MILAN MEN’S FASHION WEEK AW/24: BRUNELLO CUCINELLI

MR is pleased to present our recap of Milan Men’s Fashion Week for Autumn/Winter 2024/25. We could not cover all of the 60+ collections showing, so we selected the designers and brands we thought most relevant to you, our readers, if there is someone we missed who you would like to see, please leave a comment below and we will try to include them. 

Brunello Cucinelli

The beauty of a brand like Brunello Cucinelli is that you always know what you are going to get: Beautifully made and crafted sportswear that appeals to a wide range of customers, whose only common denominator is an appreciation of quality and lots of disposable income. And while you know what is coming, the exciting part is the new colors, fabrications, and classifications that the maestro of stealth dressing adds each season to keep retailers and customers alike coming back for more.

The Brunello Cucinelli AW/24 Collection is entitled A Free Soul Call, with the atelier’s goal being to extract “masculine style down to its purest and most definite form.”  Just as a master perfumer combines disparate notes into one beautiful fragrance, Cucinelli blends its elixir using luxurious fabrics. Like many other designers this season Cucinelli also looked to the shapes of the 1980s sartorial world for a point of inspiration to where men’s tailoring is heading.

While the colors we most attribute to Cucinelli are his masterful use of the mid-tones of beige and gray, there is color added each season and for AW/24 the hues selected are all also mid-tones in shades of lobster orange, coral red, sky blue, khaki green and my personal favorite, iris purple. (I like to play a game when looking at a collection, where I imagine having to buy one item from the collection. In this case, it would be the cashmere ragg wool sweater in the iris purple and cream, shown top of page.)

The shoulders, where all fine tailoring begins, are stronger for AW/24 reflecting the ’80s influence as well as “enhancing the male physique.” New materials for this season include adding technical features and synthetic fibers for versatility and functionality, especially in the The Mountain Capsule Collection. The capsule brings the distinctive Cucinelli style to the slopes, thanks to a selection of special materials: soft velvets and elegant chalk stripes add sartorial charisma to technical apparel.

Leather and shearling are hallmarks of the Cucinelli brand, and this season they focus on rich, three-dimensional textures, enhanced by special mélange effects for the shearlings and innovative laser-applied paisley patterns on soft suede. Also new this season are metal buttons, which offer an alternative to the classic horn button and recall a more “retro” style. Evening gets updated with velvet patterned in Prince of Wales and paisley to add dimension to these evening fabrics and also make the wearer stand out.

Footwear rounds out the collection with new designs that balance tradition and innovation: winter loafers, Chelsea, and zip-up boots that convey a refined and unconventional style, while derbies and classic boots are updated with an ultra-lightweight outsole in a light-colored version as well as a new “tongue-less” version, all the better to show off those fabulous cashmere socks.

Don’t miss all of our Milan coverage, including:
Canali
Corneliani
Isaia
Woolrich Black Label
Zegna