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The invitation called it a secret show, but by the time the event rolled around at 10 p.m. tonight, tutto Milano seemed to have heard about Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s Fashion Week caper. Outside the Bar Magenta off Corso Venezia, a crowd was gathering. “Don’t Look, Don’t Talk, Don’t Ask” the step-and-repeat advised, but you better believe the Instagram mill was churning.
Ahead of the regularly scheduled ready-to-wear show at 2 p.m. on Sunday, the designers staged a special runway presentation of their latest high eveningwear to a crowded room full of their .01 percent clients and a smattering of editor types who couldn’t help but gawk. It was a micro-capsule of their weekend-long Alta Moda affairs, modeled by a few professionals; sons, daughters, and grandchildren like Tatiana von Furstenberg and Corinne Foxx; and assorted other millennials.
Young men and women walked a spotlit red carpet arm in arm and solo with the crowd whooping and clapping for every new appearance. It was one part Le Bal des Débutantes and the other part Hollywood movie premiere, and chances are, these lavishly, lovingly embellished gowns will turn up in both places.
“We have a big collection of evening dresses,” Gabbana said when asked about the double booking. “We have pre-, cruise, main, evening, and it’s impossible to show everything in one show. Tomorrow we present our prêt-à-porter, our point of view about fashion. This one is fashion, but out of fashion.” Meaning? “Every woman wants to look sexy, attractive, desirable.”
The remarkable thing is tonight and tomorrow’s shows aren’t the only ones Dolce & Gabbana are hosting this weekend; they’ve also got a trio of events at the Milanese department store Rinascente, and in two weeks, they’re off to Tokyo for another entirely new ready-to-wear presentation at Isetan, and an Alta Moda presentation that Gabbana took pains to emphasize was not a redux of the July show, but never-before-seen, one-of-a-kind pieces.
Other designers complain about burnout. Not Dolce and Gabbana. “We are lucky, our minds are very open,” Gabbana said. “We started 32 years ago because we enjoy it, and we continue to.” The proof is in Gabbana’s Instagram feed (@stefanogabbana). Four hours after press time, he’d posted no fewer than 26 clips from tonight’s festivities.
See the collection in the slideshow above.