Milan Fashion Week – Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce and Gabbana are back! After several seasons of shows that haven’t shown off the Italian duo’s sense of flamboyance and passion for women and fashion, this season really marked a turning point. Inspired by the Gramercy Park hotel in Manhattan, Dolce and Gabbana injected freehand painting into their dresses, allowing us a glimpse into what life would have been like if Jackson Pollock had become a hotelier and fashion designer (oh and had not drunk himself to death and actually been happy) in 58 extraordinary looks. That original spirit of over the top Italian Romance was infused into one of my favourite sub-trends for this season, art. There was also 1950’s silhouette’s with several stunning old style red carpet gowns with a breath of fresh modern twists in the crazy coloured prints and stunning hand-painted tulle. If you want to really have a scene-stopping dress this year go to Dolce and Gabbana, the price of these dresses will be undoubtedly high but will be paid for in compliments and envious glances alone and if you buy one dress this year make it one of these. Of all the shows this season Dolce and Gabbana have been the hardest to narrow down in terms of looks to show you, but fear not this is perhaps the largest post I’ll be making this season with 25 looks alone!

The Show music and the video’s of artists painting fabric were the biggest clue to how the show would turn out and we all knew from the beginning paint would be involved; we had no idea how well it would turn out though. The first few looks down the catwalk were very demure colourless garments but that first 1950’s full-skirted prom dress gave away that this would be a much freer show then past Dolce and Gabbana shows have been.

As the show continued and more white and colourless looks came down the runway the first trend box was ticked, veiling. We along with every other fashion blog, magazine and person have said this again and again, veiling with sheer fabrics is probably the biggest and most difficult trend to pull off for Spring Summer 2008. However at dolce the veiling used has been quite minimalist and instead created an ethereal quality to many of the looks on the catwalk. The look below wasn’t exactly ethereal, but it did give an interesting layering effect a bit like looking cloudy water from above and being able to see different depths in different places of the dress, very clever and a look that could easily pass through day to evening.

All of a sudden the prints started pounding down the runway, clearly showing their origins of that aforementioned trendy Manhattan hotel. First in this great cinched in suit with billowing trousers (a trend that we predict will come back in a few seasons and probably cause for celebration for those hating the current skinny jeans trend).

Whilst this nude and well structured frock really stood out amongst all the less-structured dresses of the rest of the show, perhaps a little dress to celebrating the architect of the hotel? Either way it’s totally Dolce and shows off the designers minimalist and clever use of veiling (seen in the arms).

And then there was colour! This amazing dress shows how well a thin belt (one of the accessory trends of the season (say goodbye to the wide belt for awhile ladies)) can really bring a look together. Without it the look would seem like it had just been cut out of a Gramercy Park Hotel sofa, with it, it breaks up the design and makes the dress look effortlessly chic, I’m already seeing Carrie Bradshaw running down Park Ave. in this.

Finally we saw what the videos and music had been hinting at throughout the show. The first painted garment was a simple black sheer dress with white paint strewn across in an almost abstract fashion (did Stefano and Dominico visit the Abstract Expressionist wing of the Met perhaps?) the paint acting like a barrier to the underwear behind, showing just enough flesh to be suggestive but not enough to be smutty.

A much more subtle form of veiling can be seen in the look below with another gramercy print, with what reminds us of a smoky cloud surrounding the dress, adding that extra bit of detail that makes it so special.

The same can be said for this painted dress with a smoky black layer over an opaque painted layer, for those that want the painting but have a bit more modesty. The look also ticks off that mini-trend of dressing like fairies or forest imps except this dress is certainly no literal interpretation of the trend (like at Prada).

For those who want something much more alluring and sexy, this LBD will definitely turn heads.

Another trend that Dolce and Gabbana really got down to a T this season was using high, full and short skirts. They made them in all shapes, colours, prints and paints and here is just a collection from, well the collection. This green Gramercy print,

This longer pencil skirt, with a darker gramercy print and veiling, not to mention painted top,

This loose and flowing purple skirt with a great gramercy print strappy top and tope tie belt,

In fact there was a veritable palette of fantastic separates that would all go together and look stunning mixed with some more ordinary off the high street garment.

Of course the other big trend of the season was floral patterns and Dolce and Gabbana’s painted florals were just so much better then any print could ever be.

Pollock anyone?

Finally those gowns that were just so special floated down the runway; up close or a mile away these are the kind of dresses that one can only dream of (yet you can buy them now!). Painted in abstract shapes with varying different colours and dress lengths, these gowns would look amazing at the Oscar’s (if they do go ahead that is) and as I said before will pay for themselves in “compliments and envious glances alone”. We think you’ll agree that these are one of the highlights of the season.

Well we hope you enjoyed this post as much as we did writing it. For shows like this it is a pleasure, and just looking at these looks in pictures is not enough therefore we urge you to go out to your local Dolce and Gabbana boutique and see them in person, think of it like a trip to an art gallery, after all this season they certainly combined fashion with art in a way that nobody else has before, and for this that makes them artists.