Zegna’s SS ‘26 Dubai Show Is A Vision For A Slow, Quiet Luxury Legacy

At a time when fashion is mitigating its appetite for fast fashion [a la France’s latest litigation], Ermenegildo Zegna stands apart by not chasing trends, but by embracing timelessness, heritage, and emotion in each collection. The brand’s chief marketing officer and fourth-generation heir, Edoardo Zegna provides a vision for why Zegna isn’t just a luxury label, honing in on a philosophy of slowness, craftsmanship for the future of considerable quiet luxury. Recently, the brand hosted a destination Spring-Summer ‘26 runway show, bringing to life Villa Zegna, a precious moment to create an ethos for the future of Zegna enthusiasts.

Edoardo Zegna forgoes measuring success in quarterly sales or viral moments, leaning more on meticulously orchestrating the brand’s delivery to an audience. Conversely, he manifests through the Zegna name. “I love to be described,” he says pensively, “if you one day will describe our company as the slowest ‘company’ in the world.” The fourth-generation Zegna descendant has designed an internal operation that intentionally makes luxury for those who understand its intrinsic value. “Slow in the creation of the product, the ideation, the development,” he clarifies, “but then service is the fastest shift in the world.”

He compares the crafting of a fashion collection to a cook and their cuisine, “I’m in love with slow food – the idea of enjoying food that needs to be grown slowly, savored. In Italy, we say ‘il dolce far niente’ – the sweetness of doing nothing.”

The Summer 2026 runway show rejected traditional spectacle. Their latest presentation in Dubai, at the Dubai Opera, delivered more than a fashion show, doubling as an immersive experience. A journey through an oasis that represented the nature reflected in his grandfather’s journey themed the event.

“You had park rangers inviting you in, you heard the chirping of birds, then cows and sheep,” Edoardo describes. “The models weren’t wearing shoes. Some were holding them. It wasn’t about trends – it was about feeling. It’s about creating an equation of elements that give you butterflies in your stomach.” He forges the idea of Ermenegildo Zegna’s experience in the early 1900s.

For Edoardo Zegna, true luxury isn’t defined by price tags or exclusivity, leaning into the thoughtfulness of emotion. Lead by artistic director Alessandro Sartori, Zegna presented bomber jackets, scarfs, casual button shirts, wool jackets, shorts, and trousers that were understated while providing luster to common silhouettes. “This industry has been focused on facts and figures. How fine a fabric is, how flashy a logo is,” he states. “But true luxury should stand for feelings.”

Tracing the Zegna label back to 1910, his great-grandfather, Ermenegildo Zegna, built a wool mill in the Italian Alps, extending beyond just a factory, building a self-sustaining ecosystem and community. This legacy is chronicled in Zegna’s Born In Oasi [2024] a book and visual timeline of the Zegna community in the Italian Alps and how Ermenegildo Zegna thoughtfully built his name brand.

“My great grandfather in 1910 built this wool mill in the mountains of northwest Italy,” Edoardo Zegna explains. “He planted half a million trees. He built a road that connected all of it. He built a hospital, a school, an orphanage, even a half-Olympic swimming pool in the 1920s for employees,” he recounts. “The fact that people may not know about this is because he didn’t do it for fame. He did it because it felt right. That’s a feeling you can’t buy.”

“If I wasn’t in ‘this’ family, I’d work for Pixar,” Edoardo Zegna alludes. Continuing, “Like their films… I want every touchpoint to engage people emotionally. Our book Born in Oasi isn’t about products – it’s about making you feel something. As Maya Angelou said,” he paraphrases, “‘People won’t remember what you said, but how you made them feel.’”

While other luxury brands shout for attention with logos, trending designs, and hype, Zegna whispers its uniqueness within the gamut of luxury today. “Our two stripes are low-key,” Edoardo Zegna describes of the signature design feature signaling to those initiated. “It’s like if you know, you know,” he references. This “quiet luxury” ethos extends to every detail.

He illustrates further with a simple question that provokes thought for our generalized consumerism. “How can I sell you a $20 cappuccino?” The chief brand storyteller answers the rhetorical, sans listing ingredients, instead crafting an indulgent experience. “The only way I’m gonna make you spend $20 on a cappuccino is if it makes you feel different,” he declares. The same principle applies to Zegna’s garments in that each piece is designed to evoke a feeling deeper than aesthetics.

Zegna is reinventing the future with a vision of legacy through preservation. “The future is to create clothing that will stay in your wardrobe for another hundred years,” he says. Zegna’s materials are 100% traceable, all woven into garments meant to endure. “Our collection is 100% traceable. Linen from France, cashmere from Mongolia, wool from Australia, all made in Italy. Natural fibers are finite – I don’t care how much you pay, if we don’t have it, we can’t give it to you.”

Zegna remains diligent on slow, luxury fashion, upholding a standard conscious of the environment that built the brand. “Scarcity isn’t a marketing trick – it’s a reality,” Edoardo Zegna notes. “Natural fibers are finite. I don’t care how much you [want to] pay. If we don’t have it, we can’t give it to you.”

Zegna’s greatest luxury is slowness while some brands may value speed and size of production. “The most luxurious thing in our life is time,” he reflects. “I can’t buy time.” Zegna has created a legacy, whether over time through a meticulously crafted suit, or in its immediate, as an oasis runway show, the brand’s mission remains unchanged in making people feel more than just fabric on skin, but a legacy within.