Zegna comes to Malibu to showcase its cool and chic summer collection

Choosing a runway venue is always a challenge. Three weeks after the Dior show in Los Angeles, which took place within the grounds of the new LACMA museum, and the day after a spectacular Hermès show held in the Bel Air hills, the Italian luxury house Zegna chose, like Miu Miu did in 2023, to bring its guests to Malibu to present its Summer 2027 collection.

It was a risky choice, as Malibu—which was hit hard by the fires of January 2026—still bears the scars of the disaster, with its coastline revealing miles of concrete ruins and rows of charred palm trees. It was also a risky choice due to the distance—a one-hour drive from Hollywood—and the highly unpredictable weather at this time of year, when the sky from Malibu to Venice darkens due to the “June Gloom” phenomenon.

It was thus under a gray, rain-threatening sky that Malibu Pier welcomed the 600 Zegna guests, most of whom arrived by shuttle or were driven by some 250 handpicked private chauffeurs, all greeted by a host of attendants in white uniforms and carrying white parasols, and ushered onto this legendary 240-meter pier bordering Surfrider Beach, a legend among Malibu surfers.

Without the sun, but surrounded by the mighty ocean and the rugged Malibu mountains, Alessandro Sartori, creative director of Zegna, unveiled his first silhouettes to the dramatic and moving music of violinist Mari Samuelsen, in front of an audience of stars, including actors Mahershala Ali—an Oscar winner for his memorable roles in “Moonlight” and “Green Book”—and Rami Malek, as well as legendary basketball player, Scottie Pippen.

Playing on the spirit of chic and casual style—a hallmark of the Zegna brand since Sartori took over as creative director—the show opened with a series of fluid striped suits, designed to be worn with pants or shorts, crafted from linen or seersucker, and styled in a color-blocking scheme with matching shirts.

A showstopper, the belted safari jacket was also reimagined as a short-sleeved overshirt, masterfully pairing black with orange. First seen last season, the multifunctional double-breasted jacket made a comeback. Shirts played with collar heights—sometimes slit, often turned up, high, or even very high—and featured removable or interchangeable collars. Blazers concealed adjustable half-belts to create a fitted or looser silhouette.

Set to the nostalgic music of Italian composer Bruno Lauzi, the Zegna man continued his celebration of modern elegance, pairing wide-leg pants with soft knit jackets, and daring to pair sea-green gabardine with an ochre and terracotta-colored shirt. Utterly sexy, leather jackets and bomber jackets in woven and knitted suede enriched the palette of textures and new colors. The star of the show, the stripe played with every direction, regularity, irregularity, and thickness.

A master of color, creating a harmony of fluid aquamarine tones, shades of water, and seaweed, accented by vibrant hues of earth, coral, seashell, sand, and desaturated black, Sartori also surprised with his attention to detail, punctuating each silhouette with small touches of cool and chic, such as sweaters tied around a buttoned jacket, small silk scarves tied around the neck, or ultra-soft leather mules. The list of accessories also included a few spacious travel bags, striped or solid-color nubuck totes, and square sunglasses.

“This collection sought to draw inspiration from the spirit of the Villeggiatura which reached its peak from the 1950s through the 1970s, “explained Sartori. “It was about relocating one’s entire life, for the duration of a season, by transporting the family, rituals, habits, and a certain idea of elegance from one place to another. This spirit remains very much alive at Zegna. It represents a mindset, a way of living, and a way of dressing.”

“In this collection, I wanted to express a Zegna-take on summer, our vision of leisure dressing as something that’s drenched in a cultivated attitude, in a discerning gaze that’s profoundly Italian” added Sartori.

“There is something so ours to what we did this season, with an openness that feels cosmopolitan rather than being proudly or narrowly local. The urge to experiment, which at Zegna is a matter of shapes as well as materials, keeps driving us forward. Everything here starts from fabrics, which have texture and pattern, and look endlessly renewed by simply twisting and turning the subtlest elements, even just a thread. Constant evolution is what we strive for.”

Escorted to the Malibu Pier parking lot, guests might have crossed paths with Malibu surfers, clad in black wetsuits and with tousled hair. The destination was Château Marmont in Hollywood, where the Zegna after-party took place on the hotel’s large terrace and in its private lounges.

To the tune of “C’est la Vie,” guest dancers reenacted the twist dance from the “Pulp Fiction” movie, performed by John Travolta and Uma Thurman. Cigarette packs were handed out to anyone who wanted to embrace the Italian way of life for the evening, negroni and spritz in hand.