This is an edition of the newsletter Show Notes, in which Samuel Hine reports from the front row of the fashion world. Sign up here to get it free.
Good morning from day one of Milan Fashion Week Men’s, and welcome back to Show Notes. When I originally pitched this newsletter in 2022, I envisioned it as a daily report from the front lines (and at that point most definitely the second or third rows) of fashion week. As Show Notes grew and I found my footing on the circuit, and even started getting a better view of most runways, it evolved into a more feature-driven franchise than a diary. I figured readers would enjoy finding exclusive interviews with the likes of Demna in their inboxes, and my focus turned to covering the rock stars of our era—the fashion designers who were influencing our culture at unprecedented levels. I pocketed the insider’s diary idea.
But the fashion world is entering a new phase, and so is Show Notes. The big kahunas of the fashion world are still important, some more than ever, particularly those who have new jobs and the chance to take bold creative risks. I personally can’t wait to see how Demna will surprise—and hopefully shock—us at his debut for Gucci, and you can bet you’ll be reading about it in Show Notes.
But I’m moving the newsletter back to a daily format, at least during fashion week. Simply put, I want to cover more ground. Show Notes has always been animated just as much by the stuff happening off the runway as on—like rain shamans and the difference between “artistic directors” and “creative directors.” (I still don’t know the answer to that one.) And in recent seasons I’ve seen so much compelling clothing in showrooms and presentations that don’t get even a fraction of the headliners’ coverage.
Frankly, capital-F fashion isn’t particularly cool right now. Perhaps it’s the state of the wider world (burning) and the fact that the industry is in an unusual creative transition period, but it’s undeniable that the tastemakers of our time aren’t shopping with luxury brands right now the way they once did, at the leading edge of a wider sales slump. Don’t take my word for it. This week’s Business of Fashion headlines say it all: LVMH is “reeling” and Kering is in “crisis.”
It was telling that on Friday, as the spring-summer 2026 season got underway, the name on everyone’s lips—besides Giorgio Armani, who is ill and won’t be attending his men’s shows—was Umit Benan. Benan, a bearded, stogie-smoking veteran of the Milan and Paris runways, told me that what gets him out of bed these days is languorous hangs with his well-heeled clientele, to whom he serves as tailor and personal style shaman. “The creativity here is a little bit of a silhouette, a little mix of fabrics,” Benan said. “But there’s not too much creativity in the sense of fashion, right? I’m more interested in the conversation with the client. That’s what satisfies me.”
Umit Benan
Umit Benan won Milan Fashion Week before he opened the doors to a glossy new retail store. On Wednesday, his wife gave birth to their second child. On Friday, Benan sat in a mahogany club chair in his shop, wearing a lightweight pink overshirt and vintage denim, accessorizing his hospital bracelet with Chrome Hearts. (Style and luxury is, quite literally, his offsprings’ birthright: Benan’s wife, Margherita, is the daughter of late cashmere titan Sergio Loro Piana.) Despite the heatwave outside, which had already started to melt me, there was nary a bead of sweat on his brow.
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