Milan Fashion Week: menswear

Dolce & Gabbana, Spring/Summer '09 (scroll down to read the review)
Dolce & Gabbana
After their visit to Sicily last season, Dolce & Gabbana stayed at home, taking the pyjama (a major theme last summer at Prada and Lanvin and by all accounts already major in Milan this summer) as their starting point. They took the trend and made it completely their own, by using specially printed silk and cotton fabrics with pyjama and tie stripes and handkerchief spots, which they cut, along with other silks like twills and shantungs, into shawl-collared suits, using the piping, normally seen on a pj, to border collars and run down the side of pants. Striped shirts were cut on the bias and featured contrast collar and cuffs in tie jacquards.

It all had a very dressy feel (there seems to be a big return to formality and not a jean in sight although some suits were cut in denim) with ties, in the most part, replaced with silk scarves discreetly tucked beneath slim shawl collars. It was less bedroom and more smoking room for evenings at Dolce & Gabbana with richly decorated robes, pyjamas and smoking jackets, inspired by oriental kimonos.