Dolce & Gabbana kick off Milan Fashion Week

The Italian designers patch together the best of Sicily for Spring 2021

Dolce & Gabbana’s signature prints and patterns were patchworked together at Milan Fashion Week. Picture: Alessandro Lucioni

While London Fashion Week was a largely digital affair, Milan is putting the catwalk back at the heart of fashion.

And if you’re going to stand tall and bring the glamour back to an industry cowering from COVID-19, who better than Dolce & Gabbana to lead?

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana presented their Spring/Summer 2021 collection at their favourite theatre venue in the city, this time plastered in colourful patchwork squares, soon to be found in the collection itself.

Dubbed #DGSicilianPatchwork, the cheerful collection seemed determined to be an optimistic forecast to follow the gloom of 2020.

“Given our long experience being inspired by Sicily, we wanted to tell of all that you can find on an island like this, the different cultures that dominated, from the Spanish to the Arabs, the Normans,” said Sicilian native Dolce via video message.

Added Gabbana: “We’ve treasured everything they brought to us. And we put it all together.”

The designers put their all into a huge range of almost 100 looks, which were the embodiment of everything the duo has come to represent: high glamour, beautiful craftsmanship and Italian dolce vita.

Their signature prints and patterns were patchworked together, with leopard print rubbing up against polka dots and roses, ­oranges and lemons, metallic brocades mixing with denim.

Their classic cinched-waist silhouettes and full-skirted ensembles were joined by 80s-inspired ruched mini-dresses, as well as some easier-wearing looks of wide-leg jeans and T-shirts, or ruffle-front shirts and shorts, adding a 70s feel.

Lingerie looks included structured bras and girdle-inspired shorts, while this pandemic’s prized hoodie (so 90s, so now) makes a rare appearance here.

At moments when colour and texture was about to overwhelm, out came a perfectly cut dress in daffodil, lime or bubblegum — the very colours of optimism.