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Dolce and Gabbana: Sicily, Tailoring, and Heritage on Show (Bloomsbury Fashion Video Archive) This may be the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source: Ferrero-Regis, Tiziana (2019) Dolce and Gabbana: Sicily, tailoring, and heritage on show (Bloomsbury Fashion Video Archive). [Other] This file was downloaded from: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/129153/ c 2020 Contact the author This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the docu- ment is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recog- nise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. If you believe that this work infringes copyright please provide details by email to [email protected] License: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 Notice: Please note that this document may not be the Version of Record (i.e. published version) of the work. Author manuscript versions (as Sub- mitted for peer review or as Accepted for publication after peer review) can be identified by an absence of publisher branding and/or typeset appear- ance. If there is any doubt, please refer to the published source. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350996335.0002 DOLCE & GABBANA: Sicily, tailoring and heritage on show* By: Tiziana Ferrero-Regis Keywords Dolce & Gabbana Italian fashion Fashion show Made in Italy Milan 1990s fashion Footage Referenced Dolce & Gabbana, SS 1991 Dolce & Gabbana, SS 1998 Dolce $ Gabbana, SS 2003 ` Origins: From little things big things grow Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana met in Milan in 1980 while collaborating in a design studio; they entered the fashion world as outsiders, as neither had any formal training in fashion. Domenico Dolce was born in Sicily in 1958 as the son of a tailor and learnt as a child from his father, whom, like many skilled Sicilian men in the 1950s, ran tailoring workshops. Stefano Gabbana, on the other hand, studied graphic design but was attracted to contemporary fashion, as well as to the American military surplus that at the time flooded Milan antique markets and second-hand shops. In particular, Stefano Gabbana had a love for street style, which had exploded in Milan in the 1970s when the first boutique, Carnaby street-style Fiorucci, opened in the Milan city centre and was a catalyst for street mood and trends. Their collaboration in 1980 resulted in the creation of their own label, Dolce & Gabbana, the aesthetic of which reflected both designers’ backgrounds by eclectically mixing the rigour of tailoring with street influences. In an interview with fashion critic and columnist Sarah Mower, released on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the label’s launch, Dolce and Gabbana recalled being young designers in 1985, with virtually no money and working day and night in their small Milan apartment to make their first collection. Beppe Modenese, the founder of Modit (the association regulating fashion shows) and President of the National Chamber for Italian Fashion, invited Dolce and Gabbana to show at Milan Fashion Week, under the New Talent category. The label grew very rapidly and, by the beginning of the 1990s, was well established with a diversification of lines that included menswear and the diffusion line D&G. According to The Business of Fashion Dolce & Gabbana achieved € 1,3 billion in revenue and sales in March 2017; it is one of both the few remaining independent labels and one of the 10 largest companies in Italy. Dolce & Gabbana was born and thrived within the context of the rise of the Made in Italy. The Made in Italy effectively branded the convergence of fashion designers in Milan between 1970 and * In this article, Dolce and Gabbana refers to the two designers, while Dolce & Gabbana refers to the brand. 1 1975. Milan’s cultural vibrancy along with its geographical position at the centre of regional clusters of manufacturers of silk, wool, leather, fur, embroidery, zips and buttons facilitated the move of designers-entrepreneurs from Florence. The Italian ready-to-wear, a response to Paris’ haute couture, was born out of quality fabrics, sharp cuts, commercial and creative ingenuity. These elements infused Italian ready-to-wear with tailoring quality. Dolce & Gabbana adopted this design practice, representing the second generation of the Made in Italy. Their design philosophy was to translate Italian and Sicilian traditions and culture in their collections by combining tailoring with billowing skirts that highlighted their passion for Sicilian Baroque gentility, with ultra-feminine and form-fitting garments. Classic pinstripe tailored jackets in wool co-existed with leopard print, sequins, coloured dresses, bras, corsets, and religious iconic references such as crosses, and Baroque-style black lace. The New Yorker captured the apparent paradox of Sicilian culture within Dolce & Gabbana’s output when it noted that “Leopard print allowed the designers to combine the naughtiness of the boudoir with the baroque formality of the Sicilian aristocracy”. While Domenico Dolce has always been directly involved in the design and making process of each collection, the SS1998 collection signaled a different design practice. In a new approach, the designers had started making clothes on the mannequin, thus engaging with traditional couture practice, as opposed to ready-to-wear. However, their actual couture line Alta Moda was only launched in 2011 with a show in 2012 in Taormina in Sicily. Stefano and Domenico’s style has been consistent throughout the life of their label, and their eclecticism has enabled the designers to be modern and current, adapting to different generations’ aesthetics. Forays into the Renaissance and Baroque were introduced in their Hippy SS 1993 collection, which referenced the grunge trend of the 1990s. Baroque imagery returns consistently in the label’s collections, of which AW 2013 represent the epitome with dresses, capes, skirts and shorts in black and gold brocade. Dolce and Gabbana are also known for their consistent use of cinematic references, in particular, Italian Neorealism and Italian cinema of the 1960s. Author Barbara Vinken describes Dolce & Gabbana’s style as producing “stark disharmonies”, referring to the mix of references and citations that are firmly anchored within the label’s aesthetics to Italian history and contemporary culture. The Evolution of Dolce & Gabbana’s Fashion Show Dolce and Gabbana’s first collection in 1985 was inspired by the Japanese aesthetics of volume and form as seen in Paris in 1982 in the Japanese designers’ collective show, especially Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto. While being well received by the press, it did not sit well with the contemporary aesthetics of the then two dominant Italian designers, that of Giorgio Armani’s power suit, and the sexy, fitted clothes in bright colours and sequins, bordering on kitsch, typically embodied by Gianni Versace’s swimsuit models. Despite good press coverage, their manufacturer withdrew from producing the collection. Talking to Sarah Mower in 2005, Domenico Dolce revealed that his family came to the rescue by offering to produce their Spring/Summer 1986 collection. Due to a scarcity of 2 funds, the show featured real women as models, who belonged to the designers’ network, hence the title Real Women. The Spring/Summer 1986 collection did not reference many of the features, such as Sicilian and Italian cultural icons, that are present throughout Dolce and Gabbana’s later shows. This collection featured minimalist geometric dresses, tops and short coats in plain colours, including mustard, midnight blue, pink, violet, and black. The exception being perfectly tailored trousers in beige hues. Dolce and Gabbana’s signature look started to unfold in the SS 1987 collection, which was presented in their small fifth floor showroom, and the AW1987/88. Black, as an icon of Sicilian decorum emerged at this time, and was accompanied by transparent tops and fitted mid-length dresses. The Sicilian allusion was also reinforced through their advertising campaigns, which were shot in Sicily and featured Sicilian natural and architectural landscape with real residents in the background. Models By 1991, Dolce & Gabbana had found their brand image through their models’ aesthetics who represented the strong, curvy, sexy, dominant and passionate Mediterranean ideal of beauty and eroticism. This image was typically embodied by Sophia Loren in many Italian films of the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1990s, the supermodels were the catalysts of Dolce & Gabbana fashion shows: with their commanding physical appearance they provided for the spectacle. Collections tended to be presented on a minimalist white or black runway, with minimal interior décor, which comprised of a backstage where the models entered the long and narrow stage, photographers at the front end, and rows of chairs for the press and buyers at each side of the runway. The supermodels represented a turning point in modelling in that their high wages afforded them a point of difference, becoming celebrities in their own right. Stephen Gundle, author of Glamour: A History, argues that the excess of beauty and the cult of the body of the supermodels represented the new sexual and business power of the period, which well served the Dolce & Gabbana brand, with its focus on strong and sexy women. Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Isabella Rossellini (daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Neorealist director Roberto Rossellini), and Helena Christensen walked for the label throughout the 1990s. In particular, Linda Evangelista, Isabella Rossellini and Monica Bellucci’s strong facial features could be transformed with make-up to look like Sophia Loren or 1950s starlets. They appeared in many fashion shows and advertising campaigns whose aesthetics recalled the Dolce Vita and Italian Neorealist cinema of the post-war years.
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