Down in the dark tunnels beneath Milan’s Centrale Station, a mist unfurled over the crowd as models, wielding much-needed torches, premiered Massimo Giorgetti’s latest MSGM menswear collection. The show exuded a sense of the illicit, the soundtrack pumped disjointed, rumbling beats as a car alarm, or perhaps a police siren, echoed through the tunnels. At an initial glance, you would have thought the inspiration for this collection was perhaps the underworlds of Gotham, or maybe some Third Man-esque chase through the sewers. But Giorgetti was far away from all that. Instead he was in Tanzania, the show’s dusk setting reflecting the early mornings he spent gazing across the savanna.

And it all clicked into place. The long, sandy leather coats; the sunset-printed vests; the trousers that bleed from earthy brown to fiery orange; dawn is rising over the desert. In Giorgetti’s words, the collection is a “dance between the ethereal and the terrestrial.” He was not trying to push form or silhouette here, instead it felt as if he was trying to give a spotlight to the colours we rarely see on the runway. The brown and black leather suit, meant to be reminiscent of terrain, felt closer to a well-worn leather armchair in a working men’s club, but in the absolute best way possible. Cow print too saw a revival on belts, shoes, and even a full shirt and trouser combo.

The collection had a real focus on utility wear with its pocketed shirts and overshirts, wide cargos or micro shorts. Even the accessories – camera bags, hiking hats and rugged desert boots – all had a practical, utilitarian angle that could have genuinely come in handy in those tunnels – or the savanna. It’s good to be prepared.