8 Season-Defining Fall Trends The Milan Shows Just Surprised Us With

Now that the style set has packed up its things and headed to Paris to close out fashion month, let’s sit down and discuss everything we just saw at Milan Fashion Week for the fall/winter 2024 season. Buckle up—the Italian houses gave us so much to talk about. This is a fashion week that’s historically much more predictable than its counterparts in NYC and Paris, but with a new class of creative directors at the helm of many established houses and an influx of new labels on the scene, Milan is proving to have a strong It factor up its sleeve.

This season introduced us to the new era of Gucci with the debut collection from Creative Director Sabato De Sarno, and while the opinions are split on old versus new Gucci, it marks a refreshing new chapter in Milanese fashion along with the exciting rebrands that Maximilian Davis and Matthieu Blazy are doing at Ferragamo and Bottega Veneta respectively. The first looks at fall 2024 are already exciting us, and below, you’ll find the eight most important trends to know about now. 

Hunting Season

Things may be heating up in the red department, but the Milan shows just surprised us with a slew of hunter green looks that have serious potential to become fall’s big color trend. Deep olive tones popped up all over the map from Bottega Veneta where marled wool outerwear was painted in the earthy color to the sleek accessories Ferragamo offered up, including its famed Hug bag in a new taupe-ish colorway. The rise of these grounding earth tones and the wearable, utilitarian looks they featured on are an indication that designers are returning to more realistic wardrobing this fall.

Shop

Swan Song

The spring collections ushered in the return of elegant 1950s and ’60s style and now Italian designers are crystallizing their vision of the modern-day swan in their fall collections, notably via Prada’s fur stoles and Gucci’s swingy A-line coats. High-society ladies like CZ Guest and Lee Radziwill as they’re featured in FX’s Capote V. The Swans are no doubt the blueprint for this era of retro glamour and opulence that we’re stepping into.

Shop

Taking Shape

Suiting is nothing new, but the looks this week marked a notable shift in the way we’re all going to be wearing our blazers and trousers. Instead of boxy, oversized silhouettes, designers in Milan experimented with hourglass shapes that combined nipped-in waists with flared hips. Jil Sander’s interpretations were especially exciting with both hourglass blazers and tunics married to relaxed trousers for a cool dress-over-pants idea.

Shop

Knits Gone Rogue

Something very curious is happening with sweaters. All across the Italian runways were freaky knits thrown about in every which way. At Fendi, chunky knits were tossed only over the shoulders while at Tod’s, a simple cardigan got an upgrade with heavy layering and they eschew any notion of a traditional sweater because wearing one as it was intended is so… last season.

Shop

Glamorous Gloves

Despite the thousands of miles that separate designers in New York from their peers in Milan, the two still managed to be in sync on a number of fall styling ideas. The importance of adding a pair of leather gloves to an outfit was one such moment of telepathy between the two cities, and one we only expect to keep snowballing when the shows move on to Paris.

Shop

Animal Instincts

Call it the Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy effect, but the influence of the late style icon has hardly wavered in the decades since she graced New York with her minimalist street style. Her loyalty to leopard print was especially memorable and this season, designers paid homage via animal printed classics like pea coats and layering tops.

Shop

Coming Undone

The overall mood this season is grown-up and mature, and one way that designers investigated the discerning woman’s wardrobe was through the idea of the undone. They took elements that are usually hidden underneath a polished ensemble, be it a garter belt, the clasps of a bodysuit, or delicate underpinnings, and put them on display to elevate these mundane outfit details to new heights.

Shop

Cape Town

Speaking of swan style, the shows in Milan also resurfaced another piece in a distinguished wardrobe: the cape gown. Models walked with trails of fabric floating behind them and beautiful draping at the shoulders that create an ultra-sophisticated effect.

Shop