shelidonAugust 1, 2024Leave a Comment

I was very late to this exhibition, but I managed to catch it on one of the last days, and I am extremely glad I did, for it really is as beautiful as people were saying. Should you be late as I was, you still have a couple of days left to make a dash for it, and I highly suggest you do.

The exhibition [is] an open love letter to Italian culture as the enduring inspiration for Dolce&Gabbana’s fashion designs, tracing the extraordinary translation of Domenico Dolce’s and Stefano Gabbana’s ideas, from the heart through to their realization, by hand.

“From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana” brings together many of the fashion house’s unique creations for the very first time and groups them into a sequence of thematic rooms that are one stunning installation after the other. The exhibition debuts in Milan before embarking on a worldwide tour, celebrating the brand as a symbol of Italian style. It follows the dreams of high fashion and examines the brand’s unconventional approach to luxury: “elegant, sensual, and unique”, yet also “humorous, irreverent, and subversive”.

Curated by Florence Müller and produced by IMG, the exhibition includes works by visual artists in conversation with Dolce&Gabbana’s iconic designs. Both the archive and new collections are displayed across a series of themes that reveal the many layers of Italian cultural influence in their fashion design, encompassing art, architecture, artisanal craft, cities and their regional topography, music, opera and ballet, folk traditions, theatre, and, of course, “la dolce vita.”

1. Anh Duong and the celebration of the Handmade

The first stunning room, to which you’ll circle back once the exhibition is over, hosts a spectacular composition of paintings that are both parodies and insights into the world of fashion, setting the tone of the refined and yet irreverent, opulent and yet refined works represented by the fashion pieces.

Anh Duong is a French-American artist, actress, and model born in Bordeaux, France on October 25, 1960. She is best known for her self-portraits, which she describes as a visual diary and her portraits of prominent art collectors and influencers. Raised in France by a Spanish mother and a Vietnamese father, Duong studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She initially pursued a career as a ballerina, training with the Franchetti Academy of Classical Dance before transitioning to modelling. Her career took off when photographer David Seidner discovered her, leading to her first major campaign for Yves Saint Laurent in Vogue. Throughout her career, she worked with top designers like Christian Lacroix, Dolce & Gabbana themselves, and John Galliano, and walked in major fashion shows in New York, Milan, London, and Paris. Her modelling work has been featured in prestigious publications such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Elle.

In the late 1980s, Duong shifted her focus to art and acting. Her artwork has been showcased in various renowned galleries and museums, with her latest series, The Incoherences of a Gentlewoman, exploring themes of gender and identity through her unique perspective. Her paintings often depict herself and friends such as Anjelica Huston and Susan Sarandon, reflecting her thoughts on femininity and societal norms.

Despite its mirrored ceiling, the feeling of this first room is overcrowdedness, but keep steady and listen closely, for part of the anxiety you might be feeling is induced by the diffused sound of an unsteady heartbeat. Sounds and perfumes are an integral part of the exhibition.

The first room also frames the exhibition’s leitmotiv: the celebration of the finest Italian craftsmanship. The partnerships between D&G and master artisans capture the essence of an Italian Grand Tour, reminiscent of the 18th-century travels of young European aristocrats exploring Italian art masterpieces.
Haute couture craftsmanship reflects traditional techniques from various Italian regions: the vibrant colours of Capri majolica inspire shimmering embroidery, while sunglasses, headscarves, and crop trousers evoke the spirit of the Dolce Vita era. The woven baskets and trulli houses of Puglia are transformed into intricate embroidery and textile braids. Images of Palazzo Vecchio or Florence’s Cathedral are reimagined through complex embroidered appliqués. The decorations on garments showcased in 2016 on Via San Gregorio Armeno in Naples pay homage to the religious processions that fill the streets and the small sculptures sold there.

Ornamental arts—such as embroidery, lace, and trimmings—enhance the sophisticated cut of the garments, with shapes and transparency effects showcasing the skilled craftsmanship involved in tailoring, corsetry, and draping.

2. Crystals

The garments, mirrors, and chandeliers featured in this room reflect a significant source of inspiration for D&G. The collection showcased in 2021 at the Doge’s Palace in Venice included sartorial creations adorned with intricate crystal embroidery to honour the excellence of the local glassmaking tradition, emblematic of the Most Serene Republic. In other areas, the designers use materials with mirror-like surfaces or ones that mimic the shine of chandeliers. Glass embroideries and silver garments glisten alongside the mirrors crafted by the Barbini masters and the renowned chandeliers of Barovier & Toso, founded in 1295 and one of the oldest family-owned artisanal businesses still operating in the world. Angelo Barovier perfected the famous “Venetian crystal,” as back as 1455, just to give you an idea.

Venetian mirrors gained widespread fame across Europe during the 16th century, but their prominence waned with the city’s decline two centuries later. In the early 20th century, Nicolò Barbini revitalized the art of Murano mirror-making, and today, his descendants, Vincenzo and Giovanni Barbini, continue to uphold their ancestors’ tradition of excellence. The masterpieces in the firm’s collection, showcased in this room, demonstrate the virtuosity of their craft and the endless inspiration they provide.

3. The Gattopardo Room

The Leopard is a cult film for Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, symbolizing the transition from tradition to modernity. This masterpiece by Luchino Visconti is an adaptation of the novel of the same name and is set in Sicily after Garibaldi’s arrival and Italy’s unification. The film captures the nostalgia for the fading Sicilian aristocracy, embodied by Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, and the rise of a new democratic social class represented by Don Calogero, a man from modest origins who ascends to wealth as a bourgeois. The two worlds merge symbolically through the marriage of Tancredi Falconeri, the prince’s nephew, and Angelica, Calogero’s daughter. To the curator, this shows how love and beauty can transcend divisions. You can’t expect a Haute Couture exhibition to pick up on the social commentary and how aristocracy, like a weed or a disease, can never be vanquished as it always merges and transforms.

“Everything must change for everything to remain the same.”

The Gallery of Mirrors at Palazzo Gangi in Palermo, where the iconic ballroom scene was filmed, is reimagined in this room with a contemporary twist. Scenes from the film are displayed in one-way mirrors: Alain Delon as Tancredi and Burt Lancaster as the Prince of Salina, dancing with Claudia Cardinale as Angelica. An Alta Moda dress embellished with the leopards of Palazzo Gangi symbolizes Angelica as she faces a crowd of suitors, represented by costumes from the Alta Sartoria collections.

4. The Sacred Heart

In many of D&G’s creations, the Sacred Heart motif is a striking centrepiece, drawing attention with its brilliance and eccentricity. Whether embroidered on clothing or crafted in metal and beads on handbags and Devotion perfume bottles, this symbol of life and love in the exhibition emphasizes that creativity requires complete self-giving to the artistic process. The pieces in the collections embody the pursuit of excellence that brings together artisans and designers with a common passion.

The room features a glass and golden embroidery cage. Protected by the Sacred Heart and an altar dedicated to the perfection of craftsmanship, models shimmering in gold against a black backdrop capture the exquisite blend of the sacred and sensual, a hallmark of Baroque drama. The garments take inspiration from the contrapposto figures carved in wood that were popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Voluptuousness defines this decorative style, conveying life and emotion and creating an overwhelming splendour that evokes a mystical fervour that’s typical of Southern Italy.

5. The Atelier

The ateliers are the essential creative engine behind the collections. Presented as cutting-edge research facilities and guardians of traditional craft techniques, they form the heart of the fashion house. This is where the designs and concepts come to life, interpreted by skilled artisans with their unique expertise.

Located in Milan, the ateliers occupy spacious facilities that open onto a large, tree-lined courtyard. Around 120 artisans work there, crafting handmade clothing tailored for each client. The designers have incorporated several innovative techniques into traditional craftsmanship, such as the “collage” method, which involves transferring images from nature or art history onto garments, and they have revived traditional techniques, like cross-stitch embroidery.

The room recreates an atelier, giving visitors a unique opportunity to witness some of the tools of the trade. A collection of black dresses currently in development underscores the significance of this colour throughout the designers’ stylistic journey: black is traditionally worn by working-class women in Italy, the veil colour for Venetian women, and the attire of a recurring character in Neorealist Italian cinema, the Sicilian widow. However, for D&G, black represents the colour of the essence, with its purity enabling each woman to express her own individuality.

6. Architecture and Painting

The next room’s subject circles around the emphasis on the structure and decoration of the designs involving both physical and metaphorical architecture and painting from Italian art. The architecture of the gallery in Palazzo Farnese in Rome and the renowned fresco cycle by Annibale Carracci (1560–1609) on its ceiling, depicted in a video installation, serves as the main inspirations for the displayed clothing, alongside artists such as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Piero della Francesca, Giorgione, Salai, Caravaggio, and Moroni.

Creating a garment, in D&G’s vision, is akin to constructing a building. Architects and fashion designers alike begin with a sketch that outlines the project’s main lines and volumes, then develop the floor plans and elevations. In haute couture, this sketch becomes a 3D master pattern in cotton fabric. Once perfected, the model is laid flat, and tailors use the pattern to cut the designer-selected fabric, assembling and sewing it to create the finished garment. Decorations are then added, similar to how a building project moves into the hands of painters.

7. Sicily

D&Gabbana has a special connection to Sicily and its age-old traditions. The influence of Sicilian ceramics and carts is prominently reflected in their collections showcased in Palermo in 2017. Sicily’s ceramic tradition dates back to the Mycenaean era, with major production hubs in Caltagirone, Monreale, and Santo Stefano di Camastra. These vibrant motifs have been beautifully reinterpreted in the dresses.

The Sicilian cart displayed in the room originated in ancient Greece but took on its modern form in the 19th century. Initially designed to transport a variety of everyday goods, these carts became central to processions and wedding ceremonies. Like in the past, today’s carts, along with their harnesses and wheels, are ornately decorated with colorful patterns that require the expertise of skilled woodworkers, carvers, painters, and blacksmiths. The painted designs showcase the rich iconographic diversity of Sicily’s regions. Common motifs include heroes from Charlemagne’s adventures and depictions of Saint George slaying the dragon, a symbol of chivalry. These legendary figures are featured prominently in the crinoline corset gowns, and the tall feathered headpieces echo the adornments worn by the horses pulling the carts.

To celebrate Sicilian traditions, three master artisans have created the processional cart, painted wooden wall panels, and ceramic floor tiles of the room. Videos highlight the craftsmanship involved in these creations. The tiles were made by Ceramica Bevilacqua, a family-run workshop established in 1997 by Antonio and Giuseppe Bevilacqua. This workshop revitalizes traditional Sicilian decorative styles inspired by Sicilian majolica.
Salvatore Sapienza, a cart painter, learned his skills at the workshops of renowned artists Domenico Di Mauro and Antonio Zappalà, and he since crafted about thirty carts. Gianfranco Fiore discovered the tradition of Sicilian cart-making while studying decorative painting at the Art Institute of Monreale and the Academy of Palermo. He immersed himself in this art form, learning from master artisans before opening his own workshop in Partinico.

To them it’s owed one of the most lively and vibrant rooms in the whole show.

8. The White Baroque

Combining sculptural garments with stuccowork, interior decoration and fashion converge in a tribute to the White Baroque. Inspired by Giacomo Serpotta’s work (1656–1732), the designers reinterpret the decorative interior stuccowork popular in Sicily during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in fine textiles. They adeptly capture the dramatic contrast between the simplicity of white and the opulent arrangements of figures, flowing draperies, and an abundance of cherubs, volutes, pilasters, niches, and caryatids.

Giacomo Serpotta gained fame for his stucco artistry in many Palermo churches. He used a mix of lime, plaster, and sand applied over a framework of wood and wire, enhancing the final effect with his technique called allustratura. This method involved finishing his sculpted reliefs with a mix of dehydrated lime, gypsum, and finely powdered marble, giving them a unique gloss. In the clothing designed by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, the baroque figures are formed using horsehair and wadding for volume, then draped in duchesse and Mikado. These sculpted textiles mirror the brilliance and lustre of Serpotta’s stuccoes.

The armours of the Otsuni Collection are created by 3D printing thermoplastic polyurethane and metallic side closures, hand-painted with an allustratura effect, to pay homage to the stuccowork by Giacomo Serpotta.

9. Magna Grecia…

The oniric garments in this room are designed to capture the divine essence within every individual. Featuring images of queens, goddesses, and gods, these designs carry a strong symbolic significance. The Fall/Winter 2019–20 collection draws inspiration from myths depicted on ancient Attic Greek pottery, and the pieces are displayed on steps that resemble the Temple of Concordia in Agrigento, a masterpiece in Doric style built around 440–430 BCE.

10. …and Byzantium

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana frequently draw inspiration from the stunning art of mosaics with geometric and figurative designs. The Fall/Winter 2017–18 Alta Sartoria collection, showcased before Sicily’s Cathedral of Monreale, paid homage to this architectural marvel, which blends Arab, Norman, and Byzantine elements. The collection’s tunics and coats, adorned with intricate patchwork patterns, reflect the brilliance of the Byzantine mosaics crafted by local artisans in the twelfth century.

The Fall/Winter 2021–22 Alta Moda fashion show in Venice also honoured the iconic Byzantine mosaics of St. Mark’s Basilica and its Cosmatesque flooring, which features elaborate scroll and floral designs. The Orsoni Venezia 1888 glass factory created the mosaic that serves as a dazzling backdrop for the Dolce&Gabbana pieces. This esteemed Venetian furnace, known for reviving Byzantine mosaic techniques, is the sole entity capable of reproducing the legendary “Gold of San Marco” and plays a recurrent role in restoring St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.

11. Opera

Possibly my favourite room in the exhibition, it lines up a group of gentlemen against clusters of costumes inspired by Verdi’s Aida, La Traviata, Don Carlo, Il Rigoletto, Puccini’s Tosca, Norma, Madama Butterfly and Turandot. In D&G’s imagination, theatre and everyday life intertwine in a shared celebration of beauty. The designers aim to transform ordinary life through the allure of their creations, turning every moment into a powerful extravaganza.
Opera plays a significant role in the collections, embodying the essence of “dramma all’italiana”. It allows them to express human passions at their most intense.

12. Milan

The last room is a single piece dedicated to Milan and in particular to our golden Virgin Mary. The dress is in gold macramé lace with gold filigree jewelry, and the hemispherical skirt is meant to be a representation of the dome of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

The Madonnina represents the heart and soul of Milan’s people, who believe she has the power to intercede on their behalf in heaven to obtain protection and blessing. The Alta Moda interpretation of the Madonnina expresses the quintessence of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s style: elevation through the passion of creation and skillful workmanship, a quest for the absolute in elegance, a search for perfection beyond the mediocrity of daily life. A beauty capable of transfiguring the world.