Even dresses and accessories can be declared in love. In love with the most extraordinary and fabulous city in the world – Venice. This is what the new collections of the brand Dolce & Gabbana broadcast. These three days were called: “Treasures of Venice”.
Day One: Alta Gioielleria – High Jewelry
The exhibition of women’s jewelry took place on August 28 in the Council Hall and Election Hall of the Palazzo Ducale, where the senate once sat and from the balcony of which the doges spoke to the audience gathered below. Jewels describe Venice as a harmony of opposites: it is romantic and passionate at the same time, melancholy and cheerful, rational and sentimental, divine and mundane, its main colors are black, scarlet and gold. The city of carnival, merchants and sailors has always been open to new countries and distant civilizations, which enriched it financially and culturally.
The fashion house of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana has long established a fruitful relationship with the jewelers of the Veneto region, and now the glaziers of the island of Murano have been involved in this cooperation, who used their secret recipes and methods to make limited jewelry: crowns, tiaras, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and details for evening dresses.
Day Two: Alta Moda – High Fashion
The very outfits that the famous guests were waiting for to show on August 29 at the Piazzetta San Marco – part of St. Mark’s Square from the Grand Canal to the bell tower. One hundred bird-of-paradise models arrived from the lagoon on one hundred gondolas. And a hundred of their dresses have become a real hymn to the cultural heritage of Venice, the richness of its history, its numerous crafts.
On the trains of evening dresses there are prints of the main sights and bridges. On the shoulders, instead of epaulettes, there are commedia dell’arte masks or Casanova’s cocked hats.
On the bodices – Murano glass in all its diversity, on the skirts – the golden mosaic of the Cathedral of San Marco. There is no shortage of Canaletto’s vedatas and the symbolism of the winged lion. And the water of the canals seems to ripple and is reflected on the surface of multi-colored silks. Materials such as glass and murrina, unusual for fashion bows, gave fashion designers a reason to experiment with new processing technologies.
Add to this the more traditional, but requiring fine and meticulous handmade gold embroidery, embroidery with crystals and beads from Venetian beads, lace, inlays in the form of “ferro” (decoration and an integral part of the gondolas) and white and red “briccole” (characteristic wooden piles , serving to separate channels and moor boats). And also embroidery on the skin, reminiscent of the gilded stucco molding of Venetian palazzos. Heels that look like upside down Murano glasses. Sleeves that look like the domes of a cathedral. Dresses-sculptures in the form of the opera house La Fenice. Carnival frenzy of shades. In addition to the rhythmically swaying outfits, nature itself took up scenography: after an unexpected rain, a rainbow shone in the sky, right above the column with a lion.
Day 3: Alta Sartoria – Tailoring Excellence
The collection of jewelry for men was presented on the morning of August 30 in Scuola San Rocco, right under the murals of Tintoretto. And in the evening, despite the large hail, they showed the men’s collection. The fashion show took place on the territory of the Arsenal – the place of construction, equipment and departure of the ships of the Venetian Republic around the world. Among the ancient shipyards, warehouses and workshops, a floating podium was built. Models in costumes inspired by the spirit of discoveries and conquests moved along it. Embroideries, inlays, gold leaf, glass mosaics, feathers, expensive fabrics – all this reminded of the Venetian fleet returning home with holds full of treasures, exotic spices and precious stones. It took nine months of handwork to decorate just one cloak with the image of the Rialto Bridge!
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Ode to Venice
After a difficult year and a half with peaks of “high water” and an endless pandemic (epidemics, unfortunately, in the past often undermined the fragile body of the city), Venice tourism was granted a breath of fresh air. The lagoon is trying to be reborn, like a Phoenix bird, at the expense of its beauty. After all, we are talking not only about shows and models, but also about providing work for gondoliers, hoteliers and glaziers, who, with their skill, added true Venetian charm to the creations of the fashion house.
