MILAN FASHION WEEK SPRING/SUMMER 2026: DAY 4
editors ELIANA CASA, MAREK BARTEK, MARIA MOTA and MARIE-PAULINE CESARI
SPORTMAX
review by FIONA FROMMELT
all images SPORTMAX provided by the brand
Bells and Whistles at Sportmax SS26. Sportmax foreshadows a summer filled with effortless elegance that meets the brand's signature cool undertones. The show opened with a series of trench coats: long and short, sleeveless or cut to reveal a single arm, some accented with oversized pockets, all leaning toward the asymmetric. Cut in soft beige tones, they sat effortlessly on the models, with hems that fell past the shoulders.
This collection was one full of surprises. Beneath these outer layers, a nod to the brand’s early ’90s DNA emerged: Sheer tops and see-through low-waisted pants traced the runway with lightness, an ode to Sportmax’s own archive, yet reimagined with modernity. Grand floral prints unfolded on dresses, tops, extremely long gloves, shoes and even bags. This marked a departure from the brand's usual resistance to decoration, or at least one that we have not seen in the last few years. Another welcomed surprise was the return of some of the Resort 2026 silhouettes, of the vests and pants, which were reimagined in terms of fabric and hemming. Denim became the most unexpected fabric of this runway: Previously, in a darker tone showcased in Resort 2026, we witnessed a light blue denim set consisting of the perfectly draped denim pants (that definitely will become a staple piece for many), combined with a denim vest, and a denim jacket with a leather collar. With each of these looks, the brand's typical nonchalance is evident.
Accessories layered on whimsy and strength. Leather flowers bloomed across handbags, oversized belts in deep burgundy and black accentuated hips, and sculptural jewellery glinted like gilded bells on wrists or in ears. This SS26 collection merged Sportmax’s signature cool with the unexpected beauty of florals. Playfully nodding to the brand’s archival designs, Grazia Malagoli demonstrates that Sportmax remains fully in command of its own allure. Despite the fresh twists and reworked silhouettes, the collection exudes confidence, self-assurance, and is unmistakably Sportmax. Perhaps a new era has just been rung in…
MARCO RAMBALDI
review by MAREK BARTEK
all images MARCO RAMBALDI via vogue.com
Marco Rambaldi’s show mixed protest with play. He closed the night holding a Palestinian flag — a gesture underlining what his clothes were already saying: that resilience and tenderness can exist side by side.
This season, Rambaldi leaned on the familiar and twisted it into something new. Grandma’s crochet, tablecloths and vintage prints were everywhere, from a Swarovski-dusted wedding dress to sheer tops and leather jackets layered with delicate lace. Matching cardigans, tanks and skirts came in reclaimed yarns, while wide trousers and skirts layered as if three garments were stitched into one.
Leather brought a sense of dimension to the cabans, slouchy trousers and the new Femminella bag. At times, it appeared crocheted or patched with vintage doilies, giving Rambaldi’s romantic side a tougher counterpoint. Prints from the ’50s resurfaced as slip dresses worn low on the hips with soft knit sweaters. Codes that were once tied to domesticity flipped into something sensual. Accessories underlined the craft-first approach. Rosantica collaborated on straw bags with wooden beads and chunky jewellery, while Bata debuted the “sneakerina” sneaker with Rambaldi’s crochet laces.
Though the collection was nostalgic, it wasn’t about missing the past. Rather it turned into a celebration of heritage filtered through lightness and play. Rambaldi may work with old motifs, but the way he spins them keeps his vision firmly rooted in the present.
JIMMY CHOO
review by NIA TOPALOVA
Jimmy Choo’s collection was beautifully presented within the palazzo’s secret garden courtyard, where we were surrounded by monumental floral sculptures. The Spring 2026 collection was named “Future Feminine”, and it was all about exploring modern femininity with a clear focus on softness and detail. Shoes came in light pastel tones and were finished with delicate, diaphanous lace, adding a sense of weightlessness and ease. Some styles had tiny shoelaces tied around slender heels, giving them a cooler, more playful look. One standout pair featured a small red stamp detail, like if it was borrowed from an old postcard – very chic, yet very melancholic. Jimmy Choo’s attention to craft and shape remained clear: you could feel the intersection of luxury and wearability with character behind every detail.
GIUSEPPE DI MORABITO
review by MAREK BARTEK
all images GIUSEPPE DI MORABITO via vogue.com
Giuseppe Di Morabito’s Act II unfolded as myth, memory, and material experiment. If last season’s Alone with the Stars reached outward to AI and the future, The Fall of Icarus turned inward—to craft, childhood, and roots. “We’re moving too fast,” he said backstage. “Sometimes, you need to fall to find your origins again.” Under a glowing sun-sculpture by Nick Verstand, a lone figure floated in the runway’s centre. The allegory was clear: Icarus had crashed. But in this case, the fall was not tragic, it was the start of rebirth.
Both intimate and showstopping, the collection featured hand-sculpted porcelain bustiers bloomed with roses, metallic wings recalling Icarus’s flight, and resin corsets molded close to the body. Crochet returned too, worked entirely by hand—some even by Di Morabito’s mother—layered onto leather or spun into airy separates, turning the collection into personal memory.
Material experimentation was this season on another level. Stocking-like garments were submerged in saline until crystals grew across their surfaces, resembling coral. Resin corsets, macramé wired with rhinestones, and metallic wings nodded to both mythology and Southern Italian craft. This tension carried over even to tailoring: blazers and wide trousers scattered with pearls had the formality of ceremonial dress, but with a fragile shimmer that softened their severity. Accessories stretched the allegory further: baseball caps feathered with plumes sourced from the food chain, opera-length gloves transformed into handbags, and porcelain earrings moulded as roses. The palette of black, white, nude, deep red kept the focus on silhouette and surface.
The final tableau saw Icarus rise again under Verstand’s sun. For Di Morabito, the fall was never an ending, but a point of return, an act of slowing down, looking back, and remaking myth in the language of craft.
TOD’S
review by NIA TOPALOVA
all images TOD’s via vogue.com
For Tod’s Spring-Summer 2026 Women’s Collection, Matteo Tamburini drew inspiration from Claude Nori’s “An Italian Summer”, focusing on a sense of natural ease, creating clothes that move freely with the body, with garments that were shaped around the wearer rather than constricting them. The show was held at Milan’s PAC museum, where Tod’s artisans were on full display, showcasing the brand’s mastery in leatherwork and artisanal intelligence, celebrating craftsmanship and heritage.
Stripes were a key motif, appearing both in leather appliqués and lightweight fabrics, setting a fresh, modern rhythm throughout the runway. Leather played a starring role, seen in everything from loafers with rich, hand-stitched multicoloured threading to oversized jackets. Warm earth tones dominated, accenting by burnt oranges and saffron yellows, creating a collection that balanced Italian craftsmanship with a fresh, youthful energy.
What stood out was the Gommino bean shoe - the brand’s signature, whose influence ran through the entire collection, uniting accessories and clothing with an unmistakable identity. The expert use of leather was everywhere, from knotted dresses and overpicked bags to statement coats and reimagined flip-flops. The craftsmanship was visible in precise stitching and the use of stenciling - a technique where tiny perforations create patterns on leather, symbolising the idea of leaving a mark, and referencing the title of the collection. Silk and leather flowed together, balancing softness with structure. “Leave Your Mark” was a reminder of the power of heritage, skill, and personal expression.
SUNNEI
review by MAREK BARTEK
all images SUNNEI provided by the brand
Sunnei has always thrived on disruption, but this season they took it to its most literal stage yet. Partnering with Christie’s, the brand transformed its spring 2026 show into an auction performance where nothing was really for sale, yet everything appeared to be. Guests scratched silver cards to reveal their supply of fictional “fashion dollars,” and then watched as lots were wheeled in: first, a monumental wooden Sunnei logo; second, the founders themselves, boxed up. Their symbolic auction was a surreal highlight, with the two ultimately “sold” to the crowd before being led away under the hammer of Christie’s Italy director Cristiano De Lorenzo.
Members of the Sunnei community, acting as telephone intermediaries, wore the spring 2026 collection throughout the performance. The looks weren’t shown as the central focus but as part of the staging, woven into the architecture of the event rather than presented as a traditional runway lineup. The concept of fashion as finance, creativity as currency was a literalisation of the mechanisms that often remain invisible within the industry. It felt both ironic and sharp in its timing.
Shortly after the event, Messina and Rizzo announced that they would be stepping down from their roles at the label, a revelation that gave the night’s theatrical metaphor a striking aftershock. What first seemed like illusion suddenly looked more like foreshadowing.
VERSACE
review by MAREK BARTEK
all images VERSACE provided by the brand
To all the haters out there, I want to say: Before you start hating, go do your research, understand the brand and then come back! Because what Dario Vitale pulled off at Versace tonight wasn’t just a debut, it was a reset. The first non-Versace to lead the house, with Donatella stepping aside into a new Chief Brand Ambassador role and the Prada Group acquisition on the horizon, Vitale could’ve bowed to pressure, gone archival, or drowned in references. He didn’t. Instead, he took the mythology of Versace and brought it down from Olympus to the street. “Mythology started when gods and goddesses were a bit bored of having affairs with themselves, so they descended Mount Olympus to walk among men,” he said backstage. “It’s not just about an evening gown to the floor.”
And so, there were no gowns. What came instead was a wardrobe built for life. It was messy, sexy, and accessible in ways Versace hasn’t been in decades. Jersey dresses folded like gowns on sculptures in front but unravelled into logo briefs in the back. Muscle-tee tanks were cut low at the sides, left raw and unfinished. Belts hung loose on high-waisted jeans, zippers deliberately undone. A chainmail bra with its matching skirt came paired with a neat cashmere cardigan tied at the hips, the kind of subversion Gianni might’ve smiled at.
Vitale’s tailoring proved he’s got colour instincts to spar with Milan’s sharpest: aubergine alternated with tomato red, azure clashing with kelly green. Prints, too, had a new looseness: shirts that looked as if they’d been collected one by one over years, no two alike, more wardrobe than showroom. Pointed pumps, lady bags nodded to the late ’80s but were worn with a millennial casualness, part of Vitale’s strategy to connect Versace to a generation raised on vintage and layering.
The setting said as much as the clothes. The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, with its Caravaggio and Leonardo notebooks, became both stage and metaphor. Vitale, obsessed with Pasolini’s Teorema, even tucked his own bedsheets onto a mattress in the corner, casting himself as the mysterious visitor who disrupts a bourgeois household. Here, he was disrupting Versace itself, reshaping it from a brand of goddesses on pedestals to one of mortals in motion.
It felt brave. It felt modern. And above all, it felt alive. If Act I was Gianni, and Act II was Donatella, Act III under Vitale just opened, and it’s looking like one worth watching.