A mix of confident classics and big-time sensuality take over Milan’s runways | Canada Voices

While the idea of emotionally intelligent clothes may sound farfetched to some, Fendi’s new chief creative officer, Maria Grazia Chiuri, makes a persuasive case for them.

Before the label’s first Fall 2026 look crossed the runway – a black dress with a wave print layered beneath a sharp black jacket – insiders understood that Chiuri’s return to Fendi would be a comeback for the books (the designer first joined the Italian fashion house in 1989, before moving to Valentino a decade later). Some Canadians may recognize Chiuri’s name from Celine Dion’s triumphant – and exquisitely elegant – return to the stage at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Perched atop the Eiffel Tower, the Québécois singer shimmered in a white silk georgette gown by the designer, which was painstakingly embroidered over more than 1,000 hours with luminescent beads. It was less a dress than a declaration.

Fendi’s latest offerings – fine lace cocktail dresses, a velvet suit with a brown leather deep V-neck – provided insight into why Chiuri was the one woman able to shatter the bejewelled glass ceiling at Dior, becoming the house’s first female creative director in its 75-year history in 2016. Her tenure was a far cry from Jonathan Anderson’s current direction. While the Northern Irish designer’s Dior is awash with theatrical flourishes such as pirate sleeves and pear-shaped gowns, Chiuri is known for channelling couture techniques without the overstatement. The result is highly considered clothing: pieces that move with women on the move.

Save for pops of red (in a sleek upgrade to an evening slip dress), yellow (in a leather jacket) and cocktail dresses in cream and beige, there were few tributes to Chiuri’s predecessor, Silvia Fendi, who stepped down last year. In fact, Chiuri pretty much did away with the colour wheel altogether. Instead, the designer treated black as a mood changer, using embroidery, sheer fabrics and gorgeous silk to deliver a message that she articulated in an accompanying essay: “The collection is a map of a personal geography, in which clothes are encounters, moments, interests, exchanges.”

The jewellery, a collaboration with artist Mirella Bentivoglio that Chiuri calls “verbal objects,” is similarly meant to evoke and provoke. Fittingly, actors known for their emotional intensity were in the audience (and sparked a preshow frenzy): Monica Bellucci, Valeria Golino, Uma Thurman.

Chiuri first joined Fendi’s accessories design group at 24 before heading to Valentino, and then later to Dior. It was at Fendi where the designer developed the now-iconic Baguette bag (which makes a modern return to the fall runway in animal print). A soon-to-be-released documentary about the legendary Vogue editor Franca Sozzani – a hot-ticket screening at the Fondazione Sozzani last week – articulates Chiuri’s influence. She was the one who persuaded the famously purse-averse Sozzani to carry a functional, dark leather bag inset with mirror pieces.

Emporio Armani’s presentation opened with a recalibrated take on the late designer’s “greige” – a shade that blends grey and beige – obsession. Wool suits and coats, cut looser than in years past, flooded the runway. Patterns such as check, herringbone, houndstooth on lapels and vest buttons read like an appreciation post to the house founder. Emerald and purple faux fur and a duo of fringe-trimmed dresses sliced through the beige. The show closed, crisply, with white shirts and shirt dresses.

In sharper contrast were Gucci and Blumarine, both evoking an afterparty vibe – Gucci circa 2004 and Blumarine circa 1995. Gucci’s punchiest looks included men’s skin-tight tops – the kind that have been worn to circuit parties in Fort Lauderdale since the early 2000s – women’s low-waisted gold bootcut pants, hip-clinging mirrorball trousers and bodycon mini-dresses.

Blumarine, meanwhile, swung from high to low. One minute, a couture-adjacent red sheer lace gown with a train. The next, a club kid fever dream with metal chain cage bras, shimmering ’90s bell bottoms and a Cruella-meets-rave harlequin stole that had front-rowers on their feet.

Perhaps this was all foreplay for Roberto Cavalli’s lingerie and lace showcase, topped off with an appearance by Megan Thee Stallion. The Body singer arrived in an unapologetically naked dress with peekaboo underpinnings, and while some international press didn’t cover the NSFW look, Italian media seemed thrilled someone finally understood that fashion in Italy is about big business and big-time sensuality.