Menswear’s Movers and Shakers: Your Guide To The A/W 24 Shows
From the names to know to the heritage houses being remixed by their pioneering creative directors, we’ve sorted through the schedule to bring you the shows you don’t want to miss this menswear season.
From the names to know to the heritage houses being remixed by their pioneering creative directors, we’ve sorted through the schedule to bring you the shows you don’t want to miss this menswear season.
A new year means new fashion and the first to relish in the glory of all the newness are none other than the world’s menswear enthusiasts. That’s right, with the start of Pitti Uomo this week, we’re kicking off the A/W 24 Fashion Week season. Swiftly followed by shows in Milan and Paris, the coming weeks are packed with the latest promotions from hundreds of menswear brands big and small. So how exactly do we filter the innovators from the imitators?
Of course, there are the tried and true shows that never disappoint like Dries Van Noten and Rick Owens who have expertly carved out their niches with signature silhouettes and masterful world-building. And then there are the provocateurs whose inspirations range from subcultures to art, like JORDANLUCA and JW Anderson, who always excite us with innovations that challenge our sartorial understanding. Still, among the hundreds of shows across the menswear capitals, we’ve rounded up the ones that are sure to make headlines.
PITTI UOMO
The menswear Mecca we all know as Pitti Uomo is celebrating its 105 edition this year with two award-winning guest designers. The first is Bologna-based brand Magliano, whose irreverent take on menswear staples (think: relaxed tailoring inspired by workwear), has led to industry reverence, including taking home LVMH’s Karl Lagerfeld Prize this year. He’ll be joined by London’s very own S.S. Daley (who won the 2022 LVMH Prize a year prior). The Liverpudlian menswear designer’s queering of 20th-century England’s upper class has been met with critical acclaim and fanfare since he established his brand in 2020.
MILAN
While this year’s Florentine shows are defined by two emerging talents, Milan is all about Italy’s heavy hitters. I.e. Gucci and Prada. The former marks the first menswear show by the newly appointed creative director Sabato De Sarno, whose debut collection for S/S 24 signalled a shift towards minimalism following the OTT offerings of Alessandro Michele. How this will translate with menswear is to be determined with just the stripped-back S/S 24 campaign shot by David Sims our only menswear clue. As for Prada, our favourite design duo had undoubtedly the best show of the season with their slime-coated spectacle, so we can’t wait to see how they top that.
PARIS
As always, ending off the menswear season are the Paris Fashion Week shows. Long the pinnacle of luxury, today’s heritage houses are getting defined by the creative directors remixing those tried and true (or should we say tired) house codes. Starting with a bang is the second show by musical maestro turned Louis Vuitton creative director Pharrell. Whether you loved or loathed the superstar producer/fashion icon’s debut, it was an undeniable blockbuster event that saw the culmination of both fashion and music’s biggest names. Speaking of blockbuster showings, Jonathan Anderson’s surreal spectacles at Loewe have only gotten bigger with every season, leaving us eagerly anticipating what artistic tricks he has up his sleeves this time around.
