Dolce & Gabbana founded their house in 1985, and showed their first men’s collection in 1990, at a time when fashion was booming, fueled by creative freedom, newness and daring experimentation. They’ve come a long way from those beginnings, but nostalgia isn’t part of the baggage they carry. They’ve always moved relentlessly, fiercely forward, in bad and good times, and so far they’ve resisted going down memory lane.
However, their body of work is so massive, and their celebrity status so widespread, that a dive into the archive (and just a modicum of soul searching) felt somehow right at this point in their career—especially because young generations today are drawn to heritage luxury brands and their history, and resale e-commerce sites have triggered a vintage craze. Also, the impressive parterre of celebrities who have paraded Stefano and Domenico’s creations over the years are now asking for unique archival pieces for their red carpet appearances, or for their extravagant weddings. Kourtney Kardashian’s hyperbolic marriage in Portofino was a feast of Dolce & Gabbana outfits old and new, and was actually instrumental in setting off the designers’ deep dive into the archive.
At first they were surprised and curious to be asked for pieces from their late-’90s/early 2000s collections, but they took it in stride, seeing it as a creative opportunity. Revisiting their past felt like “going to the therapist,” said Domenico, a bit of an introspective journey but “we’ve definitely had lots of fun, and it was really interesting,” chimed in Stefano. They extracted a series of original pieces they thought particularly meaningful because of their intrinsic “intellectual integrity and authenticity,” and which they thought would still be relevant today. “It was a sort of intuitive and random process,” they said, which gelled through excellent styling into a spring collection of re-edited pieces from the ’90s through the 2000s walking the runway together with new propositions designed with a contemporary spirit. Every garment will have a dedicated ID label, identifying the year it was first presented together with the SS2023 inscription.
Quintessentially Dolce & Gabbana key looks from past collections abounded in today’s show, feeling like an updated, cool déjà vu—the hunky white ribbed tank top with matching no-logo underwear briefs; the perfectly tailored tux worn over ripped denims; the heavily embellished blazers and T-shirts redolent of Sicilian sacred imagery; the sexual see-through black lace shirts; the slim fitting stretchy pantsuits with oversized double-breasted jackets. They still looked plausible and fresh, showing incredible longevity and pertinence with what young generations want to wear today: “They’ve no memory of our past, their knowledge stops at 2000s,” the designers said. Dolce & Gabbana’s minimalism, streamlined yet sensual, is not only an appealing legacy in concept, it’s also a covetable and wearable option for vintage-crazy Gen Zers. “They’re hungry for real fashion, while today there are just logos everywhere,” said Domenico.
Hovering over the stream of archival/re-edited/new pieces was the spirit of David Beckham, the original metrosexual archetype and longtime muse to the designers’ vision of menswear, who “was the first in the 2000s who crossed the boundaries between elitist fashion and soccer popular culture, pairing the sartorial with the ripped-off, wearing jewelry, diamond earrings, embellished headbands,” they said. Several looks in the collection were a tribute to him. “He introduced real glamour into menswear, it was a key fashion moment which changed the conversation about how men dressed,” said Stefano. Beckham was missed at today’s show, and front rows were filled with new young stars of the sport firmament. Dolce & Gabbana’s long lasting appeal doesn’t look like waning anytime soon. “We’re always very critical of what we do, and we bore easily,” the said. “But looking at all that we’ve been able to achieve so far, things that have lasted and become kind of historic, we feel extremely proud.”
