Brooches, pins and feather boas: Next summer, men will be delightfully decorated
Traditional blue denim was banished in favor of bright pops of color.
Milan, Italy (CNN) — At the recent Milan Men’s Fashion Week, dainty little details were everywhere — reminding us that styling is how you really have fun with fashion.
The riot of small-scale design flourishes seen across the Spring-Summer 2027 shows — from pins and corsages to feather boas and arm garters — means you can expect men to be more decorated than usual next summer.
Before the events in Milan kicked off, the Irish designer Simone Rocha set the mood at her first ever menswear show at Pitti Uomo, the biannual Italian trade show for men’s clothing in Florence, with a collection that went big on all the extras. In the spectacular 17th-century Teatro della Pergola opera house, models wore fittingly theatrical hand-embroidered glass bugle-bead cornflowers, tea-stained feather boas, large silk-organza corsages and chunky engraved metal sleeve garters.
Afterwards, Rocha told reporters that she had been inspired by visiting the historic venue and discovering its vintage costume trunks, calling her show “a reaction to place and time” where “the airs of the theater universe animate silhouettes with a languid swagger.”
Meanwhile at Dunhill, creative director Simon Holloway looked to the signature style of the late artist Lucian Freud — specifically how he would tie scarves close to his neck. The British brand’s suiting channeled dapper English luxury with dedicated cigar pockets on outerwear, along with mismatched velvet slippers adorned with playing card emblems.
“One of the things that the English do the best are these touches of eccentricities,” said Holloway shortly after the show. “Whether it’s taking a playing card motif and weaving it into a jacquard or a styling note like a scarf tied in a nonchalant way in the manner of Lucian Freud, I think it builds a little bit of character into an otherwise very timeless, classic look.”
For fellow British designer Paul Smith, whose brand is known for its colorful embellishments, the inclusion of sea-glass pins, along with sailing boat, seashell and penny pewter charms, were a clear nod to nostalgia.
Backstage, Smith explained that the pins were all made from “things we found” on the beach — a nod to his late father. “My dad loved going down to the beach and picking up pebbles,” he said. “A typical holiday would be him coming back with six to eight stones that he would paint a little yacht or cat on, and here there are fish and sea-glass.” As a memento, each guest was given a hand-painted stone on their seat as a takeaway.
At Dolce & Gabbana, models wore clusters of jeweled cameos and crystals cinched at the waist. Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana turned their focus back to the label’s Sicilian roots with a collection that drew on the Italian island’s volcanic landscape – and featured a more diverse line-up of models after last year’s heavily-criticized exclusively white cast. Imagine “the wardrobe of a visitor who is on his own voyage of discovery, combining the gestures of travel and leisure with decoration and color drawn from Sicily itself,” read the collection show notes.
Elsewhere, Prada made a case for vanity pouches swinging from belts; keychains were back at Tod’s; and at Giorgio Armani, models sported the letters G and A pinned to their blazers in homage to the late designer, who died last September.
“With menswear, it’s the details that elevate the look and allow for personality to shine through,” said Helen Seamons, a British stylist and menswear editor at the British Observer newspaper, from the front row. “Styling flourishes like a corsage, lapel pin or a piece of treasured jewelry turn an off-the-peg suit or jacket into something special.”
While the brooch has already found a permanent home on the red carpet, with actors including Connor Storrie, Adrien Brody and Colman Domingo leading the charge, it’s been a while since fashion week designers have collectively gone big on small accessories.
The stylist Ben Schofield, who worked on Paul Smith’s show and counts Callum Turner and Harris Dickinson among his clients, said that authenticity is key to getting a trend like this right in real life.
“At Paul Smith, where we put the pins — and how we tucked the ties in the pockets — was all about the feeling of (clothes) being lived-in and how they would be worn by the ‘Paul Smith man,’ who is a collector and is always picking things up,” said Schofield. It’s an approach, he added, that can stop sartorial accoutrements looking out of place or gimmicky when worn at home.
“You should always do what feels natural to you,” Schofield said. “I say to everyone that I ever work with, that if it feels like you’re putting on a costume, and you don’t feel like yourself, you won’t feel good. The key to everything is feeling good and feeling like you.”
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