Inside Allianz MiCo on Monday, Zegna closed Milan Fashion Week with a sprawling show that felt like a brisk walk through the grasslands of Australia—fitting, since that continent produces some of the world’s highest-quality wool and is the birthplace of founder Ermenegildo Zegna’s Wool Trophy Awards (circa 1963). Each year, the winning fleece is turned into a rare thread dubbed “Vellus Aureum,” lending its name to this season’s runway.
The set, carpeted in realistic turf, resembled a birds-eye view of rolling pastures. Screens flashed images of Merino sheep grazing in distant paddocks, underscoring the brand’s wool-centric tradition and highlighting its new Vellus Aureum line. This fabric, sourced from lambswool clocking in at 12 to 13 microns, sits below the average cashmere range and boasts a durable, pill-resistant structure. It’s a natural fit for Zegna’s forward-thinking approach—one that has included renewed commitments to sustainable wool sourcing and traceable fibers.
Actor John Turturro exemplified this season’s design direction in a roomy, shearling-collared tweed overcoat with a detachable liner, angled pockets, and extended proportions. The brand’s signature layering—note the double shirts peeking from beneath cashmere v-necks—added a sense of relaxed weight. Down below, pants broke at the ankle to nearly obscure chunky loafers, pushing proportions a step further.
All across Zegna’s lush hillside, Alessandro Sartori demonstrated how a man “has raided a wardrobe in which pieces have been collected over the decades, for their emotional and material value.” The collection ran on an earthy palette of browns, reds, and greens, but balanced heritage patterns—like enlarged Birdseye and Prince of Wales—with new silhouettes and bigger lapels. Blazers were loosened up, coats were reimagined with raglan sleeves, and the v-neck line dipped to mid-sternum, announcing a bolder stance.
The show also nodded to Turin. “There is something quintessentially ’Torinese’ to this collection, in the cultured attitude the shapes suggest and the insouciant manner they are worn, which is a particular way of being Italian,” Sartori said. Indeed, you could picture this lineup on a range of personalities, from the minimal-leaning Gen-Z crowd to the savvy Boomers who appreciate the brand’s rich history.
It’s a fresh vision that pulls from all eras. As Zegna continues refining its wool expertise—and recently expanded its sourcing partnerships in Australia—the house remains attuned to a wide demographic. Call it a modern balance of tradition and reinvention, pitched perfectly on that sloping, green set.
