Trends in Milan | Life in orange and all panties out

(Milan) Milan Fashion Week, which ended on Sunday, revealed the trends for Women’s Spring-Summer 2025 fashion, whether it’s the omnipresence of orange, the couture leanings of ready-to-wear, or even the big mask glasses.

Orange is the new black

Whether tangerine, dawn, bisque, ochre, pumpkin or carrot, orange was on almost every catwalk in Milan. The colour seems to be establishing itself as a new basic for Italian fashion houses, which are showing it in all its shades. At the Prada show, orange caused a sensation in anoraks, on the models’ feet or in retro 50s skirts. At Roberto Cavalli, images of sunsets in the native Messina of artistic director Fausto Puglisi gave golden highlights to his collection dedicated to the sea and Sicily. Ferrari’s ready-to-wear collection led the famous red of the car house towards warm oranges, combined with brown, for chic fashion. At Ferragamo, orange was seen in a little leather dress or in shoes to punctuate a look. At Bottega Veneta, flashy orange punctuated a large dress in “colour block” (a combination of two or three bright colours). Marco de Vincenzo for Etro uses it with his paisley-patterned pareos-scarves paired with short sweatshirts.

When ready-to-wear flirts with haute couture

We saw a lot of applications of feathers, embroidery, pearls and rhinestones, a true ode to the artisanal know-how of the great houses, sometimes taking the looks towards haute couture more than streetwear… enough to justify the surge in prices of certain pieces? At Fendi, Kim Jones made it his credo: “in a context like this, people are looking for special pieces, not something that everyone can afford”. His collection gives pride of place to details and meticulous applications of sequins, micro-crystals and micro-pearls in a 1920s spirit.

Panties, veils and tights

The trend is not new this year but seems to be confirmed. On the catwalks, designers continue to offer panties or mini-shorts to be combined with transparent veils, like at Fendi, to be worn in stripes at Prada, to be combined with the net dress like at Cavalli or Etro. For Max Mara, the chic is to wear it with a classic white shirt. Dolce & Gabbana pays homage to the American singer Madonna, with a plethora of corsets with pointed cups. Prada puts belts on tights that become pants. Ferragamo borrows from the world of dance by having its models parade in bodysuits and tights.

Anorak or large jacket over evening dress

The mix of genres and contrasts have always interested designers. For next season, the very luxurious, the precious and the chic are associated with big jackets, anoraks or big vests. The dressing gown effect at Fendi or Etro, who superimpose small hooded sweatshirts on evening dresses. At Prada, the bourgeois dress with feathers is worn with an anorak. At Bottega Veneta, Matthieu Blazy spices up his classic silhouettes with accessories such as the pink school backpack or the shopping bag.

The summer accessory: big mask glasses

The sun and its harmful effects on the skin invite us to protect ourselves more: fashion suggests we switch to mega sunglasses next summer. At Prada, they take on the appearance of superheroine masks. Hats and caps, very deep, become hybrid headgear with fly sunglasses. At Ferrari, mega sunglasses are sporty, at Emporio Armani round and retro.