Past, present and future merge in an alchemy of time that changes people as it changes surfaces, leaving traces and altering colors without erasing their essence. Emporio Armani’s collection focuses on both materials and the history of the fashion house, in a constant state of evolution.

Lightness defines the wardrobe, both men’s and women’s, with linen, weightless silks, shirting fabrics, viscose and jersey. Salt crystals, which both preserve and corrode, serve as both a treatment and embroidery.

Acid washes and cold dyes give the colors an irregular finish; linen creates trompe-l’oeil versions of worn fabrics; seersucker is hollowed out and crumpled, laser-cut velvet is mottled, and layers of organza create transparency and reflections. Everything bears a mark, with depth and memory.

Pants are loose and airy, while knitwear evokes underwear. Like time itself, the style is genderless, with pieces moving between menswear and womenswear, as has long been the brand’s tradition. Neutral colors are punctuated by touches of black. Accessories abound: oversized bags, slippers and small headpieces, as the Maestro liked them.

Silvana Armani, for womenswear, and Leo Dell’Orco, for menswear, designed the collection. But once the lights went down on the show, creative direction at Emporio passed to Dario Vitale, who spent 14 years, through 2025, as the creative force behind Miu Miu before moving to Versace. It marks the first time someone outside the Armani family has taken on the role. And now, at Armani, the same exception is being made, with Vitale called on to write the next chapter for the eagle-emblazoned brand and to design Giorgio Armani accessories without betraying the elegant yet relaxed style audiences have come to expect. The challenge is to find a new path without losing sight of the past.

The passage of time also runs through Maria Grazia Chiuri’s aesthetic for Fendi. The 70s were her starting point, a reminder of who we were and who we might still become by holding on to freedom of thought. Her muses for the season are Raffaella Carrà and Adriano Celentano. Of course, neither of them would ever have gone out in a nightgown or underwear, but Chiuri uses lingerie as a device to celebrate and liberate the body. Lace-trimmed bras and boxers, slips, camisoles and dressing gowns blur the boundaries of gender.

Yesterday was also the day for the Max Mara show, where inspiration once again came from a woman who played a role in the history of women’s emancipation: writer and explorer Freya Stark. At a moment when fashion is moving toward a more sustainable future, in many senses of the word, her words carry a particular resonance: “Of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is certainly the greatest.”

Look ahead, then. Max Mara draws on Stark and the extraordinary female pioneers of the 1930s who charted new routes on maps and challenged the social conventions of their time. Among them were wildlife photographer Osa Johnson, pilot Eva Dickson, and aviators Amelia Earhart and Beryl Markham.

Thinking of these women, the fashion house’s Creative Director, Ian Griffiths, designed a wardrobe stripped of frills, with its rigor softened by fluid silhouettes and fabrics such as linen and lustrous gabardine. The safari jacket takes center stage: draped and knotted at the hip, or long like a duster, worn with cargo pants and layered over a vest.

A style for women who, like Freya Stark, move freely through the world.

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