Milan Fashion Week for Fall/Winter 2026 was a week about new people in old houses, and the biggest of them closed it with a runway full of rappers. Maria Grazia Chiuri showed her first collection for Fendi, Prada layered and unlayered a cast of 15 women, and Demna’s first on-schedule Gucci show on Friday (Feb. 27) put fakemink and Nettspend on the catwalk.
Fendi: “Less I, more us”
Chiuri’s debut on Wednesday (Feb. 25) carried a slogan on the runway: “Less I, more us.” Russh counted 17 black looks to open, a shift for a house long tied to color, with sharply cut suits, lace dresses, laser-cut leather and detached shirt collars, and a co-ed cast walking together. The AP found plenty of fur, from bombers to patchwork coats, and reported hundreds of K-pop fans outside, there for Fendi ambassador Bang Chan, across the street from a dozen anti-fur protesters. The most moving moment was in the front row. Silvia Venturini Fendi, who stepped aside as creative director last fall, told the AP it was “very moving” and “the first time I have watched a Fendi runway show.”
Prada: layers, peeled
On Thursday (Feb. 26), Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons made layering the plot. The show opened on cozy knit sweaters and scarves, then the garments were ripped open and distressed as the runway went on, per AFP, via FashionUnited. Bella Hadid opened and was one of just 15 models in 60 outfits, each peeled back to reveal another look. Simons said the idea was to bring things together “that do not necessarily give you what you expect.” Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan sat front row, but AFP said most of the shrieking outside was for Thai actor Pond Naravit and the K-pop star Wooyoung.
Elsewhere in Milan
The AP framed the season around new creative directors. Louise Trotter showed her second Bottega Veneta collection, and Meryll Rogge was due to make her Marni debut that week. At Emporio Armani, designers Silvana Armani and Leo Dell’Orco looked to the 1920s, with newsboy caps, plaid and pocket-watch chains that AFP said recalled Peaky Blinders.
Gucci: a feeling, not an idea
Demna’s Gucci arrived in a room built like a museum, with marble statuary in the Palazzo delle Scintille, a show titled Primavera and a soundtrack by loki that Dazed says blended five genres. Models in skin-tight white minidresses and muscle tees opened it, in a look that the AP said evoked Tom Ford’s sex-fueled Gucci heyday. Kate Moss closed the show in a glittering gown that plunged at the back to reveal a double-G thong.
The new Gucci is built on body-conscious cuts. “I don’t want Gucci to be intellectual, but I want Gucci to be a feeling,” Demna wrote in his notes. The front row looked like a playlist: Steve Lacy, Rico Nasty, Shawn Mendes, Moses Sumney, Lee Know, Kim Petras and EsDeeKid, plus Alessandro Michele and Donatella Versace, according to Dazed. Complex added Feng and Kai Cenat to the guest list.
Read moreNettspend at 19: Fame Is 'A Gift and a Curse,' and NXO Is Next
The runway was the bigger surprise. fakemink, the 20-year-old UK rapper, and the 18-year-old rapper Nettspend each walked with a crossbody bag, Complex says. Dazed noted the pair had been in a bit of beef at the end of 2025 and hoped they had worked it out backstage. Complex called the moment well timed: it had just named fakemink among the rappers to watch in 2026, and Nettspend was preparing a new album the next month. We checked in with Nettspend in October.
Demna was back in September with a store-themed Spring/Summer 2027 show, and Chiuri’s Fendi followed in the same roundup.
Sources
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
