Bling-friendly Dolce & Gabbana presents quiet luxury during Milan Fashion Week menswear shows

Menswear is looking for post-pandemic footing during Milan Fashion Week, landing somewhere between resort, adventurer and tailoring

Menswear is looking for post-pandemic footing during Milan Fashion Week, landing somewhere between resort, adventurer and tailoring.

Dolce & Gabbana offered quiet luxury as only the designing duo can, reinventing masculine silhouettes with feminine detailing. MSGM, for its part, offered adventure with an off-road collection inspired by African travels.

On the tailoring side, Ralph Lauren showed its high-end Purple line in its patrician Milan villa, focusing on made-in-Italy detailing for everyday luxury, including burnished footwear, unconstructed cotton-linen blend jackets, and chunky Fair Isle knitwear.

Margherita Maccapani Missoni chose the menswear shows to unveil her new brand, using her paternal Maccapani family name instead of the more familiar Missoni from mother Angela. Her women-focused Maccapani brand features easy to wear, form fitting clothes meant to accompany women throughout their day — a twist on the knitwear that made the Missoni family brand a household name.

Some highlights from shows Saturday on the second day of mostly menswear previews for Spring-Summer 2024.

DOLCE & GABBANA FEMINIZES MENSWEAR

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana feminized the menswear silhouettes this season, with tailoring tricks long deployed for women.

The wide-ranging collection of nearly 80 looks was a departure for the designing duo in any season, a play on quiet luxury. There were no prints, no color and no bling. Instead, the focus was on shape and materials, with a neutral color palette of black, white and camel and ivory.

Taffeta was ruched around the waist, creating a cummerbund effect but reminiscent of the duo’s provocative ruched dresses. Cottony tunics featured chest-baring deep-Vs and long, trailing sleeves. A sheer organza top and pants were prettily decorated with floral appliques on the cuffs. Organza panels gave an ephemeral touch over trousers. Wide satiny trousers were paired with a form fitting mock turtleneck, a look that would equally suit women.

A series of oversized tailored jackets summarized the tailoring, with hour-glass waistlines on long coats, ruched detailing on oversized puffers, deconstructed coats with sheer panels and pillowy vests.

Booties and shoes that zipped up the back gave a futuristic edge to the looks, especially worn with ribbed long johns or briefs.

Dolce & Gabbana filled the front-row with celebrities including Machine Gun Kelly, Italy’s Blanco, South Korea’s Doyoung and Australian Luke Hemmings, each eliciting screams of adoration from fans as they arrived.

MSGM MATURES

MSGM, at 13, is growing up.

Creative director and fashion house founder Massimo Giorgetti said backstage that the collection was inspired by a recent trip to Tanzania, specifically the hours just before sunrise, which he likened to the moment ‘’when you realize a desire to grow up, but remain youthful in the head.’’

Models — including some older men, in a brand-first — emerged through mist into a striated cavern beneath Milan’s main railroad tracks, as if from a cave into the African dawn. They were accompanied by rhythmic electronic music.

Giorgetti’s own iPhone vacation images became prints and motifs: sunset ombre on T-shirts and knitwear, frayed cotton recalling zebra prints but in monochrome tops or suits, striated eco-leathers imitating the geological formations on overcoats.

Silhouettes were grown up, with nary a sweatshirt. For the maturing MSGM audience there were oversized suits in jacquard earth tones, purple wisteria or celeste blouses with big-pocketed cargo pants. Protective canvas hats snapped around the neck, creating a collar, when not in use. Soft high top hiking boots, moccasins and loafers finished the looks, with jewelry of polished stone or raw amethyst.