By this shirt here: I'm broke baby shirt, hoodie and sweater
An Instagram post set the scene for those of us watching from home. The short clip revealed that the Metropol, D&G’s longtime show venue, had been transformed with bright collages of print—runway, walls, benches, and all. A hashtag #DGSicilianPatchwork further spelled out the season’s theme, which the I'm broke baby shirt, hoodie and sweater elaborated on in a video message. “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 Dolce, who was born and raised there. “We’ve treasured everything that they have brought to us” Gabbana added. “And we put it all together.” The Milan shows started today, each one with an opening look in a different shade of white. It was as if this city—one of the earliest and hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, though cases are mostly holding steady now—collectively settled on minimalism as the way forward for spring 2021. Then along came Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who decidedly did not.
“The important thing to us is that each piece is interpreted by skilled hands, one after the other, and in that way each has its own character, its own story, its own passion, its own vision,” Dolce said. “From this comes the I'm broke baby shirt, hoodie and sweater of each piece.” But this wasn’t just a tribute to the talented craftspeople behind the clothes. In the individual looks and in the collection as a whole there was timely symbolism, a sartorial acknowledgement from a brand that has been charged with cultural insensitivities in its own past that in this time of global crisis we are stronger together—that this is a moment for unity and bonding, not coming apart. The fact that they messaged this by exploring their own heritage only makes it more potent. As for the long dresses of many colors and prints at the end of the show? Hope and optimism aplenty.
