This season’s menswear shows were filled with a free-spirited mood, with designers embracing the ‘irrational’ and eccentric to present colorful, experimental collections. Florence, Milan and Paris It was a collection that captured the uplifting energy of summer. Indeed, designers from Rick Owens to Rei Kawakubo, Sabato de Sarno to Miuccia Prada to Raf Simons, spoke of a tentative, yet palpable, shift towards hope and optimism. “I want some light, even if it’s just a little,” Kawakubo said, while Owens called the runway cast of several hundred a “white satin army of love.” Meanwhile, the looming Paris Olympics and its message of global unity and personal resilience were inescapable, with the city transformed in preparation as a backdrop for the menswear and haute couture shows that followed.
Recent seasons have seen a shift towards quiet, understated luxury, resulting in collections that have often played undeniably safe, but thanks to blockbuster shows from the likes of Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton, men’s fashion month feels refreshed and re-emerged, erasing any signs of its demise. Here, we take a closer look at the Spring/Summer 2025 menswear shows, from “irrational” clothes to couture-level craftsmanship and fresh takes on tailoring.
Nothing was as it seemed
Prada’s Spring/Summer 2025 menswear show featured dreamy details such as trompe l’oeil velvet.
(Image courtesy of Prada)
“Truth and falsehood, reality and unreality.” Thus began the Prada collection, where Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons urged the viewer to look closer, to “question our perceived reality, to rethink, to see things more closely.” Presented in a “fairytale-like, frenzied landscape” where models emerged from a dizzying white shed, techno music blaring before the show, the collection was a collection of illusions, from belts set on trousers to trompe l’oeil Breton striped T-shirts to trousers that appeared to be made from tailored wool but were in fact printed cotton. Elsewhere, shirts were made as single garments, worn under sweaters and cardigans. “From a distance, the pieces can pretend to be something else,” the designers said. “The details may seem simple and rustic, but when you see them up close and physically, your perception changes.” It was messy fashion in a messy time, where things weren’t even guaranteed to look real. (Just before Men’s Fashion Month, Meta introduced a label on Instagram and Facebook to tag “AI-created” images.) Trompe-l’oeil appeared throughout the season: at Acne Studios, denim was printed with plastic chains, layered belts or rips and tears, and at Loewe, what looked like cable-knit sweaters were actually hand-painted fabrics. “Things are not as they seem,” said creative director Jonathan Anderson.
Designers embraced irrationality
A Guinness-emblazoned sweater from JW Anderson’s “Irrational” Spring/Summer 2025 collection
(Image courtesy of JW Anderson)
Indeed, earlier this month in Milan, the Northern Irish designer presented a similarly dreamy collection for his eponymous label, JW Anderson. “Irrational clothes,” he described, and said it was inspired by the free association technique of hypnotherapy. (“Breathe in. Exhale. Dreamy? A bit delirious?” the notes read.) It was a typically idiosyncratic outing, from giant knitted house coats to Guinness-emblazoned knitwear and colorful protuberances of fabric. Its liberating mood was drawn in part from the young crowd he saw at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival. “The younger generation’s experimentalism with clothes is incredible,” he said. “The perspective on menswear and womenswear has changed. People want something really provocative.”
This aspiration was echoed throughout the season, with menswear designers eschewing the notion of “quiet luxury.” Martine Rose, showing in Milan for the first time this season, adorned her gaiter with prosthetic noses and tangled wigs, while at Rick Owens (arguably the season’s highlight), the designer staged a Hollywood epic in the Palais de Tokyo forecourt, where a “white satin army of love” of several hundred people marched in a variety of eye-catching looks, from monastic hooded gowns and ladder-shaped jersey bodysuits to sculptural capes made from dusty gold Japanese denim (a technique Owens jokingly described as “megacrust”). The captivating spectacle was a celebration of fashion’s liberating spirit, which Owens likened to running away from his hometown of Porterville, California, for Hollywood.[It was] I ran joyfully to the avenue of vice in search of my companions. [the] Weirdos and weirdos.
The craft was couture level.
Intricate metal chainmail and shell-adorned tabard tops were part of Jonathan Anderson’s worship of craft for Loewe’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection.
(Image courtesy of Loewe)
Previewing his latest Dior men’s collection, inspired by South African ceramicist Hilton Nel, Kim Jones noted a growing consumer desire for the completely one-of-a-kind. “People want things that nobody else has,” he said. It was one of the reasons he presented his first men’s-only couture collection last season, and while there were no official couture pieces in his Spring/Summer 2025 show in Paris (he says he only makes one couture collection a year), one particular jacket took more than 600 hours of hand embroidery to complete. A similar reverence for craft is apparent at Loewe, where intricate tabard-style tops are made from woven metal and delicate pieces of shell, evocative of an extraordinary “caviar” beaded piece from his Autumn/Winter 2024 womenswear collection, each of thousands of tiny beads hand-embroidered. Equally seductive was the simplicity of Norbert Stampfl’s latest collection for Brioni, shown in the tranquil gardens of Milan’s 18th-century Palazzo Borromeo d’Adda. The ongoing quest for lightness that has characterized his tenure at the Italian house was embodied in the collection’s materials, which ranged from feather-light wools to supple perforated leathers to airy vicuña knits. But it was the eveningwear that stood out the most: a double-breasted dinner jacket embroidered with 10,000 baguette beads, each hand-knotted with silk thread.
But a sliver of reality remained.
Ryota Iwai celebrates the joy of real clothes in the AURALEE 2025 Spring/Summer collection
(Image courtesy of Auralee)
The craze for “quiet luxury” has softened in recent months, but there remains a desire for the pleasures inherent in real clothing. A prime example in Paris was Auralee, Ryota Iwai’s Tokyo-based label, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. It was a relatively ordinary collection — no tricks here, just sweaters and jeans — but it was incredibly appealing, the kind of collection that made you want to throw out your entire wardrobe and start over. That was down to Iwai’s rigorous yet simple approach, where tactile, meticulously sourced fabrics (Peruvian alpaca, Mongolian cashmere, New Zealand wool, Indian cotton) met with a subtle, considered palette (pale greens, reds, buttercup yellows this season) that was never boring. “People put a lot of pressure on their clothes, and maybe they want to make a big statement, but I’m interested in smaller changes that highlight something about the wearer,” Iwai told Wallpaper* before the show.
There is nothing ordinary at Hermès. But despite Véronique Nichanian’s dedication to painstaking craftsmanship and truly luxurious production, her collections have a utterly carefree, wearable feel. This season, she said she wanted to evoke a “sweet summer,” and, as always, there were plenty of down-to-earth clothes here. Airy oxford shirts, blouson jackets, and bowling-style knits in a palette of blue and pale pink would work with any man’s wardrobe. The same goes for Dries Van Noten, who has made a career out of infusing everyday life with languid romance. Earlier this year, Van Noten announced he was leaving his eponymous brand after 38 years, but his final show was a celebration of that, presenting a final collection that captured the designer’s unique sense of color and touch. So, he will be missed. “This is my 129th show, and like my previous ones, it’s looking to the future. “Tonight means a lot, but it’s not a grand finale,” he said. “To create is to leave something that lives on”
There is still room for improvement in suits
The stripped-down riff on suiting was presented as part of Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection.
(Image courtesy of Gucci)
Every season, the suit feels like it has a mandate: double-breasted or single-breasted, narrow or full, ankle-length or cinched-in (so suits are often seen as emblematic of the season’s mood). But for Spring/Summer 2025, there was little agreement other than that the suit is still open to reinvention; every designer has worked on it in their own distinctive way. At Loewe, the show opened with razor-sharp black tailoring that recalled the uniforms of security guards and gallery attendants. “It’s my interpretation of precision,” said the designer, citing the “single” creative vision of figures like Paul Thek, Peter Hujar and Susan Sontag, whose work filled the show space. But even here, there was an illusion at work: a woven silk mohair fabric designed to retain its shape with an almost spongy finish. “These are [that] “It’s incredibly difficult to do, but when you see it, it makes it seem effortless,” he said.
A different kind of experiment was taking place at Junya Watanabe, where classic wool tailoring was spliced with denim fabrics in an interesting hybrid, an ode to denim. Meanwhile, at fellow Japanese label Comme des Garçons, Rei Kawakubo’s Homme Plus collection included plenty of the designer’s intelligently cut tailored pieces, such as slashed tailored jackets with ruffled collars and jackets that revealed glimpses of vibrantly colored linings. Colour was equally vibrant at Issey Miyake Homme Plisse, where double-breasted blazers, waistcoats and ties were made with the label’s signature lightweight knife pleats in vibrant shades of green, orange and blue. Completely wrinkle-resistant and with a loose, stretchy silhouette, they’re sure to be comfortable and will come in handy next summer. And for those brave enough, there will also be Gucci’s super-shortened tailored shorts. It’s part of the youthful Spring/Summer 2025 collection, which creative director Sabato de Sarno describes as “freedom, energy, [and] The surfing “community”.
Sportswear got a boost from the Olympics
(Image provided by Louis Vuitton)
Even the most sports-indifferent person has found it nearly impossible to avoid the looming summer sporting events on menswear’s European tour, be it the Euros (Emporio Armani is hosting screenings in both Milan and Paris) or the Olympics. The Games, taking place in Paris later this month, felt especially prescient, with Parisian luxury goods conglomerate LVMH one of the event’s major sponsors. So it was no surprise when Pharrell Williams evoked the Olympic spirit for his third menswear show for Louis Vuitton, held at Maison Renesco and calling for global unity and community (indeed, if you squinted, you could see the Olympic rings adorning the Eiffel Tower in the distance).[It is] “LVFC is a celebration of human athleticism,” said the designer, who emblazoned the words “LVFC” on several soccer uniforms. Meanwhile, at Wales Bonner, the British designer continued his successful collaboration with Adidas Originals, featuring a glittering, sequined version of the brand’s Samba sneaker, as well as loose basketball shorts and hoodies, striped polo shirts, and most notably, three-stripe swim trunks. And at Gucci, Sabato de Sarno’s surfing inspiration resulted in a collection of sleek, graphic menswear in sporty, bright hues, including one of the season’s most popular accessories: fluorescent strap sunglasses worn around the neck like a choker.
