A tasteful breeziness moulded Dolce & Gabbana’s SS25 outing, unfolding a narrative of slouchy formality.
Quintessential, not essential, has always been Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s adjective. For Spring, though, they’ve joined the quiet-warrior brigade—having judged, apparently, that skin-tight volumes and lots of logos weren’t quite the thing in which to face down the modern day’s fuss-free new realities.
Opening the show was a woven blazer in a sandy tone and tailored pants that dropped below the knee, worn with maxi accessories in a neutral palette. Closing it were suits with minimal shirts and bags that garnered a sartorial appeal.
Sandwiched in-between were the sorts of earthy pieces that their legions of fans and international retailers aren’t often exposed to, but love. A brown hammered-silk top and black high-waisted trousers accompanied by a largely-shaped outerwear piece; an oversized knit in off-white; and a beige jacket that was accessorised with low-rise cotton pants.
It nods to the aesthetic of the 1950s, Italy’s golden age, which is also revived through references to the cinematography of famous Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni. The lineup makes for a sophisticated summer: elements like the sea, the mountains, the Italian cities, and the historical richness of the country’s places reign supreme and are exemplified in the softness of the fabrics – looks are versatile and transitional in equal measure.
What’s more, the archaeology, culture and monuments of Italian heritage are recalled in the neutral tradition of food, art, and architecture, and the incredible creativity in craftsmanship and tailoring, which is still handed down from father to son, is the uniqueness of the local workmanship.
Since the 1800s, the Grand Tour was a journey that had Italy as its destination, thus becoming one of the most iconic places to visit for summer vacations: Capri with its Amalfi Coast, Portofino with the Ligurian Riviera, Venice with its Lido, became places of pure aesthetics, and this season’s collection imbued these principles.
Though the lineup’s direction was loose, sportif, and quite crisp, standouts included a tailored cut seen in jackets, amphora pants, linen shirts, stripes, polo shirts, sweaters, raffia and leather woven by skilled hands of artisans for shoes, overcoats and jackets; they symbolise artefacts of a pure Italian-ness.
Elsewhere, white, sand, brown, burgundy, forest green and Sicilian black were part of the equation and among the prints, stripes—offered in various sizes—prevailed, echoing the aesthetics that sit at the heart of to the 1950s.
by Chidozie Obasi