The latest runway highlights from Max Mara to Emporio Armani
As the latest season of Milan Fashion Week continues, we saw many houses revisiting their signatures through a distinctly contemporary lens. Across the runways, tailoring was sharpened, history was reinterpreted, and confidence emerged as the prevailing mood. Here, we spotlight yesterday’s standout moments and some of the key shows.
Max Mara
Max Mara delivered its signature take on elegance on the Milan runway, presenting a winter wardrobe grounded in coffee browns and cool greys. This season, the house wove together modern utilitarianism with subtle neo-medieval and gothic references, drawing inspiration from the enduring strength of Italian women and the formidable Matilde di Canossa.
Hip-hugging gored cashmere skirts, suede tunics, flat boots, and coats detailed with rivets or nubuck patches brought a contemporary edge to historic codes. Luxurious camels, alpacas and double-faced wools reaffirmed the brand’s devotion to craftsmanship. Echoing the legacy of the iconic 101801 coat, the collection positioned the Max Mara woman as calm, commanding and quietly powerful, reigning not over battlefields but boardrooms.
Emporio Armani
Emporio Armani’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection, titled Maestro, marked the first chapter under the joint creative direction of Silvana Armani and Leo Dell’Orco. Conceived as a tribute to the house’s late founder, the show offered a confident meditation on modern tailoring.
Menswear and womenswear were presented together, reinforcing a shared language built on balance: rule and spontaneity, discipline and freedom. British codes such as tailcoats, waistcoats and caps were filtered through an unmistakably Italian sensibility, softened by fluid movement and urban ease.
Sharply cut suits and relaxed blazers anchored the collection, while vertical yet supple silhouettes and neat shoulders created quiet authority. The result was refined, assured and contemporary, honoring heritage while projecting it forward with clarity and restraint.
Roberto Cavalli
Fausto Puglisi’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection for Roberto Cavalli marked a confident evolution for the house. For the first time since taking the helm, the designer moved away from overt, head-to-toe prints, unveiling a striking, predominantly black offering that nonetheless carried the unmistakable Cavalli attitude.
Puglisi explored depth and texture, from lace panels to intricate embellishment and a restrained whisper of an animal motif, adding dimension. Flashes of florals and saturated pink and purple tones punctuated the dark palette with intention. Silhouettes were sleek and sculpted, balancing sensuality with control. The result felt polished and self-assured, a more mature expression of the brand’s signature glamour.
Marni
Marni’s Fall/Winter 2026 show unfolded as a bold exploration of texture, proportion and artistic expression. The collection balanced the house’s signature eccentricity with a sharper sense of structure, creating silhouettes that felt both instinctive and intentional. Exaggerated shapes, tactile fabrics and painterly prints came together in layered looks that celebrated individuality over convention. Oversized coats, sculptural knits and fluid dresses were styled with an offbeat confidence that has long defined the brand’s DNA.
BOSS
BOSS returns to its tailoring roots this season, refining the codes that have long defined the house. Sculpted shoulders, drawn from late 1980s archive jackets, are sharpened by higher lapels inspired by the 1990s, while broad silhouettes are balanced by a more defined waist. Double-breasted jackets meet single-pleated trousers, and three-button styles are paired with relaxed double-pleated cuts, creating a confident dialogue between structure and ease.
Archival silk and jacquard embellishments reappear in newly rendered florals, from peonies to calla lilies, woven into ties, scarves and cummerbunds. Across menswear and womenswear alike, the message was that confidence is built through construction, and heritage is redefined with precision rather than nostalgia.
