milan design week 2026: The Trends That stuck with us
After a week of installations, exhibitions, panels and more espresso than is probably advisable, here are the trends that are sticking with me even after Milan Design week has ended.
Gucci “Memoria”
Technology with intention
My favorite exhibition of the entire week was Gucci's Memoria, and it wasn't even close. Instead of QR codes, they utilized a special app to scan woven tapestries, letting the story live inside the object itself. No interruption, no ugly black square interrupting the aesthetic — just the textile and everything embedded in it. It's the first time I've seen AI used as a genuine storytelling medium, and it's changed how I think about what's possible.
Arket x Leila Gohar
Collaborations that bring audiences together
The most exciting works at Milan Design Week this year weren’t coming from a single brand, but rather they were brilliantly crafted collaborations. The best ones didn't just share audiences, they made something neither could have pulled off alone. Kelly Werstler with H&M Home brought genuine high design to an accessible price point. Kohler and Flamingo Estate proved that wellness and the home are now completely inseparable. And Laila Gohar’s launch with Arket was the kind of unexpected pairing that stops you in your tracks.
Alcova Milano at Baggio Military Hospital
Spaces that make you want to stay
Comfortable seating, spaces to relax, food & drinks (& coffee!), tangible brand materials. The overhyped activations were a mess, and I couldn’t wait to leave. The ones I keep thinking about were built to make you want to stay. The lesson for brands: don’t just build something to look at. Build somewhere people want to be.
Range Rover “Traces”
Nostalgia and the feeling brands left behind
“The best brands don’t show you something. They make you feel something.”
I came across this quote at the Range Rover "Traces” activations, and it’s stuck with me. It perfectly captures what separated the memorable from the forgettable at Milan Design Week this year. The brands that resonated were the ones that triggered something emotional. A memory. A feeling. A sense of longing for something you couldn’t quite name. Range Rover’s bespoke color program was about memory & identity. Not paint. And there’s a big difference.
Dior Maison x Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance
Lighting: a dominant trend (& personal favorite)
From sculptural statement pieces to softly glowing immersive environments, lighting showed up everywhere and was impossible to ignore. Lighting isn’t just functional anymore. It’s the difference between a room and an experience. I liked Dior Maison’s Corolle lamp presentation so much I went home with un petit souvenir. 😏
Aesop “The Factory of Light”
Brands venturing into new territory
What does a skincare brand know about lighting? Apparently, quite a lot. One of the more fascinating patterns at Milan Design Week was witnessing established brands make deliberate moves into new product categories. Aesop, known for its cult-favorite soaps and lotions, stepped confidently into the world of lighting. When your brand aesthetic is strong enough, it transcends category. Aesop proved it.
Alcova Mexico City
Mexico: the next global design capital
We’re calling it now: given today’s political climate, global design brands will be increasingly looking to Mexico City when it comes to having a foothold in North America. After launching in Miami last year, Alcova Milano announced they’ll be heading to Mexico City in October 2027. Mexico has been quietly building toward this moment for years. Alcova’s move to Mexico City isn’t just an event announcement — it’s confirmation that the global conversation about design is expanding, and Mexico is at the center of it.
Ralph Lauren Palazzo
Nature as a design language
From earth tones to organic materials to motifs pulled directly from the landscape, nature continued its reign as one of design’s most enduring aesthetic threads. Ralph Lauren’s Saddlebrook collection was a standout example, grounding luxury in something primal and unhurried. In a week full of the shiny and the new, there was something deeply calming about designs that looked like they came from the earth.
Moncler “Have a Puffy Summer”
The inflatable moment (not my aesthetic, but I get it)
I’ll be honest: giant inflatables are not my thing. But I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t include them, because whether I liked them or not, they worked. Moncler’s “Have a Puffy Summer” installation and Skoda Auto’s “Ooooh That’s Epiq” were two of the most talked-about (and most photographed) activations of the week. In an environment where every brand is competing for a square inch of attention, sometimes the answer really is: go enormous, go weird and let the internet handle the rest.
Cabana magazine
Analog is so back
In a week saturated with screens, some of the most confident brand moves involved paper. Wallpaper* showed up with printed travel guides sold from a streetside kiosk. Cabana was everywhere too, and no Instagram story replicates what it feels like to flip through that gorgeous magazine in-person. Brands like Ralph Lauren, Design Hotels & Range Rover leaned in with physical newsletters. Putting something on paper in 2026 is its own kind of commitment, and that conviction doesn't go unnoticed.
Which of these trends landed for you? And it you were at Salone del Mobile / Fuorisalone / Milan Design Week, what did I miss?
