Dolce & Gabbana closes a confusing day in Milan with a smoldering show

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 24, 2020

They almost didn’t have a Dolce & Gabbana show in Milan on Sunday, as the city rapidly moved to demi lock-down after the first deaths from coronavirus in Italy; one of them in Lombardy -- the region where this city is located.

Local police insisted that the Dolce & Gabbana start their show on time, instead of the customary half-an-hour late of most shows. Otherwise, the police warned the house, they would close down the venue.
 
So, with dozens of late arriving buyers and editors forced to watch from the upper galleries, the show kicked off inside the Dolce & Gabbana show space on the city center Viale Piave.

Like in their January menswear show, the duo focused on the craftsmanship and hand-made traditions of Italy. They had a half dozen artisans in their lobby – from goldsmiths, cobblers and seamstresses – to greet guests. Plus, their backdrop was a series of black-and-white clips of ancient traditional crafts – engravers, embroiderers or gilders.

 Moreover, Domenico and Stefano used lots of different menswear fabrics from bankers’ light gray chalk-stripe, to glittering pinstripes and dashing houndstooth. Cutting all sorts of great Tomboy dandy suits, with double-breasted jackets and pants that ended well above the ankle.
 
Though it being Dolce & Gabbana, there was plenty of sizzle – with multiple versions of their signature naughty widow look. Semi-sheer negligee dresses in chiffons and silk satins; and a great checked shirt-dress with a naughty corset crowded out the runway. On the soundtrack, the late great Amy Winehouse yearned through Valerie and Our Day Will Come.
 
The gents even named the collection “Fatto a Mano” or hand-made in Italian, in an homage to a way of life that stills exist in Italy, and in few other places. Ironically, given the yearning for a simple life, there was a couture quality to many looks, in particular, the pearl-encrusted cabans and skirts. Albeit, worn with saucy laced booties on girls, who let their shirts fall right off one shoulder.

 
Again, like in January, they ended this mammoth array of fashion with lots of knobby woolen coats and capes, the sort of material one associates with Calabrian shepherds on a cold winter night.
 
Following their massed model finale, the duo took their bow before embracing their favorite American fan, Cameron Dallas.
 
A distinctive and clever collection for sure, but the overbidding memory will be the gloom that settled on Milan, as Giorgio Armani staged a no-audience show two hours after this show. Notwithstanding the fact that across the street from his Via Bergognone headquarters, they were still selling tickets to the Peter Lindbergh retrospective inside Armani Silos.

 
Adding to the sobriety, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana cancelled its Sunday night awards event Camera Buyer Italia - Fashion Hub, and a second event scheduled for emerging designers on Monday.
 
The Camera did stress in a communiqué “that the penultimate day of the Milan Fashion Week ran in its completeness. Some brands decided to run their shows with closed doors, others decided to keep the fashion shows open, but only for a limited number of professionals to allow the brands to not lose all the hard work carried out in last months.”
 
Still, the week had begun with medical staff checking every passengers' temperatures on arrival in Milan. So, there was distinctive sense of relief as the fashion flock all gathered at Linate airport again on Sunday night to move on to Paris.