Here, Man About Town brings you the week’s menswear cheat sheet.
Qasimi explores memories woven into clothes
“I’m still looking at ideas of identity and belonging and memory. But the artist Dala Nasser, who I’ve worked with for two seasons now really uses the fabrics and does rubbings on the ground, so you always have elements of the ground in the fabric,” Qasimi creative director Hoor Al Qasimi told Man About Town.
This season, the London-based label explored how clothing takes on new meaning as it moves through its existence, collaborating with Nasser to ground clothes in the friction of existence, through texture and colour. Tailored top coats turned into blanket-like capes, offering a form of comfort and protection from the life outside. While pocket-heavy jackets continued the theme of utility-orientated life-wear. The collection also incorporated knitwear-mending techniques to explore the acts of wear our clothing picks up through life, with patina held up as a badge of honour. This was a collection crafted for life.
Church’s presents a symphony of shoemaking
Church’s presented its Autumn/Winter 2026 collection in Milan’s Palazzo Barozzi, a charming concert hall with top tier acoustics . The aim was to showcase the likeness between crafting musical instruments and shoemaking, which are both intricate and detailed undertaking.
This season unfolded across three symphonies, starting with Symphony 1, which takes the brand’s iconic sandal and beefs it up in waxed suede and wool varieties. Then there’s the regent range where the Shefford boot featured a hand-stitched sole with visible seams and edges to wear its handcrafted pedigree on its sleeve.
Symphony II goes all in on the classics, comprising the Stanhope Chelsea boots and Sidbury derby and the Skipton oxford. Symphony III delivered a blockbuster crescendo with The Prince monkstrap and Duke oxford completed with a dual-toned gradient finish, and glossy leathers to end the show.
Paul Smith gets personal
Paul Smith showcased his Autumn/Winter 2026 collection in his Milan HQ, the second season he chose the city to unveil a new offering. This time, the focus was on the brand’s extensive archives, specifically to the 1980s and 1990s, where he visited inside-out tailoring as well as wide-shouldered power suits. But the focus was on the irreverence that makes what we wear our own. Models wore trinket rings; the type of thing you’d pick up from an old draw, picked up from a market on holiday. Belts hung loose, bags were loaded with charms and suede gloves, while watches and bracelets were worn over sleeves, reflective of the personal touches that anchor our on style.
Tod’s does things with the Italian touch
Picture winter in Italy. You’re bundled up in premium leather jackets and cashmere sweaters. You’re driving your Lamborghini 350 GT out of Milan for the weekend for a slice of the good life with your friends and family. This is the vibe Tod’s has channelled with its AW26 offering.
At the core, is the Pashmy leather projects, reflecting the top level of the brand’s material research, which is used across a coach jacket, and the Costello patch pocket blazer. Footwear-wise, the collection focuses on the Winter Gommino loafers, with suede enhanced models with cashmere and shearling linings. But for a slice of off-duty comfort, there’s the Red Dot sneaker, which combines a premium leather construction with a durable, lightweight sole, for the man who likes his leisure time to feel a little fancy.
Dunhill looks to Lord Snowdon’s enduring style legacy
Can you do bold and pared back at the same time? Absolutely, just look to the 1960s, which is exactly what Dunhill did this season.
The British label’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection nods to the wardrobe of internationally renowned photographer Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones. He made 1960s London his playground and dandy-ish three-button suiting his uniform. In this new Dunhill offering, we see this interpreted for today’s man. This is for the guy who’s schooled in Savile Row classicism and down with Italy’s soft-suited charm, but wears it on his terms.
Tailoring is crafted with measured restraint, giving the floor to material excellence. There’s hardly-there wool cashmere flannel suits through to Bourdon suits – a House signature developed by Creative Director Simon Holloway, blending more traditional Savile Row tailoring with a contemporary softer cut. Accessories-wise, driving gloves, silk ties, and cashmere scarves offer final touches of personalisation without feeling peacockish. And a lookbook lensed by Ethan James Green’s warm yet striking approach captures the collection’s balance between romance and rigidity immaculately.
Stone Island goes full menswear mad professor
Stone Island likes to get a little freaky with materials and fabrics. But its Prototype Research Series 9, turned up the volume. The collection saw the launch of an air-blown lamination knit, which uses hot air to bond a membrane onto the garment – the first time the brand had used knitwear in its boundary pushing Prototype Research series. There’s 100 different colours on offer, limited to one per garment ranging from muted hues to mélange. And for a brand like Stone Island with its fiercely loyal army of menswear nerds, it’s going to be a battle to grab one, we’re sure.
SETCHU welcomes us into the his world
SETCHU founder Satoshi Kuwata kicked off his AW26 collection with a speech explaining the collection’s inspirations, notably his passion for fishing in Greenland, a place where he has spent a lot of his personal time. Later this was reflected through an assortment of fishing items laid out on a table. The collection kicked off with a trench coat, folding from a bag before progressing into engineered tailoring blown up in proportion, reflecting the LVMH Prize-winning designer’s time spent on Savile Row. There were collapsible bomber jackets, and straw footwear, too. This is menswear that knows when to follow the rules and importantly, when to break them.
Dsquared2 hits the slopes
Closing the first day of shows in the Italian capital is Dsquared2, who just presented its Autumn/Winter 2026 collection in a snowed-under warehouse. There are a few things Canada-born twins Dean and Dan Caten consistently deliver on their runways.
Steamy garments that are more sensuale than spezzatura; iconic pop-culture moments, catapulting celebs from the FROW to the runway; and a full-on party. Tonight in Milan, they did all three. Celebrating what’s hottest in Canada right now, Heated Rivalry’s star Hudson Williams took the runway in a concoction of layered jackets, a potential hockey jersey peeking through a zipper, shiny skinny jeans, and boots equal parts ice skates and cowboy. Elsewhere in the collection, après-ski was served with humour: fluor accents covered sportswear-leaning pieces, while fur ruled collars and hats. Vinyl and leather trousers looked ice-proof (though we’re not putting them to the test) and some suiting peeked out from under oversized puffer jackets. Down the slope, straight to the club — it’s winter, the Dsquared2 way.
Ralph Lauren runways are back in Milan
Before Friday, it had been more than 20 years since Ralph Lauren hosted a runway show in Milan, with the American designer previously favouring presentations for its premium Purple Label.
But yesterday marked a blockbuster return to the schedule in the form of two back to back runway shows combining Purple label with Polo Ralph Lauren. First up came the collegiate bangers; tweed blazers, and chunky cable knits, with roomy leather totes and keepalls adding a some campus-crossing style. Then came the old-school hollywood tuxedos, and later camouflaged military jackets, worn with ball caps.
Next, Ralph Lauren’s prepsters went on an off-campus excursion, outfitted by cosy knits, beanies, and padded ski suits. “My Fall 2026 collections are inspired by the different ways men live, their individuality, their personal style,” read the accompanying show notes. It is this ability to lead in outfitting all of these different lifestyles that makes Ralph Lauren such beast – one that was back in Milan, in all its American glory.
Brunello Cucinelli explores freedom through craft
You might not immediately go to the king of cashmere Brunello Cuccinelli when you think of the great outdoors. But it is the freedom of exploring that inspired the label’s latest collection.
This is gear for the man who refuses to lower his sartorial standards even when on the move, no matter the scenario. Double-breasted jackets featured metallic hardware, structured shoulders and softer lines. They pair with cargo trousers and buttery suede hiking-style boots. Brunello Cucinelli didn’t stop at the practical stuff. Although refinement remained with the shearlings and suedes that underpinned the collection, including on hyper-practical rucksacks. The offering also explored the world you might encounter while enjoying the freedom of the outdoors, playing with materials like tweeds and Donegal through lightweight design, and a fresher enriched colour palette. This is sharp, solid menswear that can be worn at ease in almost any environment. Because when strict menswearheads leave the city to touch grass, why shouldn’t they do it in Brunello Cucinelli?
Dolce&Gabbana’s AW26 is pure high-neck sex appeal
Big, opulent fur coats. Ear-high turtlenecks. Swishy hems, lace-up knee boots, and not a hint of cleavage without at least a double layer standing guard. For Dolce&Gabbana’s Autumn/Winter 26 show, subtlety didn’t make the guest list. The directive was clear: this is a season to be loud, deliberate and seen, with classics steeped in tradition reimagined through a hyperbolic lens.
Aptly titled “Portrait of a Man”, the collection sees Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce interrogate self-expression and individuality — a more abstract reading of the house’s codes following SS26’s “Pajama Boys”. It’s about the multitude of characters living within Dolce&Gabbana’s universe: the maximalist club kid, the preppy, book-smart tailoring fiend, the cropped-leather-jacket-wearing retired rock star, the football fan — all colliding under the house’s unmistakably sexy banner.
