Dolce & Gabbana: It’s party time again

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Mar 1, 2021

There are two opposing camps this season in fashion. One sees women post-lockdown refusing to sacrifice comfort to be hip in the future; the other insisting that womankind is desperate to get back to a dinner date and a night on the dancefloor.

 
No prizes for guessing which side of the argument Dolce & Gabbana took. It’s back to the disco with a vengeance with Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who staged the final major show video of the six-day Milan Fashion Week on Monday afternoon.

Albeit going to a nightclub with a difference, seeing as the ladies will be serenaded by several genial robots. And, after all the growing inclusiveness of the past few years, it was good to see that not all the robots were white. One even came in eco green.

The designers celebrated Italian excellence, by inviting in the robots came from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. Named iCub and R1, the multifunctional humanoid robots were the stars of a mammoth show featuring 135 looks.
 
A space station show, with giant techy lighting; computer graphic screens; and the sound of a rocket taking off. Where the Italian R2-D2 D&Gs happily accompanied the cast down the runway, before they all finished up on a series of metal bleachers in an audience-free show.
 
Racy gals in pearl-encrusted lingerie looks; others in crystal-enhanced bodices, heading for a night out on the town. Leggy ladies in super taut sheathes in the key color of the collection – silver. Splash painting tops and body suits; metallic ski pants; rainbow-colored hair and rainbow-colored oversized parkas.

 
Guys in basketball tops with mega numerals or baseball jackets trimmed in gold. Even an entire surgeon’s look but in gold. Rappers going après-skiing in St Tropez in graffiti parkas or leopard print puffers.
 
Let the good times roll again, in gold-coin metallic dresses; all backed up by The Weeknd’s rock anthem, 'Save Your Tears.'
 
In case you did not get the point, one lass wore a shirt reading "'90s Super Model" at the show’s end, staged with a traditional mass rank finale of models – albeit each kept several meters apart. The robots rolling beside them, wearing enough pearls to keep Coco Chanel happy.
 
The two designers taking their bows with big waves, though on a big screen. Socially distant but raring to go.