Zegna returns to its roots
The brand’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection starring Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen exudes quiet power and a sense of legacy
LUXURY, AT ITS HIGHEST LEVEL, is not about novelty. It’s about returning to origins and making them new again. For Fall/Winter 2025 (FW25), Zegna does exactly that: It goes back to Turin, Italy; to the silhouette that defined its founder, the Torino, named after the city; and to the fibre that has become its Holy Grail, a Merino wool so rare it eclipses even cashmere and vicuna.
The campaign, fronted by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen – the brand’s global ambassador – is more than a seasonal presentation. It’s a statement of heritage, mastery and the kind of elegance that doesn’t care for noise, because it has always had gravitas.
The Torino: A suit with history woven into its seams
When Ermenegildo Zegna himself began weaving cloth in the tiny alpine town of Trivero, Piedmont, in 1910, he didn’t just produce fabrics; he created codes of style. His tailor in Turin, the Piedmontese capital, was where these codes took form. The Torino suit, with its structured shoulders, wide lapels, and balanced proportions, went beyond being another Italian cut. It became “the” Italian cut for men who wanted presence without flamboyance.
Unlike the softer, more casual Neapolitan style, the Torino carried authority. It looked equally at home in the theatre as it did in the boardroom. Over the decades, it found its way onto men like Robert De Niro, Adrien Brody and Mahershala Ali – all of whom understood that the right suit doesn’t just fit; it frames. Beyond the lights of Hollywood, it quietly became the uniform of those who saw no need to shout about their power.
For FW25, the silhouette returns, sharpened with contemporary precision yet still carrying that whisper of 20th-century gravitas. Rounded pockets add ease; three-button sleeves nod to house signatures. But make no mistake: This isn’t nostalgia. It’s a reminder that Zegna doesn’t chase trends; it writes its own language of tailoring.
The Golden Fleece: Vellus Aureum
At the heart of the collection lies the suit that has achieved near-urban mythical status: the Vellus Aureum. To the uninitiated, it’s another beautiful Zegna suit. To those in the know, it’s the brand’s ultimate flex.
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Vellus Aureum – Latin for the legendary “Golden Fleece” – is the rarest cloth Zegna produces. Each year, the house scours the globe for the finest Merino wool, holding an annual competition among shepherds in Australia and New Zealand.
The winning bales, with fibres measuring around 11 microns in diameter (thinner than a strand of human hair), are purchased at record-breaking sums, often exceeding US$50,000 for a single bale. From this, only a handful of suits can be produced, each reportedly priced between US$20,000 and US$30,000, and made in couture-like fashion: Hand-finished trousers, pure silk linings, and architecture so precise it feels invisible on the body.
In an industry where cashmere is common and vicuna is whispered about as the ultimate indulgence, Vellus Aureum sits in a category of its own – rarer than both, and almost never seen outside Zegna ateliers. To own one is to join a club so small it doesn’t even advertise its existence.
The FW25 interpretation renders the fabric as a featherlight flannel, tactile yet ethereal, more a sensation than a textile. It is the kind of garment not worn for show, but for self – because the only person who needs to know you’re wearing Vellus Aureum is you.
Where it all began
Once, Zegna was invited to an evening at the Teatro Regio di Torino, Turin’s 18th-century opera house and the city’s grand stage of culture and society. For the occasion, Zegna demanded something extraordinary from his tailor, a suit that would embody not just fabric and form, but the dignity of the man wearing it. It was made from Vellus Aureum, naturally.
To bring this story to life, the brand chose an ambassador who personifies its codes: Mads Mikkelsen. Known for roles that blend menace with elegance, Mikkelsen has always been a master of presence. In the FW25 campaign, shot in and around the Teatro Regio di Torino, he embodies the Zegna man: Composed, enigmatic, and rooted in something deeper than fashion.
There are scenes where he walks through Turin’s arcaded streets, pausing for respite at cafes, the Vellus Aureum suit moving with him rather than against him all the while. These are small moments, yet they distil what Zegna has always promised: Clothing that frames life, not the other way around.
A refined way of life
In returning to Turin, Zegna isn’t just retracing history. It is defining Italianita – that uniquely Italian interpretation of elegance. Not ostentatious, not casual, but exact. A rhythm, a taste, a way of life that has no need to be explained.
Turin has always been a city of discretion. Unlike Milan’s fashion-fuelled energy or Rome’s theatrical flair, Turin is about quiet authority. It is a place of craft, industry, and measured confidence.
In a world obsessed with hype and logos, Zegna’s FW25 collection feels almost radical. It insists on precision, rarity, and the belief that true style is timeless. The Torino silhouette offers a lineage of refinement; the Vellus Aureum suit presents the pinnacle of connoisseurship. Together, they remind us of a belief that has guided the house since 1910: It’s not a suit. It’s a Zegna.
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