Molto, molto Italiano. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have long made the most of their roots, but at today's show, they really went all-out, from the colorful street festival lights suspended from the ceiling of their Metropol venue to the the soles of the models' plastic wicker sandals.
Picturesque summertime in a small town in southern Italy circa the 1950's was the designers' starting point. The eggplants, zucchinis, tomatoes, and hot peppers you'd find at an outdoor market inspired the oversize prints that decorated fit-and-flare dresses and midriff-baring bra tops and full skirts. Coincidentally, Rossella Jardini served up a vegetable dish of her own last night at Moschino Cheap And Chic, but Domenico and Stefano pushed the idea further, with crochet tablecloth sheaths and matching coats or little skirtsuits. Farfalle pasta shapes and garlic cloves dangled from earrings. And this was all set to a soundtrack of Sophia Loren belting out her best "Mambo Italiano."
After dark, Dolce and Gabbana left the veggies in the kitchen in favor of lace cocktail dresses that out-sparkled the lights above the runway (a bona fide hit, those) and a finale of their signature corsets encrusted to the hilt in colorful crystals. Sure, it got a little too kitsch for comfort sometimes. But it was also the feel-good moment of the Milan season.
