Milan Fashion Week's Biggest Street Style Trends Exude Old-School Elegance

It's easy to get swept up in the showmanship of Fashion Month street style. Runway guests often dress with flash and flourish, angling to catch a photographer's eye and impress their peers with hard-won designer wares. Milan Fashion Week's street style trends, however, are a major exception. In the Italian city lauded for its heritage craftsmanship and high standards of luxury, you'll find a milder and more minimal presentation.

Take the current Milan Fashion Week Fall 2025 season, for instance. Rather than forcing a hodgepodge of statements into a single look, showgoers are cherry-picking one fashion trend at a time. Exaggerated wide-leg denim doesn't need an equally bold top half when a simple white button-down shirt does the trick. There's also no need to test drive all of spring's color trends at once, either—committing to one hue at a time works to ensure you don't bite off more than you chew color-wise.

It's a slower and steadier approach to Fashion Week street style—which, as the adage goes, is a surer path to success. And it makes sense that Milan's street style has a less-is-more approach; simplicity is a distinctly Italian fashion sensibility, after all.

Discover a sampling of Milan Fashion Week street style looks that feel like a love letter to simple, unfussy, old-school elegance ahead. They suggest some smart style philosophies to keep in mind as you test spring's foremost trends this coming season.

Color Commitment

A monochrome look in ivory feels fresh for spring when various fabrics are in play, like lustrous satin and stiffer cotton. Again, this all-white outfit is a lesson in less being more when it comes to color palettes.

Extra Wide-Leg Jeans

Seen all over New York City’s sidewalks and now Milan’s, extra wide-leg jeans are the unanimous front-runner of the spring 2025 denim trends. In top-to-toe Gucci, Milan-based blogger Tamu McPherson styled her baggy jeans with a white button-front blouse—notice the playful crystal-fringe trim peeking out from the hem—and chocolate suede horse-bit ballet flats. Gucci’s Blondie bag, a newcomer street style staple, and angular sunnies in the cherry red color trend were simple complements to round out her roomy denim outfit.

Corporate Dress Codes

You've read the office siren trend reports and seen the fashion campaigns that double as corporate dress code PSAs. (Monica Lewinsky for Reformation, for example.) So, it should come as no surprise that stylish women are wearing workwear outside of the office this season—Marie Claire's fashion director, Sara Holzman, included. In Milan, the 9-to-5-inspired style manifests in oversized suits and silk neckties.

Barrel-Leg Pants

Supersized proportions work well together in this guest's playful and compelling look, where olive barrel-leg pants pair nicely with a peplum-waist jean jacket and white pointed-toe pumps. See the jacket's corduroy collar? It's a subtle yet noticeable nod to the barn jacket trend that's not out to pasture just yet.

Skirt Suits

In Chanel-esque tweeds, corporate gray twill, and even of the micro-mini variety, skirt suits have emerged as one of 2025’s most prolific trends. This fashion week guest chose a silver metallic co-ord from Gucci for her one-and-done combination. There's that street style mainstay again—Gucci's Blondie bag—as a final touch.

Ice Blue

You've read that cobalt blue is a foremost spring 2025 trend, but its lighter sister shade, ice blue, deserves your consideration, too. Here, a Milan Fashion Week guest commits to the glacial color in a tonal baby blue and cream outfit, opting for a sequined maxi skirt, a faintly striped sweater, and beige pumps.

East-West Bags

Spring 2025’s bag trends pull inspiration from bygone eras and silhouettes of the past—notably the East-West bag trend, which dates back to the ‘50s. This stylish showgoer carried an elongated E-W black leather handbag and chose a textural animal print coat and black separates as classic complements.

Strategic Sheers

This sheer jumpsuit feels sensible thanks to its gauzy woven fabrication and colorful geometric print with a solid black base. Consider this look a lesson in making see-through silhouettes feel less NSFW and more responsibly flirtatious for Fashion Week.

Retro Capes

Scarf coats—or scoats, if you're feeling clever—have dominated 2025's cold-weather season. But a retro-inspired cape trend is a close contender, offering a sense of refinement that's reminiscent of Catherine Deneuve and Jackie Kennedy's fashion. Take it from this well-dressed guest, who opted for a pistachio-colored cape coat and matching slip dress.