Dolce & #38; Gabbana's fall show featured a double take: Was that Chloë Sevigny in the belted fur-trimmed coat, looking out from under her bouffant mane? It certainly was, busy channeling Jean Shrimpton. This was confirmed by the walls backstage, which were papered with copies of David Bailey's photographs of the Shrimp taken for Vogue between '61 and '64, when the two were a hot item.
The designers described their collection—full of minis and maxis, boxy jackets, Beatles caps, and tall furry hats reminiscent of the Buckingham Palace guards—as "La Dolce Vita meets Swinging London." But without knowing all that, you'd have been forgiven for thinking you'd blundered into a groovy furrier's show. Dolce & Gabbana kept pretty faithful to the outline of the youthquake moment as it might have been seen from Italy—a viewpoint that encompassed both English tweeds and alta moda flowered dresses. But there was never, ever this much fur around in '64. The duo didn't just use it in a regular way on coats, like a Shrimpton-esque Mongolian lamb and a floor-sweeping white mink; they lavished broadtail almost everywhere, as if it were fabric. A black minidress and matching coat were only the starters: After that, there were two-tone boxy suits and narrow skirts with contrast banding picked out in fur, and trims applied everywhere.
To top all that, the show crescendoed with the label's familiar parade of Oscar gowns—this season done in white and silver, the girls standing on the mirrored runway all a-twinkle and aquiver with Austrian crystal and exotically sculpted feathers.
