Milan line offers canine couture
Milan has long been the world’s ready-to-wear fashion leader. Now, dogs are getting in on the Italian city’s sartorial scene with a new line of haute couture for canines.
Dog a Porter, by the Milan brand Temellini, offers clothing custom-fit for different breeds, ranging from the tiny Chihuahua to the stately greyhound. The line includes cashmere knits, nylon bomber jackets with tiny arms, Sherlock Holmes-style capes and lined raincoats.
The capes cost about $258 (all figures Canadian) and synthetically filled hooded parkas go for about $319 to reflect the extra time it takes to get the fine stitching on the elasticized sleeves just right.
Designer Giovanna Temellini says fashionable dog clothes aren’t just an indulgence. Her luxury outerwear not only protects pooches accustomed to being indoors when they’re brought outside, but take into account the builds of various types of dogs, she said.
“For me, a dog is well-dressed only when it has freedom of movement, when it is not constrained,” Temellini said. “It is OK to dress a dog when it is cold, but a dog needs to live his live as a dog. This is important.”
Speaking from personal experience, the designer notes that Ulisse, her long-haired Afghan greyhound, requires five hours of grooming if he gets wet in the rain. A raincoat prevents the hassle, she said.
Temellini launched Dog a Porter a year ago alongside her 20-yearold eponymous clothing line for women. She opened a boutique in Milan’s chic Brera neighbourhood recently, selling women’s readyto-wear and canine couture side by side.
In fact, many of the dog garments have corresponding numbers for women, such as the long, flowing black cotton skirt a pet owner could wear while walking her dog outfitted in a black chenille jacket.