Dolce & Gabbana: the Secret Show

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Sep 24, 2017

Nothing summed up how the whole fashion runway season is being fractured and reinvented than Saturday night’s event by Dolce & Gabbana.

 
Entitled The Secret Show, it was an off-calendar runway show, where editors received hushed emails requesting their presence. It was not quite a full collection – just eveningwear, and called Dolce & Gabbana Sera. And it all looked pretty fabulous.
 
Almost the entire cast was composed of millennial social media influencers who arrived in a luxury bus, and then disappeared back into the coach after the show. Descending onto one of Milan’s classiest streets, Corso Venezia, they marched inside the brand’s grand palazzo, parading down the cobblestone courtyard of Martini Bar, the restaurant bar terrace of the designer duo.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who will also stage their regular ready-to-wear collection on Sunday at 2pm, mingled with the audience pre-show. Domenico embracing guests – including several score of well-heeled Chinese – while Stefano sat chatting with a group of editors.
 
“What is this show? Well, it’s evening. Sunday afternoon will be fashion. This is pure evening. And in the evening, women just want to look sexy and very beautiful,” exclaimed Gabbana. He proceeded to shoot the entire show live via his jewel-encrusted iPhone on Instagram.
 
It was essential that the clothes looked great – and this was the most dynamic collection in Milan on an otherwise drab Saturday.
 
Every look bedecked with fabric flowers; opening with semi-sheer chiffon columns; imperial purple silk columns or polkadot frocks in the shape of hearts. Many young ladies accompanied by gallants – with the star of the show Cameron Dallas, the California phenomenon of Instagram with 20.4 million followers, who wore a black jacquard tuxedo.
 
Practically no professional models, just millennials several of whom wore tiaras; four of whom had their heads completely covered in facemasks of fabric rhododendrons, roses and peonies.
 
It being nighttime, and this being a Dolce & Gabbana collection, one also enjoyed several merry widows, in satin bustiers and lace see-through gowns. Gabbana did promise sexy. All marching on a red carpet, before an audience ranged around café tables, which cheered pretty much every look.