Dolce & Gabbana burnish Barry White Sartoria

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 16, 2019

"You’re the First, the Last, My Everything," read the small matte-black invitation to Dolce & Gabbana Sartoria on Sunday night, and the entire soundtrack was by the late great Barry White.

 
This season, the duo moved their couture collection from the intimacy of their Corso Venezia boutique courtyard to their main show-space on Viale Piave. This collection didn’t so much shine as gleam – so crammed it was with gold, silver, zinc and metallic fabrics.
 
Tungsten-hued jacquard dinner jackets; aluminium calico smoking jackets; burnished nickel paisley suits just in the first dozen looks. A lengthy show with gilded gold topcoats; burnished metallic cheetah print redingotes or gold vestment-style crepe dusters.

Definitely not shy and retiring clothes. Then again, Dolce & Gabbana have never been quiet designers. If you want luxury minimalism or understated opulence then look elsewhere.
 

So much so, that the fantasy fabrics were anchored by equally attention-seeking footwear: powder blue velvet slippers with matching grosgrain ribbons; studded metallic moccasins or slippers that looked like they had been made from a pirate’s treasure chest.
 
Staged in the atrium of their headquarters, the cast marched down three flights of a jet-black stairwell before pirouetting and marching along a bright red carpet before an audience of some 300.
 
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana remain a quirky pair, who adamantly refuse to list their show on the official Milano Moda Uomo calendar. They only properly announced this show – uber discreetly – with private emails after most editors had reached Milan on Friday. Nonetheless, when it comes to haute-glam opulence and sheer unadulterated no-expense-spared indulgence in menswear, Stefano and Domenico still wear the crown.