Presenting a stark, emotional take on the Adriatic Riviera in winter, the Bolognese designer strips away the postcard image of Italy to reveal a melancholic underbelly for FW25.

Presenting a stark, emotional take on the Adriatic Riviera in winter, Bolognese designer, Luca Magliano, strips away the postcard image of Italy to reveal a melancholic underbelly for FW25.

Unraveling truths with poetic precision has been a defining feature of Magliano’s vision from the start. Growing up as a working-class kid in Bologna, about a three-hour drive from Milan, he never dreamed of stitching couture dresses in ateliers or, even more quixotic, heralding a major house. Instead, Magliano’s infatuation with design came later. The practicality of life in Emilia-Romagna’s terracotta city became a lodestar guiding his social awareness. 

“Bologna taught me the spirit of: ‘you can do it for €5,’” Magliano once told L’Officiel. “It taught me to care about the causes of others, or at least to look at them without pretending to live in another reality, because it is a shared territory: workers’ rights are in the streets together with women’s rights and those of homosexuals.”

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The subdued color palette evoked the feeling of Italian seasides when the tourists are gone and waves crash against empty shores.

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The rejection of the establishment and bourgeois ideals pulses through Magliano’s work. The label maintains a healthy disregard for the traditional Italian wardrobe, subverting fundamentals to resemble an uncanny valley where familiarity and discomfort coexist. Unapologetically queer, it is masculinity dismantled to the point of gender fluidity. Think “Made in Italy” recalibrated for the IShowSpeed generation. Depending on who you ask, the aesthetic calls to mind everyone from Marni to Martine Rose to Our Legacy, yet none truly capture the label’s radical adroitness at remastering the old as new.

In Magliano’s Italy, it is not art, architecture, food, wine or history that embodies the essence of the country—albeit some of those themes do crop up—but a deep connection with classic film and literature. Cultural dalliances aside, narratives remain primarily rooted in the disenfranchised, inevitably tied to political discourse. 

When the label won LVMH’s Karl Lagerfeld Prize in 2023, the designer was quick to pay tribute to his roots. “Our brand has always been a sort of ‘citationist’ project, in the sense that it has been generated in my hometown Bologna, is deeply imbued with its underground culture and my own experience,” he said. “The personalities and characters we’ve been working with since day one are ethical symbols of certain beliefs and behaviors, either social or personal.”

Fast forward to Milan Fashion Week FW25 and the likes of Marni’s Francesco Risso, Gucci’s Sabato De Sarno, Moschino’s Adrian Appiolaza and Calvin Klein’s Veronica Leoni all gathered to witness Magliano’s latest show, undoubtedly one of the schedule’s biggest draws. As the lights dimmed and the abrasive, stormy notes of Berlin composer Aase Nielsen's soundtrack reverberated through the venue, Magliano’s models—male and female—emerged on the sand-strewn runway in everything from transparent mohair pants to Swarovski-adorned knits and flotsam-inspired chains and bracelets.

Magliano covered the runway in sand, while stormy notes from Berlin composer Aase Nielsen reverberated through the space.

The feeling of his homeland was present throughout, but not in an immediately graspable way. Rather, the audience found themselves in disorienting, altogether choppier waters. Design codes balance an appetite for chaos with severe sprezzy minimalism, from a jacket guillotined at the throat, resembling a Chanel bouclé piece reimagined for the apocalypse, to disheveled knitwear that feels borrowed from the shoulders of a sleepy librarian. 

Visual sanctuary is sought through Nudo by Magliano, a new label predicated on reinterpreting everyday essentials, while a collaboration with Milanese accessory provocateurs <a href="https://www.goat.com/editorial/medea-accessories-editorial-milan">Medea</a> subverts the semiotics of underwear, bringing garments rarely seen into high-resolution on bag designs. 

Perhaps, in today’s world, Magliano isn’t just fashion but more of a cultural manifesto—a call to honesty, embracing extremes and uncomfortable truths, being mindful to allow those on the fringes to dream. The way its founder always intended it to be.

Enter the <a href="https://www.goat.com/editorial/medea-accessories-editorial-milan">world of the Medea sisters</a> and discover the <a href="https://www.goat.com/editorial/radical-design-exhibit-memphis-group-ettore-sottsass">avant-garde design language of Memphis Milano</a>.

Medea Erin Tayor Bracelet With Enamel 'Multicolor'

Medea Mini Nina Bag 'Dark Brown'

Medea Franges Mini Nina Bag 'Cuoio'

Bottega Veneta Padded Cassette Bag 'Porridge/Gold'

Bottega Veneta Orbit Sneaker 'White Silver'

Adidas x Gucci Wmns Gazelle 'GG Monogram'

Gucci x The North Face Print Jacket 'Beige/Ebony'

Marni Kids Knit Wool Mix Striped Beanie 'Green/Black/White'

Miu Miu Down Jacket 'Alluminio'

New Balance x Miu Miu 530 SL 'Ecru'

Explore Curated Styles From Italian Brands

Uncovering the Raw Beauty of Luca Magliano’s Dark, Twisted Italy

From Willy Chavarria and Joe Freshgoods to Eli Russell Linnetz and Daniëlle Cathari, figures across disciplines share their year-end reflections and predictions.

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