Milan Fashion Week AW26: All the best moments you might’ve missed Womenswear

While last season in Milan was shaped by a whirlwind of creative director debuts, AW26 slowed things down with just a few big changes on the calendar. In perhaps the most long-awaited event this season, Denma Gvasalia presented his first official show at Gucci – an all-star runway with everyone from Kate Moss to Gabbriette and fakemink (yes, we meant everyone!) showing up to model the sexy, European art-inspired offering. Meanwhile, Maria Gracia Chiuri made a (…slightly?) erotic Fendi debut; Miuccia and Raf Simons sent Prada models, including Bella Hadid, down the runway four times in a row to unveil different layers of their looks; and Louise Trotter experimented with texture and shape for her sophomore show at Bottega Veneta.

Elsewhere, MM6 Maison Margiela dipped its toe into 80s and equestrian fashion, GCDS transformed its showspace into a floor-to-ceiling “What’s in my bag” video (spoiler alert: it was the models), Dolce & Gabbana celebrated its 40-year anniversary as a brand, and Avavav let guests walk the runway while models gazed from the audience. Scroll down below to catch up on all the best bits from the week.

It’s not unusual for showgoers to feel overwhelmed during fashion season, whether that’s from the quick hustle between venues, the crowds or the packed show schedules. This season, however, Simone Bellotti wanted you to feel at home at Jil Sander. Looking back at memories with his father, who was an upholsterer, Bellotti shaped his sophomore collection with his own idea of home, exploring the contradiction between calm and tension that can often be found in these spaces. “This season the question is whether abandon can convey restraint,” reads the shownotes. “While the debut was a quest for the essence, Simone Bellotti is now on the lookout for what comes after: moreness with meaning, curves over straight lines, fabric in excess.” On the runway, this translated to just that: looks built from the brand’s minimalistic DNA, all interjected with bursts of excess. Cream gowns ballooned over the body and tucked up at the leg; tailored jackets were buttoned high at the neck; trenches cut with high slits; and classic black dresses flowed behind models’ backs. “In the logic of contradiction, the superfluous looks essential, as the act of adding mirrors the gesture of taking away,” the brand suggests.

AW26 brought the MM6 Maison Margiela audience straight to Milan’s Centrale train station, where the label recreated archetypes found within the building’s arrivals and departures section on the runway. Together, this cast of characters appeared plucked from the 80s, with thick knits and oversized collars rising halfway up models’ faces, graphic quarter-zips, and leather jackets printed to mimic acid-washed denim. Elsewhere appeared nods to equestrian style, with worn-in, horse-printed t-shirts, plaid button-ups and skirts, and knee-high riding boots – all of which we wouldn’t be surprised to see across Bella Hadid’s photo dumps in the coming months. Topping off the looks as usual, the models’ eyes were shielded by dark, wrap-around sunglasses. Although it was the just-undone details throughout the collection – from double-layered jeans left unbuttoned to jackets shrugged off one shoulder and folded up at the hemline – which brought the rushed train station personalities from the theme to life.

For its tenth anniversary as a brand, GCDS presented what very well might be the most ludicrously capacious bag in fashion week history. Blowing up a shopping tote and matcha to giant, floor-to-ceiling proportions in the showspace, the Italian label showcased its aptly titled AW26 offering: What’s in My Bag?. Turns out, the haul in question was the models themselves, who entered and exited from the massive sculpture in the new collection – a series of early 00s-inspired looks, from girlish corseted mini-dresses to low-slung sweats and slinky sequinned numbers – all as “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus blared in the background. The brand also rolled out a new collaboration with Bratz, featuring two looks from the runway. While it may have been a fashion spectacle, creative director Giuliano Calza assures that the show is not supposed to be a meme. “It’s about opening the bag that holds ten years of my world, and showing what’s inside,” he explains in the shownotes. “[It’s] the culture, the humour, the established silhouettes, and iconic designs that have made GCDS what it is.”

Another season, another A-list guest riling up the Dolce & Gabbana audience pre-show. Last season, guests got to watch Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci take their seats in character for The Devil Wears Prada 2 – coincidentally, placed just across the catwalk from Anna Wintour, herself. This time around, the crowd erupted in applause as Madonna received a VIP escort to her spot in the front row, signalling for the show to commence. This year marked 40 years at the historic Italian fashion house for Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana – and to celebrate, the designers dialled into what makes the brand what it is. According to a statement from the designers, the house codes are pretty simple: “Sicily as emotion, black as strength, lace as intimacy, tailoring as authority, a vision where femininity and masculinity are in constant dialogue, where the body is not hidden but affirmed.” On the runway, these brand staples were brought to life for a modern era. Black fur coats dripped with crystal embellishment, sultry lace dresses dipped down, far below the models’ necklines, and all-black suiting found reinvention through sharp, subversive tailoring. Madonna approved? Based on the Instagram reel she posted strutting to a “Gimme More” x Miranda Priestly remix in a D&G corset on show day, we think so.

Akin to Jil Sander, Tokyo James’ AW26 collection, Harmony, sought to capture the complex intersection of “opposing forces”. During the independent Nigerian brand’s show, strength and softness, clarity and emotion, and texture and simplicity were all at play. Sheer, airy shirting flowed underneath structural beadwork and was paired with recycled leather trousers, woven into a fringe. Sharp-tailored suiting came cut from sunny yellow fabrics and paired with voluminous, wrap-around scarves, adding a sense of “clarity and optimism” to an otherwise neutral collection. Neat tweed sets were flipped inside-out, revealing messy, splayed-out edges and a see-through white lining that blurred the fabric’s pattern underneath. In the shownotes, the brand highlights the intention behind each clash found on the runway. “Harmony proposes a modern way of dressing that acknowledges complexity without surrendering to it,” they explain. “Form and feeling exist side-by-side, not in conflict but in conversation. The result is composed, intentional, and quietly assured.”

This season, Simon Cracker set out to democratise fashion for aunts and uncles everywhere. Beyond drawing inspiration from the “archive of style” he observes among aunts across Italy – and literally sitting down with generations of women in his own family to discuss what being “chic” means to them – creative director Simone Botte announced that future collections will include pieces designed for people with “ordinary” incomes. “Clothes should be worn in everyday life, not just remain on catwalks or be worn by celebrities who often don’t even buy them,” read the show notes. “Mrs. Pina also flips through fashion magazines at the hairdresser’s – why shouldn’t she be able to access those fabulous garments too?”

According to the AW26 offering, that accessibility might look like long-sleeved scrawls with “REALLY DIRTY” in Sharpie, leather “bow skirts” inspired by folded candy wrappers – recalling early Miuccia Prada runways – and upcycled furs patchworked into sweeping “king’s cloaks”, each shaped by Botte’s signature grungy, rave-ready POV.

If there’s one thing Avavav knows, it’s how to put on a show – particularly, one that asks its spectators to question the way we run things in the fashion industry. Rewind to SS26, and see creative director Beate Karlsson plop models into a frenzied, bankrupted outlet shop, mocking fashion’s constant scramble for newness. Look further back to AW24, where Karlsson prompted audience members to throw food and rubbish at models as a way to demonstrate the hate that fashion brands receive online. This season, to no surprise, the Swedish label launched its latest piece of performance art, flipping its AW26 show on its audience. Entering the showspace single-file, guests walked down the runway while models – dressed in skirt-trouser suiting, trash-stuffed bras, and cropped polos – stared back as spectators. “Growing up, I learned what femininity was supposed to look like through images that were already decided for me,” Karlsson says on Instagram, explaining the story behind the concept. “For this collection, I tried to look at women the way women look at each other – with curiosity, admiration, and sometimes even desire, but without the need to be perfect or simplify.” As the fashion crowd laid its eyes on Avavav’s audience of models, “imperfections” reshaped into attention-grabbing accessories took centre stage: claw-like, skin-tight toe heels, rib cage-like stamped onto tops, down-turned eyeglasses, and alien-like shapewear.