Creations presented during the preview of the exhibition “from the heart to the hands: Dolce & Gabbana” at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, April 5, 2024. (AFP/GABRIEL BOUYS)
From a crystal dress sparkling in a room of mirrors to the contrasting colors of Sicilian ceramics, a new exhibition of Dolce & Gabbana’s works in Milan highlights the Italian craftsmanship that inspired them.
On several floors of the opulent Palazzo Reale, “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana”, presented from April 7 to July 31, is the first exhibition dedicated to one of the most successful partnerships in fashion history .
Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana met in Milan in the early 1980s before launching a design consultancy studio and then their own brand in 1985.
Creations during the preview of the exhibition “from the heart to the hands: Dolce & Gabbana” at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, April 5, 2024. (AFP/GABRIEL BOUYS)
Yet the brand’s identity comes not from the elegant fashion capital, Gabbana’s hometown, but from Dolce’s Sicilian heritage, setting it apart from its rivals in the luxury sector.
In a room at the Palazzo Reale, a multi-colored dress adorned with pompoms is displayed among objects from the Sicilian artisanal tradition that inspired it, such as majolica ceramics and carefully painted carts.
Other rooms pay homage to Italian traditions, from church mosaics to opera.
In a tribute to the art of Venetian glassmaking, dresses and headdresses draped in crystals or threaded with silver sparkle in a room with walls covered in finely crafted mirrors, with magnificent chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
The exhibition “is an open love letter to Italian culture”, a source of inspiration for the brand, welcomed the organizers in a press release. It “traces the extraordinary creative process of its founders – from the heart, where ideas are born, to the hands, which give them form.”
The artisanal know-how is exhibited in a temporary workshop, where tailors, dressmakers and artisans will work every day in a space that recreates the real laboratories of the fashion house.
After Milan, the exhibition will go on an international tour.
© 2024 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends using the buttons below.
