“The world is overwhelmed by images and by all sorts of distractions,” said Domenico Dolce at today’s press conference. “We just felt the strong need to go at the essence of who we are. We said to ourselves, ‘Let’s do us, let’s do what we really believe in.’” “Reducing. Stripping anything unnecessary away,” chimed in Stefano. They called the collection Essenza, Italian for Essence, a concept of almost philosophical depth whose exploration entailed intense soul-searching—and lots of black.
The designers were adamant: “This has nothing to do with minimalism, rather with simplicity,” they stated. “These are our codes—which span from black, to black, to eighty percent black,” they joked. In the Dolce & Gabbana dark black sea of impeccably tailored suits and masterfully sharp-cut coats, which ultimately was what this season’s collection was about, they introduced just a modicum of pearl grey, and two stellar white pantsuits. The rest was as dark as the lava of Sicilian volcanos, with just occasional flashes of light given by tone-on-tone crystal embroideries, to reference the wet translucence of erupted magma. Black for Dolce & Gabbana is a fundamental signifier, “almost violent in its intensity,” said Domenico. “We’ve envisioned this collection as if it were a photo in black and white: timeless, eternal, without any chromatic vehemence which would’ve made it current, temporary, alla moda.”
They didn’t really think about the overall look, rather about the single piece, making each one outstanding; avoiding distractions, they were after the synthesis of a neat silhouette. A sumptuous black cape, a shapely waistcoat or a voluminous greatcoat were worn on bare skin, over just a pair of boxers: nudity as a medium, to give emphasis to the beautiful essentiality of the construction. There was sensuality in the vintage girdles and corsets on bare torsos, peeking from fluid trousers. And sensuality in the absolute mastery of the cut, which is where Dolce & Gabbana’s true essence ultimately shines: “What we’ve been mostly attracted to is experimenting on new cuts, jackets cut in a new way, new collars, new fastenings; we wanted to enhance the simple complexity of the handmade techniques,” they said.
The journey à la recherche of their essence didn’t take place so much in the archive as in the search for new, modern dimensions. Proof were the pièces de résistance Stefano and Domenico served for the show finale: two perfectly fitted jackets in white crêpe cut from the curvaceous, hourglass-y patterns of their impeccable women’s blazers. “Usually it’s the masculine construction that’s applied to that of women’s jackets, but we did the contrary,” they explained. “How can a jacket tailored for a woman beautifully fit a man’s body? We worked with our artisans, and they came up with such incredibly sculpted shapes, we were amazed.” Shapely and fitted at the waist, slightly padded and rounded at the hips with a slight crinoline effect, with shoulders strong and commanding, they looked absolutely fabulous. On the front row, Machine Gun Kelly, Blanco and a host of others looked positively awestruck.
