Dolce & Gabbana: a little of the good old time religion

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 25, 2018

But have you not heard silver and gold is the New Black? Or that religion is the new opium of fashionistas? At least they are chez Dolce & Gabbana this season.

 
The duo named their Sunday afternoon show Fashion Devotion, and packed the runway with religious vestments culled from saints, cupids, bishops and nuns.
 
High mass gold finery appeared all over the show, and in a brilliant stunt, the gents began their fashion ceremony with a half dozen drones ferrying out new Devotion clutches and bags – all the way down the runway.

Then the first model strolled out – a naughty nun in black and white with a lace mantilla and a top bearing the legend: Fashion Sinner D&G. Followed by a ski parka worthy of a Borghese cardinal; a sequined snowboarder with silver cupids or medieval saints from a mosaic worthy of Ravenna; and an après ski party vixen wearing a three-tiered papal ceremonial hat. Several gals carried golden papal crowns inverted into handbags. One remarkable shearling jacket read Amore on the collar and included panels of angels carrying a heart toward heaven.
 
Rarely has the spiritual been mixed so much with the seductive. Plus Domenico and Stefano were having lots of fun with their accessories; like a set of wacky heels, from stain glass to miniature statues of the two designers. One bag was even a rococo church organ.
 
The show – scheduled for 2PM – ran very late; the photographers pit shouting for the action to begin after an hour of listening to Gregorian chant. So tardy that at 2.40 PM Anna Wintour pointedly rose from her seat and, after being beseeched by a senior usher, stood at the entrance looking at her watch. After a further five minutes, finally, the show began. Though once 3PM struck, Anna had slipped out before the show finale.
 
The night before silver, and not gold, was the key material in an epic show inside Martini, the bar/restaurant/private boutique/couture house of Milan’s most energetic duo – Dolce & Gabbana. Silver and diamonds that is. Indeed, the name of their riotous Saturday evening show was Secrets & Diamonds, where editors, buyers, clients and fans sat on coffee house chairs, sipping martinis as the cast marched by.
 
This was the latest stealth show, an off-calendar display worn by a group of well brought-up young ladies, the sort who have been privately educated from birth:  such as Eleonore von Habsburg; Emma Weymouth, Sabrina Percy and Gabriella Beardsworth, one of Tatler magazine’s new 2017 It Girls. All very high glam Hollywood.
 
Or Lady Kitty Spencer, Princess Diana’s niece, oozed class in a light blue chiffon print dress of tiny cupids.
 
The audience applauded every look on the cobble stone catwalk at Dolce’s latest “Secret” show. While the sound-track said it all: Marilyn Monroe sighing Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend; Rihanna’s Diamonds and the theme song to Cabaret - Money Makes the World go Round.
 
Not exactly the most spiritual intentions, which sums up how Dolce & Gabbana always manage to have their cake and eat it. Literally and figuratively.