RUNWAY MAGAZINE ®: Dolce Gabbana Fall 2021

Dolce Gabbana Fall Winter 2021-2022. Review by Eleonora de Gray, Editor-in-Chief of RUNWAY MAGAZINE.

Well, after recent fiasco with Men collection Fall Winter 2021-2022 this collection is indeed “Back to the feature” or “Rewind” or “Remastered” experience created by two great designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. There’s indeed a glitch of Philipp Plein, and not only me had to notice, but the pink or golden glossy pants are not exactly only his signature. But there are also “Street Tagging”, “Chinese Street”, “Star Wars”, “Astronauts”, “Baseball”, themes.

Non need “to celebrate the excellence”, like it says in the press-release, as there’s no such thing as perfection. Although there’s indeed very important research related to artificial intelligence, new technologies in general which became a part of fashion, shown by models. Dolce & Gabbana and the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in this Fall Winter 2021-2022 show brought up research in the technological field and its infinite applications, fashion included.

The multifunctional humanoid robots iCub and R1 (thinking of “Star Wars”) were involved in the event, the result of IIT’s highly specialized research activity in the field of service robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Here also overlapping a little bit with Philipp Plein who showed during Milan Fashion Week a show for Spring Summer 2016 season, where models were served by the robots.

The idea of this Dolce Gabbana collection is to show how technology and craftsmanship, two different worlds, might come together. The looks for this collection were inspired by robotics research and Artificial Intelligence, and based on the looks created by Dolce Gabbana in 90s.

Let’s start from the technology. Dolce Gabbana presented I’d say “cyber-fashion” : artificial colors, fake textures and digitally enhanced features, kaleidoscopic high-tech materials, morphing wools with plastics, and vegan “things”. The designers had employed technological evolution to develop real, tactile fabrics that brought the look of virtual reality into the material world.

And what is morphing from 90s to this futuristic collection is the transformation of their LEOPARD PRINT. Everyone has a jacket or coat, black classic tailor or denim, with leopard print inside. Even Vice-President of United States Kamala Harris has one, and wore it at the Inauguration day. So this collection shows leopard prints outside in artificial yellow, red and blue colors. These colors were used on the leather, denim, polyester and silk, and applied by new technological methods.

Another known element, like we say DNA today, from Dolce Gabbana past which developed trough the years is the patchwork, amazing craftsmanship and traditional Sicilian and Italian patchwork. This patchwork also find its place in this new futuristic collection. Look how sparkle…

Themes:

“Street Tagging”. The show starts with very colorful pieces bomb-painted looks.

“Chinese Street”. The most admired and reproduced by billion “fashion looks” of Chinese streets Dolce Gabbana put up on absolutely new very luxury level.

“Star Wars” and “Astronauts”. Designers came up with very futuristic looks of the “blown up” goose-down jackets and coats in addition to specific face coverings due to pandemic. Let’s add here new marketing wave to make all “exploring cosmos”.

There are couple of other themes like “Baseball” or “Old Classic” (I don’t want to say Chanel-ish), themes and style of today and everyday life transformed and morphed by the new technologies applied to traditional fabrics, created a “New Touch” or “New Punch” of this Fall Winter 2021-2022 collection of Dolce Gabbana. Next step to use “Vegetal leather” out of apple skin, like Tommy Hilfiger produces for the second season.