Soft Tailoring and Heritage Shine at Milan Men’s Fashion Week Fall 2026

In Milan, soft tailoring reflected Italy’s heritage and brands for fall offered novelty while emphasizing their strengths and expertise.

Boglioli paid tribute to Milan, nodding to its different districts and portraying its fall 2026 collection in landmark spots across the city. Even more than the images, it was the laid-back elegance and polished color palette imbued in the range to evoke the Milanese discreet charm. 

Cue the sage cashmere blazer jacket or a handsome double-breasted suit in mauve, which was paired with a matching mouliné cashmere crewneck sweater and layered with a dove gray wool coat in a look that is sure to stand out for all the right reasons. These include the high-end fabrications Boglioli always relies on, which range from regenerated cashmere to lightweight flannels. They add to the incessant commitment in evolving its tailoring with versatility in mind, as seen in the new Manin double-breasted jackets and the more casual Treves alternative inspired to safari jackets.

In a collection evocatively titled “Personas,” Pal Zileri played with different takes on men’s fashion archetypes, expressing the interplay between its sartorial heritage and a more casual and modern attitude. As result, the brand went beyond the idea of power suit, evolving its proposition into a “power casual” wardrobe and therefore flanking its signature tailoring with chunky knits, corduroy field jackets and functional outerwear. Its distinctive suits were here imbued with a relaxed vibe, magnified by tonal combinations and easy yet effective styling choices, like trading classic shirts for flimsy turtlenecks.

Italian composer and singer Lucio Dalla and his love for Naples infused the fall collection Gianluca Isaia presented at the Portrait Hotel. The “Lucio” jacket, fully deconstructed in exclusive fabrics, with the Donegal herringbone cashmere coat and cap that paid tribute to the artist and his style.  
Another strong item was the varsity bomber, crafted in double cashmere and quilted, or in an alpaca version finished with napa leather details.

Sleek, tailored menswear-inspired pantsuits were offered for women in fluid yet structured silhouettes and in bold color pairings: red and camel with animalier accents, navy and vicuña, derby green and turquoise. They were worn over silk shirts and under oversized coats.

There was also a strong offer of weekender bags and backpacks in fine calfskin or nubuck and the women’s “Claudia” top-handle bag in calfskin or crocodile debuted for fall.

Lardini played a safer game, answering demand for newness that avoids risk-taking. Intended as a versatile wardrobe with key pieces that stand the test of time, the collection was rich in suit separates and deconstructed blazers, including a handsome mandarin-collared number crafted from cashmere double. Many of the same heritage fabrics — such as gauged flannels or carded wool — were employed for multiple pieces including suits, casual blousons and trenchcoats.

“We want this to be timeless, retrieving the idea that children could one day open their parents’ wardrobe and find pieces to wear. It’s a culture that needs to be rediscovered, as we’ve somewhat lost it,” said creative director Luigi Lardini.

Cesare Attolini made a trip down memory lane looking at its founder Vincenzo Attolini, who infused an effortless, laid-back Neapolitan sensibility into British tailoring in the ‘30s by plying heritage fabrics into drop-shouldered deconstructed blazers.

Retrieving the silhouette championed almost a century ago in checks and windowpane motifs or colorful houndstooth, softening the shape of sartorial pants, adding peacoats and topcoats in vintage fabrics that had been sitting at the brand’s factory for as long as 30 years, and adding texture via tactile knits in mouliné yarns, the collection — rich in layering — provided a soft-spoken, but uber luxe take on contemporary tailoring.

In an imaginary trip Venice to London, Slowear’s fall collection also offered novelty, and at times dandy, interpretations of heritage British tailoring, for example combining herringbone and checkered motifs for slim sartorial pants or houndstooth and Prince of Wales patterns for a standout double-breasted blazer with golden buttons, styled with lean black pants and a matching scarf.

There were more iterations of suit separates, with Donegal blazers paired with micro-corduroy pants, while full suits were updated by ditching the blazer in favor of shirt jackets. The latter were also the subject of a capsule collection with Italian outerwear specialist Paltò.

Reuniting all its brands — which include Incotex, Zanone, Glanshirt and Montedoro — under a single label is paying off, said Slowear’s chief executive officer Piero Braga, who forecast 2026 to be a year of transition, and still complex, for the industry. The brand has been growing its footprint in Europe with corners at KaDeWe in Berlin, Illum in Copenhagen and Le Bon Marchè in Paris and is looking at stepping up its game in the U.S., which Braga described as a relevant and well-performing market, net of the Saks Global bankruptcy. Slowear will be among the exhibitors at the upcoming edition of the Chicago Collective menswear trade show and will open a temporary shop-in-shop at Bloomingdale’s.

For the first collection designed by its in-house team after the exit of Norbert Stumpfl, Brioni took an imaginary and romantic “grand tour” through the locations closely associated with the brand. Rome for example, was reflected by colors reminiscent of the city’s warm sunsets and the monuments’ stones. The lightness of the precious fabrics, from vicuña and cashmere to wool, silk, and cotton, and its double fabrics remained Brioni signatures.

The formal and informal worlds complemented one another as seen in the business suit tempered by a field jacket and a knitted tie, or in the tailored looks paired with denim.

Crisp shirts or fine cashmere knits were worn under double-breasted suits and relaxed deconstructed pants. Checkered coats, field jackets, cozy puffers, and chunky cardigan jackets were also key to the lineup.