious interpretations of five themes. “Sceneries” is landscape-based, while “Codes of the House” takes its cues from beloved ready-to-wear motifs. “Botanic Repertoire” is all about flowers, with the thistle being a special source of inspiration, and “Textured Abstractions” uses line in a way that its name is clear. But it’s the tastefully neutral-toned “Cardo Paisley” that stands out by showing that paisley isn’t just for maximalists anymore.

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11. Louis Vuitton

The Objets Nomades collection from Louis Vuitton was an Art Deco-themed tribute to the work of Pierre Legrain, who worked with the maison in the 1920s. Some of the limited-edition pieces in the Legrain range include home textiles that echo his designs, a Riviera Chilienne chair with mother-of-pearl inlay, and an egg-shaped vanity table.

12. Marimekko

Marimekko’s perennially joyful florals took center stage at Osteria Fiori di Marimekko, where flower-inspired bites and beverages by Helsinki-based chef Maud Saddok were available against the backdrop of Erja Hirvi’s new Kukasta kukkaan print, a brightly hand-painted grouping of blossoms.

13. Jil Sander

Magazine and book publisher Apartamento teamed up with fashion designer Jil Sander to create a high-concept reading room where each book in a carefully chosen family of 60 sat on its own square, dark, reflective lectern. Visitors were given their own Jil Sander-logo white gloves and invited to join in the ancient practice of reading words on paper, not a screen, in a cocoon between them and hustling Milan.