The spring 2025 menswear collections, reviewed
From Milan to Paris, we reflect on the biggest menswear runways of the season, and how they'll shape the way we dress when the weather heats up
By Amy Campbell
MEN’S FASHION MONTH is officially closed for the spring 2025 season, ending with a triumphant full stop in Paris this past weekend. And on the runways, we were dished up plenty of food for thought: short shorts. Long shorts. Plenty of ballet flats and fun colours galore. All of which makes us think that next spring is set to be one of fun yet approachable dressing – in place of highly conceptual fits, designers from Sabato de Sarno at Gucci to Alessandro Sartori at Zegna and Kim Jones at Dior have been riding a wave of wearability (de Sarno called his collection “welcoming”). And while we love eyeballing an avant-garde statement as much as the next guy, we can’t go past a perfect chore jacket (Prada) or amazing neck tie (Fendi) – pieces you can wear no matter the occasion.
But how will the looks that rained down from fashion heaven shape how we dress when spring and then summer come around? Without further ado, scroll on to read our thoughts and opinions on the spring 2025 season.
Loewe
There is often an artistic collaboration or homage woven into Jonathan Anderson’s shows for Loewe, but this season it wasn’t just one artist whose work inspired the collection, or filled the space. Rather, Anderson looked to the seminal works of five historical creatives, all of which were connected by their “singularity”: Peter Hujar, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Susan Sontag, Carlo Scarpa and Paul Thek.
“Each pursued their work with quiet radicality,” read the show notes dispersed among editors. The show set featured a collection of their works, group exhibition style; “everyday objects are elevated to the extraordinary”. The clothing also reflected a tension between the precise and the extraordinary. The most extraordinary of which was a polo shirt, darned with feathers that were painstakingly trimmed into a herringbone pattern. Long feathers also tickled the noses of every model; apparently, their purpose was to divide the model’s faces, inviting us to think about perspective. Perspective, precision, singularity. Three ideas, five artists, and a very cerebral collection.
Hermès
Hermès designs speaks for themselves. You can see this in the way the brand constructs its show notes: instead of focusing on themes and concepts, they regale us with details of the clothing; the silhouettes, fabrics, colours (which receive wonderful names like océan, matcha and biscotte) and ways in which longstanding artistic director Véronique Nichanian tweaks little details to make things three degrees more elevated, or two degrees more casual. This season, it was the pleated bermuda shorts in repellent cotton drill that caught our eye, as well as a series of tops and sets that were “tattooed” with the brand’s iconic harness motif.
All of this is poetically articulated by the menswear designer, in phrases that focus less on what these pieces say about geopolitics, or this current moment in culture, while focusing more on how they will enhance the lives of those who wear them. And enhance they do. One poignant example: “Sandals accompany steps.” Not the other way around.
Dior
“This collection is a celebration of work and an expression of who somebody is and what they achieve through work, that legacy and continuity through time.” For summer 2025, Kim Jones was thinking about what it takes to build a meaningful body of work, looking back on the rich history of Dior and its lineage of era-defining designers, as well as his own catalogue and that of South African ceramicist Hylton Nel, who is known for his quirky and oftentimes subversive pottery, in particular his decorative plates and vessels. “There is an idea of and dedication to art and the applied arts shared by all,” wrote the brand’s artistic director in the show notes.
That dedication shone through not only in the giant ceramic cats Nel created for the show, which were poised around the runway as if ready to pounce, but the savoir-faire of Jones’ pieces. Balancing luxury with utility – as Jones does so deftly – the most standout pieces included a bandana-style ‘scarf collar’, which came to life across a series of months, as well as a cape-like coat that was inspired by an unrealised sketch from the brand’s autumn/winter 1958 season, which was designed by a young Yves Saint Laurent, when he was working under Monsieur Dior.
Our favourite pieces, however, were the ‘cloche hats’, which Jones describes as “a final craft full stop”. They were designed by Dior’s go-to milliner, the iconic Stephen Jones, in conjunction with a Capetown-based crafts organisation called Earth Age, who crocheted each hat by hand before the beads were applied in Paris at the Dior atelier. A dedication to the applied arts, on a truly global scale.
Louis Vuitton
On the Parisian rooftop of the UNESCO headquarters, down a grass runway mown into a neat squares reminiscent of Louis Vuitton’s now-iconic Damier print, Pharrell presented his summer 2025 collection for the French luxury house. The show’s location – a home to an organisation that unites humanity and builds peace through education, science and culture – set the tone of the show, which, as put simply in the show notes, was a celebration of “humans that co-inhabit the Earth”.
Pharrell’s evolving legacy, not just as the creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, but as a music producer, philanthropist entrepreneur and all-round renaissance man, is grounded in his love of people, and his desire for humankind to be equal. This season, the neutral colours of his collection were inspired by the nuances of skin tones; from black to charcoal, brown to beige and white, before exploding into blue and green tones that represent the Earth itself. After all, no matter the colour of our skin, we’re “each illuminated by the same sun”. Notably, the deepest black of the collection was especially developed by artisans in the Louis Vuitton maison.
In a nod to Louis Vuitton’s spirit of travel, the silhouettes were inspired by a cast of globetrotters. A ‘flying dandy’ – or pilot – wore an aviation-inspired bomber; the ‘diplomat’ sported slender double-breasted coats and sleek suits, while the ‘explorer’ took on the sportiest silhouette: a football jersey, crafted in honour of “the world’s most unifying game”, was infused with Olympic fever. But these were subtle references, and each garment was brought to life with immaculate savoir-faire that requires a zoom-in to truly ‘get’. Encrusted with miniature world maps, airplane ornaments, pearls and crystals, the buttons did more than hold garments together, while piping took the form of tiny pearls etched along the lines of sportswear. And that’s the beauty here: whether you choose to zoom in and focus on the details, or zoom out to consider the collection’s broader message of unity, you will most definitely be blown away.
Zegna
When Danish actor and former gymnast Mads Mikkelsen is closing the show, you really can ‘say less’. Indeed, the new face of Zegna put a handsome full stop to the Italian house’s spring 2025 show, which was staged in an empty industrial building transformed into what appeared to be a crop of flax plants, which are used to make linen, but was actually rows of metal blades. “The making of nature and the making of man meet, shift and overlap in a fantasy of industrial nature and natural industrialism made real,” said the show notes. “No matter how precise the execution, however, no two things are perfectly alike: not the metal blades of the linen nor the humans walking the catwalk.”
This idea of “plurality as a sum of differences” underscored the collection, which marked the latest chapter in Zegna’s reset – one which linen has played a core role in shaping. Linen, explains artistic director Alessandro Sartori, is a defining part of what a well-to-do-summer looks like (a statement we can get behind). But it was the multiple distillations of the material that made this collection and its cool silhouettes so interesting. This great Zegna reset is exciting to watch. And not just because Mikkelsen is its leading man.
Gucci
“I hope that people feel free and welcomed in my clothes,” wrote Sabato de Sarno in his brief yet poignant show notes. He was drawing a line between the intention of his clothes, the nature of museums Milan’s Triennale di Milano, where the show was held, and the ocean. These are “entirely open spaces, nourishing to those who are drawn to it.”
And this collection did feel welcoming. It was more playful than his initial collections for the brand, with a bright colour palette of sorbet tones, while some pieces were trimmed with beaded fringe, others were finished with embroidered florals. It was also welcoming in its wearability. You really felt like you could slip into one of those short suit combos and face the day feeling good. Freedom, energy, community and encounters – these were the ideas de Sarno was channelling. The result? A confident declaration of his Gucci, which is really taking shape.
Prada
It was a case of ‘free the hips’ at Prada, where Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada’s models were dressed in shirts and sweaters that sat directly above their hip bones, while low-rise pants gripped just below. If these proportions look slightly discombobulating, that is, of course, the point: this spring 2025 collection, titled ‘Closer’, was all about “shifting perception”. “Viewed from afar, pieces can pretend to be other – details may seem simplistic, naïve, but up-close, physically, perceptions transform,” explained the designers.
The closer you looked, the more you realised that the fit of many of these pieces was slightly, yet intentionally . . . off. The sleeves of leather lab coats finished halfway between the wrist and elbow; chore jackets were slightly cropped and internal wiring spun collars and shirts into slightly surreal proportions. It was about the opposite of grandness, explained the design duo backstage. These garments weren’t created to look box fresh, but rather, gifted from a mother, father, brother or grandmother, hence the fit that’s slightly, endearingly off. Many of the belts that hung around the waists of those low-slung pants, meanwhile, were painted on. A clever, witty reminder that while at first glance things may appear ‘normal’, we should never assume they are completely as they seem.
Fendi
2024 marks Fendi’s 100th anniversary year, which is a milestone very few brands can lay claim to, let alone a brand that intuits the material desires of modern guys so well. For this monumental occasion, creative director Silvia Venturini Fendi (who is a granddaughter of Fendi founders Edoardo and Adele), went deep into the family archives, exploring codes, symbols, and what it means to belong to the 100 club. She paid homage to artisan techniques such as Selleria stitching, which her grandfather adopted and adapted from saddlers in Rome, while also developing a code of her own: a new Fendi crest. Made up of the Double-F logo designed by Karl Lagerfeld, who designed over 100 shows for Fendi womenswear, the vintage Pequin stripe, a squirrel (this was in reference to Adele Fendi, who, according to husband Edoardo, was as busy as a squirrel), and a two-faced image of Janus, the Roman god of transition. The crest was embroidered across soccer and rugby jerseys – even cricket sweaters – tapping into the sports fever that’s taken hold this Olympics year. No doubt, its four-sectioned design will represent the fashion club everyone wants to join come summer.
Tod’s
‘Artisanal Intelligence’ was the name of Tod’s spring 2025 collection, and, at a time when the effects of AI on fashion and society more general is an extremely hot topic, it was a clever title indeed. But rather than resist the machines, creative director Matteo Tamburini declared he was “merging the goals of artificial intelligence with the values of craftsmanship, to conceptualise an innovative and contemporary yet refined collection of garments.” This was Tamburini’s first menswear collection, after he joined Tod’s in December last year. It was a confident debut, with the Italian designer showing he understands the Tod’s customer wants elevated casual wear of the highest possible quality, his knack for minimalism lending this collection a nice 2024 edge. We would’ve happily left the show wearing any one of these looks, but the above was certainly our favourite.
Giorgio Armani
You don’t come to a Giorgio Armani show to see the wheel being reinvented – and that’s the beauty of this brand. Because why fix what’s not already broken? Certainly, the silhouettes Mr. Armani has become known for – relaxed tailoring, double-breasted blazers, loose box-pleat pants – are just as relevant in menswear’s current moment than they were when they were first proposed, so watching the Italian brand’s show was an experience of the most satisfying degree. For spring 2025, the designer offered these greatest hits in shades of slate grey, navy blue (iconic Armani!) and beige; a tonal feast that was, as always, a solid proposition for the brand’s dedicated customer base.
Dolce & Gabbana
Just recently, we declared that short shorts were on their way out and very big, very long shorts were the next big bottoms trend in menswear. Since then, we’ve seen shorts of basically every length, and nowhere was this more evident that at Dolce & Gabbana. For spring 2025, Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana proposed short, medium and long lengths (pictured); rather than telling their style-conscious customers what’s in, they’re giving them the luxury of variety and choice. This is something we’ve come to expect from Dolce & Gabbana – the brand’s men’s collections tend to hover around 70 looks long, with multiple stories making up each outing. This time around, the overarching theme was an homage to ‘Italian Beauty’, the innate style and sophistication of men who call Italy home. Try as we may, this handsomeness is something that’s hard to replicate. Unless you dress in Dolce & Gabbana, of course.
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