Dolce & Gabbana: playing-cards clothes for the millennial

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 17, 2017

Once, all one needed to become a runway model were great looks and a decent walk. Now, if you want to march for Dolce & Gabbana, it’s much more important to have a famous parent and several million Instagram followers.

 
Welcome to the era of Influencer chic – where the ideal model CV is a daddy who has won an Oscar or at least a Grammy. Just like Tuki Brando, son of the double Oscar winner; or Rafferty Law, son of Jude; or better yet, Tyler Clinton, nephew of former US president Bill.
 
Pierce Brosnan, Pamela Anderson, Snoop Dog, David Bailey, Puff Daddy, Shaquille O’Neal, Alain Delon and Cindy Crawford all had offspring in this show. The house, at least this June, is not exactly an equal opportunities employer.

As each sibling appeared, photographs of these heirs with nametags were projected above the runway just to make doubly sure you knew exactly who they were.
 
It almost made one forget about the clothes. Almost. Though, as it turned out this was a great, giddy, dandified and dashing signature collection, albeit starring lots of easily identifiable Dolce & Gabbana iconic looks. From the surgically cut shiny silk suits in bitter orange or plum, or silk pajamas in dazzling playing-card prints, to fab raincoats and silk boxers shorts covered with royal cards. Many models wore crowns, others in black and white mimicked One-Eyed Jacks.

 
Everyone in Italy is obsessed with writing on sneakers – and Domenico and Stefano are as well, penciling a billet doux beside red hearts. Plenty of highly commercial totes, especially one wearing a huge #DG, where the hashtag was the bag handle. In the end, it proved to be a very busy weekend for the duo. In 24 hours, Dolce & Gabbana staged two shows and two parties; the first for the uber wealthy private clients of Sartoria, the second for their future clients – millennials.