Zegna Unveils Spring/Summer 2027 Collection in Malibu
Italian menswear label Zegna recently traveled to Los Angeles to unveil its spring/summer 2027 collection. Named La Villeggiatura, an Italian word referring to a leisurely stay in a beautiful location, typically during the summer months, the show took place on the Malibu Pier, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The brand transformed the seaside spot into an Italian-style beach club with striped umbrellas and seats in bright orange.
Taiwanese model Philip Huang opened the show clad in an off-white double-breasted pinstriped jacket and matching pants paired with an unbuttoned blouse. That suave outfit set the tone for a collection designed for lazy summer days.
Zegna’s artistic director Alessandro Sartori envisioned the runway as a passeggiata (leisurely stroll in Italian) along the beach, which resulted in loose silhouettes and a relaxed vibe for a collection that was a modern take on Italian lifestyle and California’s laid-back cool.
The starting point for the range, Sartori explained in a chat with editors the day after the show, was a nautical collection named E. Zegna Yachting that the brand made in the 1970s and 80s, when it sponsored regattas in Portofino, on the Italian Riviera.
Seersucker suits, intarsia bombers, linen overshirts, safari jackets and cosy knitwear dominated the effortless line-up. Each look was paired with buttery soft moccasins, and impeccably styled with accessories such as silk scarves nonchalantly tied at the neck, and roomy tote bags.
A sunny palette of desert hues and ocean-inspired colours dominated the collection while a series of green looks in the middle of the line-up added a jolt of energy.
The range unsurprisingly stood out for its beautiful materials. Zegna famously began as a fabric mill in the northern Italian town of Trivero and still produces all its textiles in-house – a rarity in the fashion industry – from wool and cashmere for its winter garments to the linen, raw silk, gaberdine and more woven fabrics used in this collection.
The casting was outstanding: diversity done right and not just to tick boxes, with models of different backgrounds and ages, reflecting Zegna’s global customer base. A couple of outfits were worn by women, including Belgian fashion model Elise Crombez.
“We don’t design for women,” said Sartori. “But we like the idea that the partner, daughter or sister can borrow garments from our clients’ wardrobes, and if she does borrow those garments and wears them in her own way, that’s beautiful, like a linen overshirt, because we’re creating a modular system that gives more meaning to the garments themselves.”
Actors Rami Malek, Paul Dano and Stellan Skarsgård, and NBA legend Scottie Pippen were among the Zegna-clad dapper gents who attended the show before making their way to the after-party, held at the legendary Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard, transformed for the occasion into Villa Zegna, an invitation-only private club.
Evoking a summer residence, the space is a celebration of all things Zegna and Italian joie de vivre. Lounges, bars and even a news-stand inspired by those seen in Italian piazzas are part of the set-up, which top clients will be able to visit while it stays open for five days after the show.
Villa Zegna – a concept the house launched in 2024 and has since brought to Shanghai, New York, Dubai, Miami and Milan – is an effective way to cultivate high-spending customers and immerse them in the universe of the brand while also giving them the opportunity to update their wardrobes with custom-made garments and unique pieces not available in stores.
Zegna, which last June launched its spring/summer 2026 collection in Dubai, is the latest in a number of top brands focusing on the US market, one of the few bright spots in the luxury industry amid a protracted slowdown in China and uncertainty in the Middle East. In December last year, Chanel held its Metiers d’Art 2026 show in an abandoned subway station in New York, while Moncler travelled to Aspen, Colorado, in January to show its latest Moncler Grenoble line.
Just last month, Dior held its cruise 2027 show in Los Angeles, followed by Gucci in New York’s Times Square and Louis Vuitton at The Frick Collection, also in New York. Meanwhile, the day before the Zegna show, French leather goods house Hermès brought the second chapter of its fall/winter 2026 collection to Los Angeles, too.
Commercial reasons aside, however, Sartori has always had a soft spot for the US, particularly California, where he likes to travel often. In 2023, the brand held an event in the city to unveil its collaboration with Los Angeles-based label The Elder Statesman.
Meanwhile, in an interview the day after the show, Gildo Zegna, group executive chairman and grandson of company founder Ermenegildo Zegna, revealed that for the first time in a decade, this year the US will overtake China as the brand’s biggest market.
