“When you enjoy it, it’s easy. We are so lucky because it’s not work to us. It’s a pleasure,” Domenico Dolce shrugged in a preview of the collection, which will retail exclusively at Harrods. Coinciding with the release of the duo’s new picture book, Millennials, they called upon 100 of their favourite young influencers to walk for them; no small endeavour for a spontaneous fashion show. “I never liked a short show. If I invite you for dinner or lunch, I’m not going to just make you an appetiser,” Dolce said, with a comparison appropriate for the food hall show space where seats were set against coolers of fragrant meat and fish.
“I’m Italian! I love the aperitivo, the antipasto, the first course, the second course... I never liked a short show!” And so, the Sicilian Christmas spirit filled the room in an exuberant collection, which quirkily integrated British trademarks into the red-blooded Italian glamour embodied by Dolce & Gabbana. Amongst their dramatic flounce gowns and lace dresses adorned in flowers and fruits, heart-shaped Union Jacks, royal guard motifs and other traditional nods to the kingdom – such as “QUEEN” spelled out on a dress and a belt – paid homage to the British heritage culture the designers love and admire. “England is the country in the world with the greatest taste,” Stefano Gabbana asserted. “Extravaganza is British. We take a lot of inspiration from here, from the beginning. You are unique in the world.” Their current favourite British export? Our aristocratic millennials: the offspring of old British families such as Lady Kitty Spencer, Lady Tatiana Mountbatten and Lady Alice Manners, who walked the show, tiara-clad, alongside stage kids including Rafferty Law, Tom Brady, Pixie Lott and her boyfriend Olivier Cheshire.
You’d have to be a talent scout, or at least a scout, to put faces, names and parents to all 100 of them, but for Dolce & Gabbana it wasn’t necessarily about the surnames. It was about the generation. “I love millennials,” Dolce said. “People talk about them like they’re the worst generation. No! This generation represents a new time. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we discovered millennials’. You need to talk to these people and understand them, and why they’re changing the world. They’re honest.” What Dolce & Gabbana see in this generation, he explained, is the invaluable sense of character so key to the movements going on in the world right now, where the millennial generations are breaking with the conformity and uniformity of the old world, and calling for freedom of identity. “When you’re working with a model, you’re working with someone who’s modelling. When you’re working with characters, you need to discover the character and find the right clothes for these characters. It’s more exciting, because you can’t just do what you want. You need to understand the character of every girl,” he said.
“This is experience. It’s not fake. Today there’s too much fake: fake news, fake this, fake that. Many people talk… talk about what? Talk about things they don’t know about.” In their #DGMillennials, as Dolce & Gabbana style their famous brood on Instagram, the designers have found a way of infusing their collections and shows with the personality they’ve long been calling for in fashion. Above all, Dolce & Gabbana is about family, about culture, and life. “If you want to speak to your audience, you need to talk about life and experiences. You can’t just make 25-35 outfits,” Dolce argued. “I’m an old chicken in fashion. I want to talk about my life. If you’re honest as a designer, you talk about your life. You don’t talk about 25 outfits put together by a stylist. You live for it, like life, because your clothes absolutely reflect your life.”
“This is experience. It’s not fake. Today there’s too much fake: fake news, fake this, fake that. Many people talk… talk about what? Talk about things they don’t know about.” In their #DGMillennials, as Dolce & Gabbana style their famous brood on Instagram, the designers have found a way of infusing their collections and shows with the personality they’ve long been calling for in fashion. Above all, Dolce & Gabbana is about family, about culture, and life. “If you want to speak to your audience, you need to talk about life and experiences. You can’t just make 25-35 outfits,” Dolce argued. “I’m an old chicken in fashion. I want to talk about my life. If you’re honest as a designer, you talk about your life. You don’t talk about 25 outfits put together by a stylist. You live for it, like life, because your clothes absolutely reflect your life.”
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