While women’s fashion usually gets the front row treatment—and comes chock-full of celebrities, gossip and ankle-breaking stilettos—men’s fashion often takes a backseat. But that wasn’t the case during the last week of June in Milan, when some 40 designers debuted their 2010 spring/summer menswear collections.  

And it couldn’t have come at a better time for Italy’s suffering fashion industry. Profits are still down and back in March, it even went so far as to ask for a government bailout [2]. But there are signs of life: 15 percent more collections were shown this time [3] around than in January, according to Mario Boselli, chairman of Italy’s National Chamber of Fashion. How did it go? “Designers at Milan's fashion week sought more to reassure rather than provoke with easy, familiar styles and vibrant colours for men next spring,” wrote the UK’s Telegraph [4] in its headline on the week.  

To keep you on top of the trends, we rounded up a few of the must-have styles for next spring—whether you’ll be wearing them yourself or buying them for a boyfriend, brother, or that co-worker who wears the same t-shirt and jeans every.single.day.  

Grey skies:

Even though grey has been a trend in men and women’s wear for the past couple of seasons, it seems grey, which took center stage at Prada and Versace, is here to stay—and colored everything from suits to vests [5], trousers to sweaters.  [6]

Denim all day:

Jeans, as we know, tend to be the cornerstone of most guy’s outfits, whether at a bar, or baseball game. And as luck would have it, D&G, Moschino and Trussardi, among others, are sending the message that anything goes next season: Ripped, almost-white, shiny, bedazzled or cowboy-esque [7], paired with button-downs, vests, or lots of plaid.   [6]

See-through:

Transparency was all the rage on the runways, with filmy sleeves [8], sheer raincoats and leave-nothing-to-the-imagination tanks [9]. A trend that the Financial Times [10] likens to the current economic climate: “Calls for transparency have been a feature of political discourse for the past year, so maybe it was only a matter of time before the theme filtered down from men’s minds to men’s wear,” writes Godfrey Deeny.   [6]

Shorts story:

The boys were showing some leg with to-the-knee shorts topped with traditional jackets, like in pin-stripes [11] at Gianfranco Ferre. I’m not sure if I could actually see any men walking around in these suits [12], but maybe in the post-recession era attitudes and fashions will be equally laid-back.   [6]

Bold and bright:

If fashion is known to mimic the feelings of the times, the strong colors present in many of the collections might indicate a much-needed reprieve from the recession—or at the very least a glimmer among the grey. To that end, Dsquared2 provided oranges, teals [13], greens, bright blues, Ferragamo added some yellow and Bottega Veneta displayed a full-on fiery red suit [14].