If sex doesn’t sell, try humour
From eggs to peas, Dolce & Gabbana are masters at injecting levity into luxury, says
Milan is traditionally the sexpot of the four main fashion capitals. But even here, too much of a good thing can make a consumer jaded. And so, lined up like cavalry in the Milanese studio where Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce do all their fittings on the models in the days running up to Sunday’s show, there must have been at least 100 different bags. Bags moulded like egg cartons (completely with plastic eggs, some with the shells half off), bags shaped like small mobile cake stalls, bags with Union Jacks or tricolore flags on them, bags shaped and sized like cool boxes. “Handy for the beach,” says Stefano Gabbana, hooking it over his elbow. And then there are their raffia fringed sunglasses and their earrings shaped like cakes.
Humour is proving a huge seller for Dolce & Gabbana. Their high net-worth clients especially, seem to appreciate the jokes. They sat there in the audience wearing flashing-light Dolce crowns and chiffon dresses printed with food. No one wants to look too po-faced about wealth these days; not even their own. Dolce & Gabbana came relatively late to “It
Bags”. But now that they are 50 per cent plus of their business, the label has become a powerhouse of whimsical accessories: from stretch lace ankle boots to tapestried mules and towelling-turban headwear appliquéd with roses, this show kept on giving. Perhaps the most newsworthy piece, however, was a humble pair of black knee-high pop socks worn under a black crocheted-lace dress. Pop socks have made stealth appearances on other catwalks too. This may be confirmation of the rehabilitation. Not that sex has disappeared completely. Their classic va-va-voom black-widow look is still a potent part of Dolce & Gabbana’s branding.
In a week of Italian retrospectives (Donatella Versace’s show on Friday was a tribute to her brother Gianni, who was killed 20 years ago), they paid homage to themselves by including 15 designs from the archives: black, stretchy, curve-hugging. But in the intervening years, an increasingly extravagant approach has taken over. Beading layered over embroideries layered over lace and brocade…
“It’s a bit Scott Crolla,” said Gabbana, referring to the Eighties English label that brought 18thcentury dandyism to a new generation. The Red Queen, in Tim Burton’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass was another inspiration, depicted on glittering sequinned dresses and catsuits, buttons and bags. There was a plethora of other joyful prints: oversized garden peas, wheatsheafs, baby chicks. They popped, spiralled and stepped their way across fresh looking cotton ball-gowns and elegantly relaxed pussy-bow chiffon columns.
Dolce & Gabbana are far from alone among their Milanese peers in trying to bring levity to luxury. Moschino’s multicolour fake-flower coat and bodysuit might prove too bold for all but the ballsiest of shoppers, but the floral air freshener canister bags that models swung from chain straps made for more wearable kitsch, and the (literal) envelope clutches carried by Gigi Hadid and Kaia Gerber, dressed as bunches of flowers tied up with big red bows, will have shoppers laughing all the way to the tills. It seems serious times calls for un-serious fashion.
Lisa Armstrong