The Zegna Spring/Summer 2025 runway show wasn't an easy one to get to. It's about a half-an-hour drive from the centre of Milan to the industrial space and from the outside, it looked like a blank white canvas. The inside however, Zegna had it converted into a field of linen plants concentrated towards the centre. This became the runway where the models eventually stood along neat emptied out space in the midst of the field.

The linen plants, however, weren't exactly what they appeared to be. Global brand ambassador Leo Wu proved this as I witnessed him cheekily playing with one before plucking it out from its spot. It was a metal rod, varnished into a specific of shade of yellow and gave it quite a naturalistic look. Aside from the Spring/Summer 2025 collection being centred around the brand's traceable Oasi Lino—a concept that's set to continue on every Spring/Summer season—it was also about this idea of how nothing is ever really what it seems. No two things are exactly same for artistic director Alessandro Sartori, even when they looked similar on the runway.

"It is the moment to focus on how items are or can be used, on the singular ways they mould to individual personalities," Sartori says, referencing how it's the right time to expand on the aesthetic that's been crafted and established since Autumn/Winter 2021. It's evident from the fact that the models engaged for the show were as diverse as they come in terms of age, race, and even gender. And while there were some commonalities among some looks in terms of colours or even print, each look was different, brought out even more by the attitude of the model wearing them.

The fit: It's the Zegna that we've all come to adore by Sartori. The tailoring was impeccable with the kind of flow and languid silhouettes that's favoured, but at the same time, cut at the right spots such that none of the models appeared to drown while wearing an oversized polo or a drop-shoulder blazer.

Necklines were reduced further that at times, they didn't require any sort of fastening. It's a subtle tweak but emphasised this hybridisation of formal and relaxed that's become a fundamental Zegna trait. They looked at home worn under the collection's more traditional suiting to create an almost perfectly layered collar effect.

The details: The brand is through and through a ready-to-wear-first brand. At the same time, its Triple Stitch footwear has become such an icon that it may be time to expand that universe a tad further. The runway saw only one footwear adorning the feet of all the models: a new loafer referred to as Mocassin. It's designed with a slightly rounded toe and crafted long and narrow to elongate. True to form, the Mocassin was also minimally designed but again, traipsed that line between formal and relaxed.

Similarly, the brand's bags haven't been much of a focus as a whole, but the capriciousness of the collection's bags definitely drew my attention. For starters, some models (including runway closer, Mads Mikkelsen) carried a different large one on each hand. These were probably some of the biggest bags that Zegna has done in a while and definitely made to be lived in—for just about everything and anything.

Three exceptional looks: The sumptuous and unexpected pairing of deep colours in look 7; the striking printed look 24 that's essentially a shortened pyjama suit; and look 33's stunning tonal combination of yellows with trousers cut to make one look taller.

The takeaway: A truly studied approach to approaching wearable luxury fashion in the contemporary sense.

View the full Zegna Spring/Summer 2025 collection in the gallery below.