Dolce & Gabbana’s Back-To-Classics A/W´23 Show

For autumn/winter 2023, Dolce & Gabbana returned to its roots; Anders Christian Madsen breaks down the highlights, as seen from the front row.

The collection picked up where Kim Kardashian left off

It’s perhaps ironic that Kim Kardashian – one of the most followed people on social media – triggered the back-to-classics approach that underpins Dolce & Gabbana’s new philosophy. “Working with Kim helped us to go back to our heritage, our memories, what we did in the past. And to analyse what we did,” Domenico Dolce explained during a preview of he and Stefano Gabbana’s new collection, referring to the one Kardashian curated last season. “Social media exaggerated everything. Now, everything has to be strange – too much. I want to go back to what we really are.” The follow-up to Kardashian’s collection was its 2.0: a 180 from the jump-through-the-screen, in-your-face fashion the designers played around with not many seasons ago. Their new proposal was a sophisticated, sensual, beautiful, chic, and indeed nostalgic exercise of their own genetics from the late 1980s and early ’90s.

The designers continued the rediscovery of their ’90s codes

Presented in the Metropol with Kardashian on the front row (her current Dolce & Gabbana campaign also covers giant billboards around the city), the collection reinterpreted – and, in some cases, reissued – the hourglass tailoring and lingerie elements essential to the brand’s history. “Fortunately for us, that’s trendy again. Everybody is looking for archival Dolce & Gabbana pieces online. There’s a very high demand, at very high prices,” Dolce said with a smile. For a while, Gen Z’s desire for ’90s and Y2K pieces was ascribed to a kind of borrowed nostalgia, but as the attraction to this purified, sensual silhouette increases, we might be looking at a different situation: an older generation of digital natives – the 30- and 40-somethings, who actually remember the ’90s – resetting the visual excess of social media-driven fashion culture.

It was all about tailoring and lingerie

The collection was composed from three elements interpreted across black, red, white and gold: tailoring (mainly hourglass, built into bigger or smaller proportions), lingerie (lace brassieres, camisoles, dresses, coats), and various savoir faire-like jewel-encrusted gowns, plumed coats and feather headpieces. “We wanted to play with proportions that are not too big, that are closer to classic Italian tailoring. We wanted to go back to the roots without using too many fabrics, but focus on wool, silk, cotton, tulle: the classic fabrics of Italian heritage. We wanted coats and jackets to be pure, and we wanted to explore the femininity of the woman. Not to be sexy, but to be feminine, with charisma, with personality. We worked a lot on coats and jackets that protect the femininity of the woman. What’s underneath is made of see-through fabrics like tulle,” Dolce explained.

It represented a reset from current fashion culture

“What we want is to reset: to go back to our classic codes, to timeless pieces, to pieces that remain with women throughout the seasons despite what’s considered ‘fashion’,” Gabbana said. “It’s not marketing. It’s not a sales point of view. It’s natural. We just don’t want to focus on social media. It’s too much. We want to see beautiful imagery, beautiful women,” Dolce added. The designers were echoing a growing choir of voices in the press lamenting the costume drama that now defines the representation of fashion, especially on the red carpet. And while Kardashian’s Marilyn Monroe moment at last year’s Met Gala – where she wore the icon’s original dress – may have been a gimmick in its own right, the pure and refined glamour that characterised the visual value of the look stood out amongst the theatre that unfolded elsewhere. Ironically, it was almost relatable glamour.

It made you want to shop

In the social media world the designers were referring to – where the eye has grown accustomed to oversaturation – their return to viable fashion could have felt boring. It didn’t. “It’s not a discreet collection!” Gabbana assured us pre-show. More than anything, it seduced you, the way it did three decades ago when Dolce & Gabbana filled a gap in fashion that they have owned ever since. Expertly cut, exquisitely made and universally flattering – as illustrated on a cast of different shapes and sizes – these were pieces few wouldn’t want in their wardrobe, and a category of clothing that often feels neglected when you’re navigating the shopping arena. Come autumn, no more.