SALVATORE SANTORO FW26–27

 
​SøEdited Team
SøEditor-in-Chief: Chris Saint Sims 
​SøFashion Director: Savannah Barthorpe

​Rooted in Time
  
Salvatore Santoro enters the Milan Fashion Week calendar with a measured debut, presenting its Men’s and Women’s FW26–27 collection alongside the opening of its first permanent Milan space at Via Marcona 3. The gesture is deliberate. Expansion without acceleration. Presence without spectacle.

‘Rooted in Time’ the collection reinforces Santoro’s long-standing investigation of leather as both material and method. Time remains the brand’s primary design tool. Rather than responding to seasonal urgency, garments evolve through accumulation. Past and present coexist without nostalgia or futurism. Everything feels worn-in, yet precise.

Silhouettes are open and protective. Oversized outerwear, generous proportions, and softened constructions create volume without rigidity. There is no sharp tailoring, no overt gender coding. Menswear and womenswear operate on the same axis, allowing form and function to negotiate quietly. These are clothes designed to be inhabited, not imposed.

Leather sits at the centre, treated with confidence and restraint. Carefully traced from origin to final construction, it functions as structure rather than surface. Hand-drawn patterns and seams follow the material’s natural behaviour, allowing weight, fold, and stretch to dictate shape. Sophistication emerges through technique, not decoration.

The colour palette is subdued but expressive. Ochre, burgundy, deep green, and powdery light blue surface through material treatments rather than applied pigment. Light and shadow activate texture, reinforcing the collection’s emphasis on tactility and depth. There is continuity rather than contrast, a refusal of seasonal colour narratives.
Naples, the brand’s home, is present as process rather than reference. Its influence is felt in proximity to making, in inherited craftsmanship, in respect for material as daily practice.

Sustainability is embedded, not announced. Materials are sourced from the food industry, exotic leathers are excluded, waste is minimised, and a lifetime service reinforces long-term ownership. These garments are intended to age, improve, and gather meaning.

The Via Marcona 3 Milan space extends this philosophy architecturally. Designed by Parisotto + Formenton Architetti, the 380-square-metre environment functions as narrative rather than showroom. A raw metal staircase cuts through the interior, while mirrored surfaces implicate the visitor. Archival pieces anchor the present to origins dating back to 1887.
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Time, made visible.