10 Trends That Are Taking Over Italian Style

In Milan, the more luxurious, the better. This season we saw an eclectic mix of fabrics and textures, layered together in a nonchalant way, giving us the rich-bohemian style seen from Gucci to Missoni.

This fall is all about prints, especially those that evoke travel, history, or art. At Prada we got everything from Egyptian to cosmic prints. No. 21 showed palm trees and sunsets, while Gucci rendered intricate architectural line drawings on silk skirts.

Call it the Gucci effect, but ever since Alessandro Michele’s sequined and embroidered snakes, birds, and tigers, we’ve seen more sequin creatures than we can count. Of course, it’s not always an exotic creature — your spirit animal can be as classic as a cat, à la Dolce & Gabbana!

The dramatic sleeve has well and truly earned its place with the in-crowd. This fall’s obsession is a tale of two sleeves — one is a voluminous puff on the shoulder, as seen at Gucci, and the other is more of a cocoon shape on the lower arm, as seen at Marni. Who knows what sleeve-y wonders next season will hold…

Bold stripes, abstract prints, colorful tiered ruffles — designers discovered myriad ways to work color into their designs, which means we’re in for a very bright and colorful fall.

Last year, we saw a lot of unfinished or frayed edges. This season, those loose ends have been replaced by fur! Hems of dresses, collars, and sleeves have all been updated with fabulous fur trimmings.

Brush off those cobwebs, caped crusaders — the cape is back this fall. The sleeveless style can elevate a skirt suit, as seen at Agnona, or just help you up the cool factor, as seen at Prada.

After several seasons of bomber jackets, fashion turns its attention to another military-inspired topper: the dress-uniform-inspired jacket. From Dolce & Gabbana to Roberto Cavalli to DSquared, tassels and gold trimmings are all in order.

Embellishment and heavy use of sequins was everywhere in Milan — perhaps it’s the designers’ way of reducing fast-fashion knockoffs. From sweaters to lace dresses to the most delicate of silks, the sequin made a strong, sparkly showing.

Beautifully cut coats were a major theme in Milan. There were oversized, monochromatic coats worn over pants from Bottega Veneta and exquisitely tailored, strong-shouldered versions by Jil Sander.