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THURSDAY NEWSLETTER FROM ANDREA BATILLA

MILANO MEN’S FASHION WEEK JANUARY 2025

Men’s fashion is more cryptic than women’s fashion. Its language is built on codes shaped by at least two centuries of rigid rules, only recently challenged, rethought and, in a word, changed. This is a slow and lengthy process, marked by sudden leaps forward and reactionary slowdowns, as the male cultural territory is not predisposed to change. On the contrary, it is anthropologically based on the idea of unshakable solidity.

The perpetual yet unrealized trope of men wearing skirts is precisely that: unrealized. Masculinity as a category, has the ability to self-restrict but not self-expand. It’s easier and more socially acceptable for men to refrain from smiling, avoid standing out, not overdo things and resist change than the opposite. It’s easier to comply, accept, follow and remain silent than to rejoice, be passionate, kick in the air or cry. For a man.

According to the World Health Organization, of the 3,780 suicides recorded in Italy in 2016 (the latest available data) 78.8% were men. This figure is consistent across Europe and the United States. There is a widespread phenomenon of social masking where depressive symptoms, though present, remain unexpressed, unshared and untreated.

It’s like living in an iron suit, impossible to shed without risk of being burned or worse, of dying.

This is why it’s interesting, albeit complex, to analyze the changes in men’s fashion, as they reflect the sociological shifts within the concept of masculinity itself, assuming, of course, that this principle can indeed be changed.

EMPORIO ARMANI / GIORGIO ARMANI

If we set aside the severe editing problem (111 and 113 looks would tire out even an elephant), the Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani shows were the most successful of this Milanese fashion week dedicated to men’s fashion.

This relaxed, layered, soft and deconstructed way of dressing resonates deeply with the present moment and with the ongoing struggle men face to find freedom.

Even though the brand became famous in the 1980s for dressing a class of ambitious, career-driven men known as yuppies, "Gorgeous Giorgio" has always represented an ethical approach to work. He created an aesthetic where the male body is not hidden but subtly revealed through the folds of deconstructed garments, complete with its imperfections and strengths.

Today, this type of thinking and aesthetic once again captures the state of things.

Unlike what happens more and more on TikTok, at Giorgio Armani there’s no display, no assertion of power and no contrived declaration of masculinity in the 19th-century sense of the word. In fact, there’s nothing 19th-century about it at all. For Armani, masculinity is a fluid, adaptable category that never slips into caricature or femininity but has rejected macho stereotypes since the days of Richard Gere in American Gigolo.

It’s powerful clothing without being aggressive, elegant without constructing artificial, exaggerated or counterfeit identities.

Observing Armani’s work today, even retrospectively, is often more interesting than sitting front row at any emerging designer’s show with little to say. Giorgio is, in fact, the inventor, or rediscoverer, of a way of designing men’s clothing that tells an intimate story rather than a superficial one.

The real problem, which is also the problem of contemporary fashion in general, is that all of this barely exists in reality. A quick glance at the Emporio and Armani websites reveals a stark merchandising concept: there’s no intelligent editing of the runway collections, just a monotonous repetition of shamelessly commercial bestsellers.

The clear, intelligent message of the shows doesn’t reach the end consumer, who is offered slim-fit blazers and tight trousers like the ones seen during lunch breaks outside multinational offices.

It’s a shame that Armani, as a brand, can no longer connect with its buyers or potential customers, remaining stuck in outdated commercial dynamics that fail to help men find new ways to represent themselves. When there will be a change at the helm, hopefully not for a long time, the new creative director will inherit a treasure trove with immense potential for fresh narratives.

ZEGNA

At Zegna, the alignment between Alessandro Sartori’s vision for the brand and what’s actually available for purchase is much clearer. A deep transformation has shifted the brand from dull classicism to a space where building something new is possible and change feels credible.

In one of his most accomplished collections, Sartori delved deeper than ever before, likely reaching the essence of his creative journey.

The usual rational, cold precision of his collections and the Biellese rigor embedded in the brand’s DNA were softened this time, presented in a seemingly casual way. John Turturro looked like he had thrown on the first things he found in his closet, including a couple of wrinkled shirts layered together. Even the other models, with their intellectual, disheveled faces and hands in their pockets, seemed content to have no convictions or goals. Thankfully.

Then there were the materials, the fabrics, that spoke a new language. Tartan, checks, houndstooth and Prince of Wales patterns introduced a romantic element that would have appealed to Leonard Woolf, Virginia’s husband and a great lover of tweed gardening uniforms.

This aesthetic is rooted in the 1930s but remains central to fashion conversations today, thanks to Giorgio Armani’s work on the male silhouette in the 1980s, as mentioned earlier.

At Zegna, there’s a conviction in what they’re doing and the fact that they’re doing it from Biella, a bastion of male conservatism, makes it even more compelling. Sartori is reactivating a language that has been dormant for at least a century, precisely at a time when, unfortunately, the winds are blowing in the opposite direction.