Who Won the Day at Milan Fashion Week? Bottega Veneta’s ‘Fiercely Chic’ Combo: A Lumberjack Bar Jacket With Denim-looking Flowy Pants

Fendi officially kicked off Milan Fashion week with a collection inspired by the 1920s, where transparencies, art deco embellishments and retro silhouettes dominated the line up. “We put Red Wings (on the models) and not lady shoes, I wanted a real woman,” designer Kim Jones said backstage of his latest collaboration with the workwear American shoe brand Red Wing, which added a cool downtown vibe to the glamorous, delicate looks. The opening look an art deco-embellished sheer shirtdress paired with the workwear boots really capture the essence of the collection. Transparencies are still a big trend come Spring 2025, but one thing is for sure, those Red Wing x Fendi collaboration boots will sell like cupcakes.

Cavalli designer Fausto Puglisi celebrated the brand’s original designer and creator, Roberto Cavalli, who passed away this past April, in his Spring 2025 collection. In the last section of the show, Puglisi chose to “bring back” some the iconic models who worked with Mr. Cavalli, wearing renown archival dresses — a some updated with a modern twist. A very glamorous Karen Elson, wearing that memorable Jennifer Lopez’s gold metallic tiger print dress, was a stunner and served as a perfect reminder that Cavalli has always been about rockstars.

For the Prada Spring 2025 collection, designers Muccia Prada and Raf Simons challenged the idea of uniform dressing that has defined the brand’s message for years, and instead explored the concept of personal style and a free flow of multiple fashion references. “The collection was a total delight, ping-ponging from one idea to the next with remarkable ease, clashing eras, colors and sensibilities,” wrote Booth Moore, WWD’s executive editor, in her show review. An awesome silver metallic shift dresses with round mirror insets paired with a bright yellow nylon rain jacket and a Pierre Cardin-inspired straw hat with a frontal cut-out was the perfect mix of eras and styles. Just perfect.

A very chic floor-sweeping utility coat in the Gucci Ancora red, worn over a pair of baggy jeans, white tank top, and accessorized with head scarf, skinny double GG belt and oversized sunglasses, served as the perfect take on a modern Jacqueline Kennedy, a clear inspiration for the collection. This casual glamour message was clear, and it also served to perfectly channel the Jackie O in all of us.

The Attico fashion cult continues to dominate among the cool Milan crowd. What started in 2016 as party dresses has developed into a full-on fashion brand with multiple categories, shows and this season, even a Nike collaboration. But a cool take on a 1920 Art Deco silk dress — the ’20s are trending for sure this season, layered over a pair of elongated fitted leather pants — a very popular styling technique of the now as well, clearly shows that designers Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini continue to have the finger on the pulse and are as daring as ever.

First things first. Bottega Veneta, like Miu Miu, is the fashionista catnip of the moment and the leading show here in this Milan Fashion Week. “I was interested in the idea of a simple act of fashion that happens every day,” said designer Matthieu Blazy to WWD’s Miles Socha backstage. This idea of reinventing and upgrading simple daytime clothing is not a new message from Blazy, but a lumberjack shirt transformed into the shape of a Bar jacket worn over a pair of flowy pants, that were made to look like denim, was the undoubtedly winner of the day and as Socha stated on his review: “original and fiercely chic.”