Two down, two to go – people, we’re at the halfway point! With New York a done deal and London Fashion Week blown out of town by Storm Franklin (Eunice who?), the fash pack has descended on Milano like a swarm of preening, designer-clad locusts for part three of the AW22 shows. Coming right up across the course of the next five days are shows from the Italian scene’s biggest players, including Versace, Fendi, and Prada c/o Raf and Mrs. P. Moschino is back on the schedule, so suspect some campy fun from Jeremy Scott, Glenn Martens’ finally gets his Diesel catwalk debut, and Blumarine will likely be serving up its special blend of Y2K, Euphoria-ready, glitter-strewn glam. As ever, we’ve got you covered with the latest happenings from the runway right here – and make sure to follow @dazedfashion for more breaking news.

DIESEL

If AW22 belonged to one designer and one designer only, surely it would have to be Glenn Martens. Not content with putting out a Y/Project collection that will surely go down in fashion lore, or even adding a seminal turn at the helm of Jean Paul Gaultier, where he debuted a heart-stoppingly beautiful guest couture offering, on the first day of Milan Fashion Week, the brilliant Belgian finally got the chance to take his vision of 90s denim stalwart Diesel to the runway. What did that entail? In a cavernous space dotted with huge, almost unnerving sculptures of ass-up, face-down, kneeling models that brought to mind Niki de Saint Phalle’s subversive works, Martens offered up all manner of twisted denim – from huge, hulking, pieced-together trenches to hacked-to-bits mini skirts, to classic jeans subverted through wiggly, wobbly seams and the addition of various adjustable zips and fastenings. Elsewhere, distressed hoodies bearing big, bolshy logos and curve-hugging moto jackets were matched with the kind of leather skirts your dad would insist was a belt – some studded with crystals or otherwise embossed with Diesel’s recognisable ‘D’ emblem – and more massive coats sliced and shredded in grotesquely garish shades of acid green, pink, and orange. Given he’s kept us so well fed this season, we hope Martens has a couple of weeks in the Maldives or somewhere similarly gorgeous booked post-AW22 – with three such strong collections under his belt, we can’t think of anyone in fashion who deserves a pina colada in the sun more.

FENDI 

After a few seasons spent keeping a low profile, Ms. Bella Hadid was back on the runway, as she opened the latest chapter of Kim Jones’ Fendi odyssey – slinking through the show venue in a light-as-air peachy-pink chiffon slip, a bookish pair of glasses, and something that looked suspiciously like a fuzzy shrug (a 00s relic I’m surprised it’s taken this long to return, tbh). With the rest of Fendi’s model cohort wearing similarly sheer looks – from frilled chiffon trousers and tanks, to granny-pant flashing pencil skirts – substance came via hip-length leather trenches with cinched waists and tailored bustiers layered over neat shirts or otherwise under prim, boxy jackets. The inspiration for this season, Jones explained, came when Delfina Fendi – daughter of Silvia – turned up to work in a shirt from the house’s 1986 collection, which in turn was referenced by Karl Lagerfeld back in the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, given the unfailing fervour for anything from this era, the whole thing felt very now, dragged further into the present day by various accoutrements littered throughout – from AirPod cases strung from belt-loops, to new, logo-emblazoned takes on everyone’s fave It-bag, the Baguette.