From skinny jeans and laser prints to vintage washes and clean finishes, designers presented a taste of everything denim offers at Milan Fashion Week. The Spring/Summer 2025 collections showed a variety of jean fits as well as denim dresses, tops and outerwear to complete a head-to-toe look.
MM6 Maison Margiela showed denim that was equal parts Y2K and indie sleaze. Skinny jeans were shredded down to threads and cracked white coatings gave denim pieces a dystopian look and feel. Western snap-up shirts were cut into vests and relaxed jeans featured tonal patchwork, dirty tints and rips.
Philipp Plein showed shredded, ripped and patched jeans and jackets with bleached washes. The denim pieces were styled with racing-themed sweatshirts and hats.
For Diesel’s collection creative director Glenn Martens focused on elevating denim. “Denim micro shorts are embroidered with extra-long fringing, a length that would be impossible from regular distressing. A leather double breasted jacket is treated to look like denim, worn with distressed denim jeans with tufted front seams and embroidered fringing across the ankle. That same fringing finishes a little denim chambray slip dress, as well as embroidered fringe across the legs of denim jeans,” the brand described.
The collection also featured sweatshirts and tanks made with devoré jacquard, the cotton burnt away to the tulle beneath to create the distressed effect. Diesel used double loom jacquard that was lasered for tailoring and printed traditional Prince of Wales checks on jersey tanks and PVC bikinis and dresses.
Diesel brought the collection to life on a runway created from 14,800 kg of denim scraps, which will be reused for insulation.
“There is beauty in waste, in what is distressed and destroyed. It’s in the circularity of denim waste, and into the distressing that we build into the collection. This is the disruption of Diesel: we are pushing for circularity in our production as hard as we push the elevation of design,” Martens said.
Antonio Marras combined denim motifs with checks, florals and animal prints to create a vintage and collected aesthetic. Ermanno Scervino applied denim prints on outerwear and lace coordinates. Frayed pinstripes added texture to Ferrari light wash jeans, dresses, skirts, jackets and bra tops. Marco Rambaldi laser printed florals across denim trenches, dresses, shirts and more.
There were several moments of denim with ’70s medium to dark washes. Fiorucci showed the true-blue wash on overalls and a duster coat. Etro amplified the retro look with low-rise flare jeans and slim Bermuda shorts. The color popped against Bally and MSGM’s use of red.
Loose and wide-leg jeans continued to trend. The bottoms balanced Gucci’s floor-sweeping coats and grounded Versace’s clashing prints. The jeans were also a canvas for Vivetta’s floral embroidery.