SUNNEI Is Growing Up for Spring 2025

Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina always go for the least safe option, or so their SUNNEI Spring 2025 show notes state. In the past, the riotous design duo's models have crowd-surfed across attendees, faced real-time ratings from the front row and spilled their inner dialogues over venue speakers, all in the name of captivating as many eyes as possible. This season, however, the brand looked inward to truly discover what exactly it stands for on the precipice of its 10th anniversary.

"10 years feel like 100, because over this decade we've traveled through time to the point of losing all sense of it. Now, time feels distorted, and it's the moment to share this perception with everyone here. That's the experience offered to guests this season— that's the kind of interaction they'll be invited to: living in a different conception of time."

In Milan on Friday, the biggest "risk" the brand took was staging its show across two floors, a humble step back from the viral antics that have defined its previous spectacles. SUNNEI's models — all of whom were much older than those on neighboring runways — represented the label's time-twisting agenda. Their clothing, which the brand called "smart wear," was sprightly: eccentric colors, snobbish stripes and daring dimensions defined much of the line's style codes. The dichotomous presentation was ultimately quite thought-provoking. Why not wear a bold mesh long-sleeve in your 70s? SUNNEI's models made it look fierce.

Initially, Rizzo and Messina wanted to use artificial intelligence to design a "futuristic dystopian world" for its characters, but they were disappointed with the technology's output. So, instead, Messina asked her mother, Marlyéne Fantoni, to retrieve her artworks from the '80s to form the line's illustrative identity. Notably, foulards featuring the prints are now immediately available to shop on the brand's website.

The line was seasoned with illusory bags that were made simply out of paper. The designers called it an "ironic challenge" to spot them on the runway. What was real, though, was the T100 Pelotissima, a multi-toned sneaker that hit the brand's sweet spot of wearability, aesthetic and detail. SUNNEI's CAMPER collab, too, was no illusion: the duo created four footwear styles with eye-drawing, double-sole designs.

"Can Milan's Craziest Fashion Brand Grow Up? Can Fashion's Milanest crazy glow-up? Can the brand's fashion Milan up, grow crazy?" the brand wrote in its show notes, poking fun at Laura Rysman's New York Times article of the same title earlier this week. "Someone asks if Milan's craziest fashion brand can grow up, but that's the kind of pressure worth avoiding," the designers add. Well, if this show was any indicator, it's clear that the click-baiting label has decided to trade in its wilder show concepts for something more mature. SUNNEI would not be SUNNEI without some crazy, but 10 years into its madness, the label appears to be entering its version of adulthood.

See SUNNEI's Spring/Summer 2025 collection in the gallery above, and stay tuned to Hypebeast for more Milan Fashion Week coverage.

Click here to view full gallery at Hypebeast