Nowadays, society is at a crossroads. Nearly every industry is navigating unusual territory between full-fledged nostalgia and an unfettered embrace of the future. Fendi Creative Director Silvia Venturini Fendi feels similarly, too. For the Italian brand’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection this afternoon in Milan, the longtime head designer re-upped this buzzed-about juxtaposition all the while championing classic house codes.

“It’s about a balance of decoration and simplicity” Silvia Venturini Fendi said in a statement released to VMAN. “An ageless sense of freedom to play, as we rediscover the luxury of free time.”

Just like the house’s famed “FF” logo, Venturini Fendi’s latest collection invested in the classic men’s wardrobe, though this time, skewing the uniform through playful pattern play, dynamic textiles, and a color palette that felt both natural and invigorating.

Opening the show were a trio of casually tailored looks—a flowing trench layered with baggy jeans, reimagined khaki trousers, and a monochrome blue ensemble paired a frayed denim crossbody.

Then, the Italian designer found her sartorial footing with wanderlust-inspired ready-to-wear that incorporated a handful of one-of-a-kind techniques: distressed trompe l’oeil prints, thermographic motifs, terry toweling.

Denim was a mainstay throughout the collection, with long-line 5-pocket jeans, twill shirt jackets, and breathable chambray shorts reimagining the age-old textile. Layering was a focal point, too, with oversized blazers shown with mid-thigh shorts and baggy trousers sported with ultralight short-sleeve button downs.

As per usual with the Italian brand, accessories were of equal importance, with logo-filled duffels, oblong totes, and of course, the famed Fendi baguette effortlessly complimenting the collection’s ultra-cool ready-to-wear. After all, the brand’s baguettes have been recently reimagined for the boys, too, not just Carrie Bradshaw and the cast of Sex and the City.

Though the moniker ‘juxtaposition’ gets tossed around quite a lot in the industry, Fendi’s latest menswear collection took the phrase and ran with it: intriguing but not overly didactic, classic and innately inventive, modern yet undeniably nostalgic. See more from the collection, below.