Imagine Marcello Mastroianni at a pool party where la vita gets so dolce that the dressed-up male guests strip down to bathing suits—suits so immodest that Naomi Campbell's rhinestone-studded thong looks decorous by comparison. (Sprinkled among the studs on the catwalk, she and a handful of other female models were showing off Dolce & Gabbana's new resort line.) The contrast between bodies dressed and bodies bared gave a racy edge to a collection that was otherwise curiously formal for the D&G duo: sober-toned suits and jackets galore, striped shirts with white collars and cuffs, tuxedo-striped trousers, and an overload of navy, often paired with white.
The label's signature sensuality seeped through in fine-gauge knits open to the navel, revealing ten-packs sheened with sweat (it was 100-plus degrees outside in Milan). And a salute to Hawaii in palm-and-hibiscus-embroidered jeans had that fearlessly camp quality we expect from these designers. But even the presence on the catwalk of a baby tiger couldn't disguise the fact that Dolce & Gabbana just took a walk on the mild side.
