After celebrating 20 years in designing menswear in 2010, Dolce and Gabbana no longer feel the need to be on top of the eclectic, crazy trends we see other design houses producing, instead they focus on beautiful tailoring and style. Something that guarantees them exposure on all of the red carpet events, with celebrities striving for the elegance that Dolce and Gabbana excel in producing.
So, the Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2011/12 RTW collection in three words?
Unisex. Monochrome. Fun.
Review
So, in a stark contrast to last week's news of
men modelling as women, Dolce and Gabbana give us women modelling as men! The show had an overall androgynous feel. We had the women modelling as men, but as a womenswear collection, the clothing wasn't intended to be for men, although I suppose we could consider parts of the collection to be unisex. The models all looked fabulous. We had some of the 'women' models wearing form fitting dressed with sequined brogues that looked simply stunning, whereas other outfits were paired with simple stiletto heels with ankle socks.
The Dolce & Gabbana ' woman'
The Dolce and Gabbana 'man'
The Music
The music was amazing. I'm a huge 80's fan and we had David Bowie and Mick Jagger's
Dancing in the Street followed by David Bowie's
Modern Love (one of my personal favourite songs).
The Feel of the Show
The only problem I found was, with the fast paced song choice, the models moved down the runway too quickly. You hardly got a second to take in all the details before they'd whipped around at the end of the catwalk and were on their way again.
The overall feel was quite 80's with a sense of old time Hollywood glamour. Patterns took the form of stars and music notes, giving an almost silent movie glamour feel to more modern silhouettes.
Beauty
The 'women' models had beautiful Hollywood glamour hair, swept back loose bun. Large earrings and minimalist make up. The 'male' models wore tight chignons, trilby's and faux sideburns
The Details
Style
Monochrome patterning & styling
Beautiful sequins
I'm so sad I couldn't get a good shot of this (I will try and find a better photograph to replace it) Sequined boy shorts under a lace dress, I loved this look!
Occasionally there was a splash of colour brought into the monochrome colour palette
The mustard yellow we're seeing so much of!
Simple designs (note the flash of colour on the shoe)
Amazing sleeveless fur collar coat (note the brogues on the ' women' models)
Sleeveless Tuxedo jackets were a nice touch on the 'male' designs
Detailing
Beautiful layered necklace
Hip bags (these were featured in a number of sizes) and looked quite cool
I just caught a glimpse of this as the model was turning around, so it isn't a great shot, but this dress was made up of different sized beads and stones. It was simply gorgeous
Elements I Missed
A few elements I didn't manage to capture were:
- The mix of patterns on the same outfit, but all in the same black and white colour palette
- The splashes of pastel colour - baby blue and baby pink but with the same black patterning
- Amazing sequined brogues
In Closing
Regarding the live feed, initially, I didn't like that we could see backstage. I felt that it spoiled the surprise of the pieces as they came down the runway. In fact, this was a relief as the runway show moved so quickly I had time to note the pieces that I wanted to see in more detail. It was almost like seeing the look book before viewing the show.
This collection was very wearable. You will see this patterning all across the high street stores next Fall. The collection had a very Topshop/H&M style to it and would target this customer perfectly.
It was nice to see Dolce & Gabbana doing something a little more adventurous, and they still kept some of their elegant tailoring in their suit wear and figure-hugging dresses - the Dolce & Gabbana style we all know and love, just a little more modern and fun!
My Favourite Piece
I was torn between two pieces from the collection as my ultimate show favourites, so I will show them both:
I loved how this long flowing dress looked on the model as she came down the runway
The sleeveless fur jacket with the sequin embellished dress underneath was just beautiful. So elegant
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