Dolce & Gabbana S/S 2019 Milan Fashion Week Men’s

Backstage at Dolce & Gabbana S/S 2019 — Dolce & Gabbana S/S 2019. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

Mood board: The digital invitation to the Dolce & Gabbana show was a PSA of national pride; guests were sent an e-book tablet that played mood boards for S/S 2019, entitled ‘DNA Evolution’. The invite evoked the duality and passion at the heart of the season. The duo were swept up in a host of Italian iconography and pomp, offering everything from repeat cannoli and penne prints on silk pyjama suits to baroque, quasi-religious embroideries across outerwear and suiting. The collection served as an engaging aide-mémoire of the brand’s long-held philosophy. The look was pastiche pop.

Scene setting: The casting of influencers and celebrity offspring at previous shows has unwittingly become a provocative, punk statement – the value and reach of a catwalk show now goes far beyond the seated audience. Here, the focus was on a more diverse clan who each embodied the Dolce & Gabbana spirit in their unique way – ‘we are lucky that we can express ourselves in different ways, letting professional models, older women, and non-models walk on the runway,’ they said.

Older women appeared alongside teenage influencers; a grandfather walked side by side with his grandson and a mother was arm in arm with her son. The actress Monica Bellucci, the Dutch former model Marpessa Hennink (who appeared in their first ever campaign in 1987) and the inimitable Naomi Campbell all walked in the show too, as well as a coterie of male models from the archives of the house.

Sound bite: The show was about contrasts: ‘the sacred and profane, north and south, religion and superstition, velvet and brocade… we wanted to think of all the generations. Not only to our generation or to the millennial generation. ‘Fashion speaks to everyone!’ the duo said. Crystal-encrusted suits worn with millennial swag, varsity jackets emblazoned with ‘just be royals’, ornate dinner jackets, patchwork cargo pants, lace shirts – it’s hard to resist such revelry.

Backstage at Dolce &amp; Gabbana S/S 2019 — Dolce & Gabbana S/S 2019. *Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans*

TOPICS

London based writer Dal Chodha is editor-in-chief of Archivist Addendum — a publishing project that explores the gap between fashion editorial and academe. He writes for various international titles and journals on fashion, art and culture and is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. Chodha has been working in academic institutions for more than a decade and is Stage 1 Leader of the BA Fashion Communication and Promotion course at Central Saint Martins. In 2020 he published his first book SHOW NOTES, an original hybrid of journalism, poetry and provocation.