The Top 10 Shoes of Milan Men’s Fashion Week Spring 2023
With Milan Men’s Fashion Week’s spring-summer ’23 season done and dusted, one trend stands above them all: There will be something for everyone next year. As fashion continues to find its footing (no pun intended) in a post-(and ongoing) pandemic world, it is individuality that seems to be defining fashion for all genders.
Milan’s spring ’23 men’s season continued to push the dress shoe over the once-ubiquitous fashion sneaker, though there is still room for the athletic staple in any collection. With any warm-weather season in the recent past, a slide sandal can be expected. Elsewhere
Here, a closer look at the top 10 shoes of Milan Men’s Fashion Week’s spring ’23 season.
1. Prada’s Cuban heels with a Western edge
The Italian fashion brand is known to set the tone for both styling and individual product, and both made big statements for spring ’23 menswear. Prada continued to show the short short with a black leather shoe, this time opting for a black leather boot with a Cuban heel and a bit of a Western flair to fill out the silhouette, echoing a current women’s footwear trend that is fast gaining traction even as the height of hot summer weather approaches. And while street style denizens are keen on pairing their black dress shoes with white crew socks, Miuccia and Raf make it clear here: black socks only with this look.
2. Fendi’s puffy slides
For all of its experimentation with gender codes (the crop tops suits! the pearls! the Mary Janes!), Fendi also knows that everyone will want an easy slip-on shoe come summer. The brand has long offered one, but this time around, it took the simple sandal and puffed it up with its double F monogram for a shoe that is destined to be a haute poolside hit.
3. JW Anderson’s mega hardware loafers
The footwear that Jonathan Anderson designs for both his JW Anderson line and Loewe are runaway hits with the more nuanced fashion follower, particularly a slip-on mule with a distinctive oversized chain link detailing. Anderson kept the big hardware trend for spring ’23 with a series of slide loafers, done in primary hues with a singular slab of silver metal running across the top.
4. 1017 Alyx 9SM’s Mono rubber boots
However the molded-rubber boot trend began, recent debuts prove that there is still more than enough room for experimentation with the silhouette and material. Matthew Williams may have teased a new Nike collab in the spring ’23 collection for his 1017 Alyx 9SM label, but the designer’s Mono boot (an update from the Mono slide) was inevitably more interesting.
5. Versace’s Greca slides
One keeps waiting for Versace’s Medusa platforms to cross over to the brand’s men’s runway. Until that day, there are these Greca flat slide sandals, the direct opposite of the platform in height but no less full of detailing, with its contrast stitching.
6. Gucci’s Ha Ha Ha heart printed boots
Gucci’s new menswear collaboration between Harry Styles and creative director Alessandro Michele may not technically be part of the spring ’23 season, but its Milan debut included a standout pair of white leather dress boots accented with a singular red heart that is sure to cross many seasons as a collector’s item when it debuts in October.
7. Moschino’s trompe l’oeil rubber boots
Call it the Kanye West effect. Those gigantic Red Wing and Balenciaga boots are trickling back to the runways in more creative ways, including at Moschino spring summer ’23, where Jeremy Scott took his trompe l’oeil sketch motif (previously seen in women’s collections) to a pair of black leather knee boots with a workwear shape.
8. Santoni’s hardware loafers
Echoing the mega hardware of JW Anderson’s slides, Santoni introduced a classic loafer using a hardware plate that was also seen in its fall ’22 women’s collections (on a high heeled pump, no less). The gold tone plate offers the right amount of flash and dress to the classic shape.
9. Etro’s all-purpose suede lace-ups
In a moment where the fashion sneaker is losing some of its ground but a dress shoe still feels a bit much IRL, there is a lot of room for an in-between casual lace-up shoe. Enter Etro’s lace-up, a Wallabee-style boot with a contrast welt stitching that makes it feel beachy even if it might be worn with a suit.
10. Brioni’s toe-ring sandals
In a season where the thong sandal made a few appearances — and bare feet were even a thing — Brioni’s toe-ring sandal offers a more elegant take on barely-there men’s footwear. Done in the simplest neutral leather, it’s an easy way to elevate the summer vacation wardrobe.
