In uncertain times, we tend to crave familiarity. It's the overarching sentiment emerging from Milan Men’s Fashion Week, which wraps up in Italy tomorrow.
The shows point to a clear shift towards comfort, ease and wearability, with clothes conceived as layers – to protect, encase and cocoon the body.
It is early in the season and as Milan gives way to Paris, other ideas will surface. But for now, there is a palpable sense that with many parts of the world in the midst of strife and unpleasantness, at least our clothes can offer closeness and care.
Pared-back silhouettes at Prada
At Prada, co-designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons frame their autumn/winter 2026 collection as “evolution without erasure”: new ideas threaded through the familiar. It is a neat distillation of a broader mood – a growing desire for stability and predictability in an increasingly volatile world.
That idea translates most clearly into a pared-back silhouette. Slim, single-breasted wool coats fall below the knee, their high-set pockets borrowing the comfort of a bomber and the authority of an overcoat. The same line appears in two-tone trench coats, updated with colour-blocked storm-flap capes across the shoulders.
Balancing this precision is an intentionally undone note. Belts are tied rather than buckled, hats are worn askew, loose cuffs spill from sleeves. And amid chocolate leather puffers and tweed trousers come quieter, telling details: low, square necklines beneath tailoring, and a knit printed with soft-focus flowers – like those on a chocolate box – the sartorial equivalent of a grandmother’s embrace.
Cocooning at Qasimi
The Sharjah–London brand offers its own vision of protection, leaning into excess cloth and gestures that border on swaddling.
In shades of green, dark grey, caramel and deep mulberry, extra lengths of fabric run throughout the collection – looped over heads, piled on to shoulders, or wrapped tightly around the body. A heavy twill jacket folds its surplus cloth back into the lapel; a streetwear-leaning shirt and trouser look carries a strip of painted canvas slung over one shoulder. A brushed wool longline coat is cinched with matching fabric coiled around the torso like an obi, while corduroy trousers and a collarless shirt arrive bundled in a tricolour varsity scarf. Elsewhere, a seersucker top comes with its own half-cape.
Moving fluidly from streetwear to something far more pared-back, the collection draws on a wide cultural vocabulary – from Emirati thobes and Roman togas to Japanese obis and the cloth wraps used to carry children across East and West Africa.
Fuss-free styles at Zegna
Nostalgia surfaces at Zegna too, conveyed through a set that resembles a wardrobe – the sort where cherished heirlooms are quietly rediscovered. If Prada went slim, Zegna goes loose, introducing a considered sense of roominess.
Pleated trousers run a touch long, breaking casually over suede slippers and moccasins, while fuss-free coats and jackets are stripped back to the bare minimum: single-breasted styles with one button, double-breasted with just two.
As ever, the strength lays in the fabrics, here handled with an easy confidence. A grey twill jacket is paired with puppy-tooth trousers; a waffle-knit collared jumper sits alongside washed denim; a flecked Donegal tweed coat is worn over a cashmere suit.
This is unhurried luxury, expressed through unexpected pairings – a cable-knit jumper with a puppy-tooth scarf, or a belted cashmere jacket worn collar-up to reveal its stitched suede lining.
Youthful Americana at Ralph Lauren
Showing its Purple Label and Polo Ralph Lauren autumn 2026 collections, Ralph Lauren makes a rare Milan appearance, clearly courting a younger audience.
With bold colour and punchy graphics – sand-coloured jeans stamped with “Ralph” down one leg – the show leans decisively towards street style. Rooted in the brand’s enduring Americana, it proposes a breezy, low-effort way of dressing.
The opening look sets the tone: a lilac-and-marigold rugby shirt with leaf-print jeans, hinting at a new kind of urban camouflage. Elsewhere, a three-piece Harris tweed suit is relaxed with a baseball cap and trousers tucked into snow boots. A windowpane tweed jacket sits beneath a padded green layer, paired with glossy pin-cord trousers and monk-strap suede loafers, while a distressed leather biker jacket is thrown over a tweed waistcoat and trousers.
The contrasts grow bolder – a red Royal Stewart tartan jacket with a bow-tie and Victorian opera cape and even a black velvet double-breasted suit topped with a Stetson. Old and new collide with ease, mixing contemporary styling with garments our great-grandfathers would recognise. It feels youthful, relaxed and confident – a celebration of Ralph Lauren’s mix-and-match moment.
Studied cool at Paul Smith
Also leaning into a studied casualness is Paul Smith, the elder statesman of British fashion. A master tailor by trade, Smith's clothes here are looser, less restrictive and worn with a lighter touch. The opening look pairs a roomy double-breasted grey jacket with black trousers and pointed, cowboy-style boots. Elsewhere, a suit jacket is turned inside out to reveal its pockets, vents and seams, worn with relaxed black jeans, while a glossy leather shirt slips beneath a more formal jacket.
Workwear motifs are gently subverted. A pinstripe shirt appears marked with biro-like scribbles. A jacket carries oversized applique florals along one flank; worn with jeans, the look is finished with a dress shirt stripped of its detachable collar.
Flecked twill wool is cut into sweeping greatcoats, cosy knits come knotted around shoulders, and bucket hats are pinned up with jewellery for a note of deliberate imperfection. More jewellery appears on lapels, tying together a collection that revels in deconstructed workwear.
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