1. Prada’s retro-futurism

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The sharp collars, which appeared also on cardigans, are detachable, giving garments a longer life and utility. On the runway, they were sexily styled without shirts.

The pair continued their exploration of uniforms, the sort that exemplify the value of working and not projecting authority. In that vein, suede tunics with matching overcoats recalled an artisan’s apron, worn with a shirt and tie to emphasise the virtue of work, and over the season’s slim trousers.

The clean looks and minimalist tailoring had an intentional retro-futuristic feel, that Simons defined as “very Prada, in my opinion”.

Puffer coats had a rotund shape. Quilted T-shirts kept the torso warm under overcoats. Shoes were thick-soled lace-ups with raised piping. Bags were slim document or computer bags, with a thermos slot.

Suiting was mostly black or grey, with separates providing colour: trousers in red or green, cerulean blazers, yellow and pink cardigans.

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Even the venue at the Fondazione Prada was stripped of artifice, down to the concrete floors and walls and ceiling, which dropped back down as the models left the runway.

2. Simon Cracker pays tribute to Vivienne Westwood

“We are here thanks to her. She was the first to make garments from upcycling,” said Filippo Biraghi, who founded Simon Cracker with Simone Botte in 2010.

“We studied her, we wore her, we lived her and we feel allied,” Biraghi said of the British designer who died last month at 81. “She used fashion to protest, as a language of protest, for her entire history.”

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In this punk-inspired collection, each garment is one of a kind, promoting nonconformity. Caps served as epaulettes on jacket shoulders; a miniskirt was fashioned from tiered ruffles in the front and netting in the back; handmade blankets became overcoats. Knitwear was made from recovered yarn and in collaboration with designer Gaia Segattini.

In the spirit of Westwood, the show closed with a model swathed in a tulle garment with the words “demand the impossible” emblazoned on the front. The garment was a collaboration with Jamie Reid, the art director of the Sex Pistols, who donated clothes from his Ragged Kingdom brand for the final looks.

For the finale, all the models wore photos of Westwood around their necks. Biraghi, who wore a T-shirt picturing a joyful Westwood on the front, turned to reveal another image of her scowling on the back.

The designers said their messaging, one that has been with them since the brand’s inception, has grown more urgent, citing the danger to the planet and “the system’s mockery”.

“There is something wrong if you are not p***ed off today,” Biraghi said.

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3. Charles Jeffrey Loverboy’s Imagined Worlds

Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, the label of the self-proclaimed club kid and Scottish-born designer Charles Jeffrey, brought joy to the Milan runway with fanciful storytelling through knitwear, kilting and prints.

Jeffrey presented his “Engine Room” collection through three subcultures in a mythical floating city: workers, whose toil keeps the city aloft; posers, or former workers who now bask in luxury; and snakes, aka the media. While other brands hewed toward the minimal, Jeffrey went maximal, with a focus on sartorial details and an explosion of colour.

The workers were clothed in grey, black and white, faces smudged, with starry prints and clawed footwear. Posers burst with colour, including graphic prints from the archives of the Scottish artist and playwright John Byrne, metallic accents and endearing knitwear with kwai detailing like hoods with ears. The snakes had a goth edge, dark garments giving way to newsprint prints against a black-white-and-red (read) palette.