At the ZEGNA Summer 2025 Fashion Show in Milan, the new men’s collection dubbed L’Oasi di Lino – a sanctuary dedicated to linen – celebrated the brand’s fabric of choice for the season.
The ZEGNA 2025 collection focused on uniqueness and showcasing singularity.
And the show was built around this premise, held in a vacant industrial space with what seemed to be linen plants standing out against the backdrop of stark white walls.
But these were not real plants. They were metal blades, painted in a sprightly Sentiero yellow to mimic the vibrancy of nature.
The show explored the intersection of man-made and natural beauty, highlighting individuality and the beauty of being different, as defined by ZEGNA’s new chapter and the luxuriant Oasi of Linen collection.
The slogan for the collection says it is about: ‘Us, in the Oasi of Linen – exploring the fields of plurality through the paths of individuality’.
ZEGNA has recently undergone what it calls a ‘reset’. And the slogan underscores the belief of the luxury Italian brand’s artistic director Alessandro Sartori, that, through the use of linen which he finds very ‘malleable’, he can create clothes for different individual personalities within the collection.
And he may be right. In summer, the catalyst of the ZEGNA ethos is linen. Supple and textured; sturdy yet soft; sensual but deliciously rough, Oasi Lino is used in a variety of weaving and knitting patterns, defining a wardrobe that is a distillation of what a well-to-do summer ensemble truly looks like: light, playful, easy pieces.
“Now that our reformed vocabulary has been established,” Alessandro said, “it is the moment to focus on how items are, or can be, used on the singular ways they mould to individual personalities.
“Linen is a wonderful medium in this sense: Oasi Lino is not only traceable and true to our commitment to sustainability, but it is also as malleable and sensual as the idea of the summer dressing we are prompting.
“There is something quintessentially Italian to this collection, in the gentry world the shapes suggest and the insouciant manner they are worn by men who play buoyantly with their own appearance.”
At the show, models displayed knitted shirts, blazers with peaked lapels and enveloping jackets.
The iconic ‘il Conte’ jacket was presented in several versions and a sleeveless style, meant as a gilet.
Also on display were roomy trousers and jackets while polos and shorts featured the only print: a design that appeared to show branches. Meanwhile, the colour palette ranged from hydrangea blue to terracotta to sand.
There was a linen-cotton blend as well as other precious fabrics, with one standout example being the mixes of mohair and silk.
The ‘Mocassin’ loafer, which could be scrunched up without any damage, was the only shoe in the show.
The collection defines the summery Italian attitude, as do the abstract prints, and the soft, capacious suede bags.
For more information, please visit www.zegna.com.