Dolce & Gabbana to Prada: Best looks from Milan Fashion Week Men's A/W 2023

Milan is ready to party, with menswear shows for next spring and winter focused on nighttime tailoring with playful accents. Think sparkles and glitter, fun silhouettes that invite shadow dancing, and sexy peeks at skin with tailoring tricks once reserved for the female wardrobe.

Staying true to their heritage, D&G Men’s Fashion Show Essenza was a pure vision of the brand’s traditions dresses the man with elegance, precision and sensuality. Long overcoats or dramatic capes will get you to the club door. Inside, men’s corsetry, obi belts and cummerbunds cinch the waist, a silhouette that is mimicked in the dramatic hourglass tailoring of coats and jackets with curved waistlines and broad shoulders. A strobe light picks up the sparkles and glitter on garments, and sheer tops and muscle knitwear show off physiques.

The Fendi collection for next winter flashes skin in ways once reserved for women. One shoulder tops — both knit and button down – bare skin to give sexy drama to the looks. Knitwear was super sheer, barely there. A little layering restored some modesty, for the office, but could easily be undone for an evening transition. Long coats incorporated a wrap-around asymmetrical cape, a tailoring trick mimicked in trousers with a wraparound one-sided skirt. The effect was cozy and enveloping, offering a cocoon as we venture back out into the world.

JW Anderson made us realise that the fall 2023 is going to be all about staying in bed with its pillow and blankets. Jonathan Anderson came up with a collection that broke all gender norms.

Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, the label of the self-proclaimed club kid and Scottish-born designer Charles Jeffrey, brought joy to the Milan runway with fanciful storytelling though knitwear, kilting and prints. Jeffrey presented his “Engine Room” collection through three subcultures in a mythical floating city: workers, whose toil keeps the city aloft; posers, or former workers who now bask in luxury; and snakes, aka, the media. While other brands hewed toward the minimal, Jeffrey went maximal, with a focus on sartorial details and an explosion of color.

The ceiling on the darkened Prada showroom rose to reveal industrial chandeliers as the first looks appeared on the runway: tailored, slightly blocky suit jackets with sharp, wing-like collars that flapped gently with each step, secured and cushioned by just a wisp of colorful knitwear. The collars, reminiscent of the 1930s or ’70s and in retro geometric prints, gave a romantic touch to an otherwise spare and cleansing collection by co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons.