MFW SS26 season was a succession of handovers. Four great houses—Versace, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Jil Sander—each unveiled new creative leads, shifting the landscape of the Italian fashion capital. Some dove into archives, others rewrote the format altogether, while a few chose subtle recalibration over theatrics. The golden thread was a sense of fashion in transition, with legacy weighed against reinvention, and codes bent, broken, or brought back.

Versace
Donatella cedes the mantle to Dario Vitale, who for his debut mined the archives, reviving codes unseen since the ’80s and ’90s—a gesture foreshadowed by the house’s recent Versace Embodied project. Backless and sideless men’s tees and bejeweled torero bras, accessorized with art-deco buckles and rock necklaces, stood out in a sexy collection at once daring and referential. Detractors on social media dismissed it as “not Donatella’s Versace.” They’re right. It’s Dario’s—staking his claim while honoring Gianni’s legacy.

Gucci
Another (unofficial) debut, another shake-up. Demna ditched the runway for his inaugural Gucci collection, staging La Famiglia as a cinematic premiere titled The Tiger. In the short film directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, house codes turned into characters: Demi Moore stars as ‘Barbara Gucci,’ empress of the house, Alex Consani prowls in tiger-print faux fur as ‘La Bomba’ and Mariacarla Boscono storms in a scarlet ’60s coat as the fuming ‘Incazzata.’ At the runway show, guests joined in, with Gwyneth Paltrow in head-to-toe monogram as ‘La VIP’ and Moore in her character’s corresponding look ‘La Mecenate,’ ‘The Patron.’ Demna’s Gucci is spectacle as self-parody, couture as commentary.

Bottega Veneta
Louise Trotter, one of the few women leading a top-tier luxury house, opened her tenure at the storied leather helm with a triumph and a new logo. The brand’s signature intrecciato leather surfaced in a woven oxblood sweater, oversized sculptural bags, and massive trench coats that marched down the runway, often paired with feathers. A typical grounded palette was jolted by chartreuse and lilac, one of the season’s trending shades, signaling freshness without abandoning restraint.

Jil Sander
Simone Bellotti’s inaugural show at Jil Sander was an ode to minimalism—“apparent simplicity” as he called it—one of restriction and control. Held at the brand’s Milan headquarters overlooking Sforza Castle, the designer literally brought the brand back to its home. Pencil skirts were sliced on the diagonal in homage to Italian sculptor Lucio Fontana, coats came with nipped waists and dropped shoulders, and layered knits looked deliberately shrunken on models with their hair pulled into tight buns.