Marking a major milestone in its 114-year history, Italian menswear brand Zegna staged its first fashion show outside Italy, bringing its quiet luxury to Dubai.

Dubai Opera was transformed into a desertscape that paid homage to the UAE and Zegna’s Italian roots. The venue was reimagined as VILLA ZEGNA, featuring a sand-strewn floor, native ghaf and palm trees, and the ambient sound of birdsong recorded in Oasi Zegna, the brand’s nature reserve in Piedmont.

Image: Zegna

Founded in 1910, Zegna has long intertwined fashion with nature, a philosophy first embodied by Oasi Zegna, the reforested land created by Ermenegildo Zegna. That ethos continues to shape the brand’s creative direction under Artistic Director Alessandro Sartori, who sees fashion as a dialogue between tradition and innovation.

The Dubai collection reflected this mindset. Garments underwent extensive washing and crinkling processes, designed to evoke the effects of desert sun and time, with softened textures and sun-faded colors. Sartori’s approach emphasized effortlessness: jackets tied at the waist, loafers worn as slippers, and a silhouette that was loose, light, and intentionally unstructured.

Image: Zegna

“There is an immediacy and a liveliness to the earthy allure of this collection that belies the layered thought process behind it,” says Alessandro Sartori. “While researching, we came across an image that felt illuminating, and that perfectly summed up my intentions. It depicts a chair, upon which items of clothing are piled up after being taken off, probably, ready to be picked up the day after. The stratigraphy and the casualness suggest a life lived intensely, which is what we are after. As designers, we do half of the work: the rest happens when clients interpret pieces’ day by day.”

He adds, “This individual, non-standard interpretation today is on the catwalk, showing the ZEGNA view in its natural environment: life. There is a culture of dressing, a proper and insouciant manner to it, which to me captures a peculiar Italian timbre that I want to keep as our signature.”

Image: Zegna

The collection featured Nehru-style shirts, tailored shorts under summer coats, blousons, weightless leather jackets, and pajama-stripe suiting. Zegna’s signature blending of categories, outerwear and shirting, formal and casual, was a central theme. Accessories included soft moccasins, wraparound sunglasses, and oversized bags.

Image: Zegna

A natural, tonal color palette was punctuated with richer notes, ranging from bianco Oasi and burro di montagna to barolo and fumo, with accents of felce, magnolia, and anemone. Fabrics further pushed boundaries: from sanded hemp and jacquard linen-wool to knitted leather and cotton-silk blends, each chosen for its ability to carry the imprint of life, wear, and movement.

Image: Zegna

The Dubai show was a step outward for Zegna, but one that stayed close to the values and ideas that have shaped the brand for over a century.