Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda 2014: Italian's Do It With Style

Hamish Bowles, a delightful writer, perfectly captured the Limoncello scented atmosphere of Dolce e Gabbana's most recent alta moda show in Capri.  From the small boats bedecked in lemons and sage, to a soundtrack of Pavarotti filling the sea foam frothed air and to the clothes which sounded like a dream of 1950s Italy and the Viscontil film, Il Leopardo... it was more then just La Dolce Vita.  

I had the privilege to view the last Dolce e Gabbana alta moda collection in New York back in May and more then just seeing how truly beautiful the clothing and accessories were, it was discovering that Dolce e Gabbana alta moda is just that: Italian haute couture made by Italian designers and crafted by Italian artisans.  

We hear much about the petites mains who make the French haute couture but little to none about the piccole mani in Italy.  And there was an enormous tradition of fine dress making in Italy.  So it is not just buying something beautiful but supporting a heroic but dying society of people who can make insanely beautiful things with their hands... So buy Italian alta moda and support small businesses!  : )

There is a word, a very old fashioned word, which sometimes now seems as lost as the men and women who knew how to make a jeweled button or a hand painted silk flower: discretion.  Dolce e Gabbana alta moda is about discretion.  It is not borrowed and worn on red carpets.  It is about the clients, the designers and the craftspeople.  

And you won't see it on Style.com either.  Here are a few photos from Hamish Bowles and Instagram...

Dolce & Gabbana alta moda.  Capri.  Photos by Hamish Bowles

and from Instagram:

love and baci, Juliana

Big Ball Gowns in Ball Town

This weekend, all over Manhattan, there are women, getting their hair high lighted, faces misted with oxygen, readying their jewels, having a final fitting and waiting for their gowns for Monday night's Met Gala celebrating Charles James. 

Not much has changed since Kitty, the Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya, in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina readied herself for a ball...

And this years dress code calling for white tie and decorations will be a beautiful step into the past, with the men in tails and the women donning some serious silk.

From Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and a view onto Monday evening's Met gala...

THE BALL was only just beginning as Kitty and her mother walked up the great staircase, flooded with light, and lined with flowers and footmen in powder and red coats. From the rooms came a constant, steady hum, as from a hive, and the rustle of movement; and while on the landing between trees they gave last touches to their hair and dresses before the mirror...

Although her dress, her coiffure, and all the preparations for the ball had cost Kitty great trouble and consideration, at this moment she walked into the ballroom in her elaborate tulle dress over a pink slip as easily and simply as though all the rosettes and lace, all the minute details of her attire, had not cost her or her family a moment’s attention, as though she had been born in that tulle and lace, with her hair done up high on her head, and a rose and two leaves on the top of it.

It was one of Kitty’s best days. Her dress was not uncomfortable anywhere; her lace berthe did not droop anywhere; her rosettes were not crushed nor torn off; her pink slippers with high, hollowed-out heels did not pinch, but gladdened her feet; and the thick rolls of fair chignon kept up on her head as if they were her own hair. All the three buttons buttoned up without tearing on the long glove that covered her hand without concealing its lines. The black velvet of her locket nestled with special softness round her neck. That velvet was delicious; at home, looking at her neck in the looking-glass, Kitty had felt that that velvet was speaking. About all the rest there might be doubt, but the velvet was delicious. Kitty smiled here too, at the ball, when she glanced at it in the glass. Her bare shoulders and arms gave Kitty a sense of chill marble, a feeling she particularly liked...

I can imagine Kitty in this Dolce e Gabbana Alta Moda dress made of tulle and handmade silk flowers... 

love, kisses and tulle, ribbons, lace and flowers, Juliana

Just in! Dolce & Gabbana Fall/Winter 1996 Fellini Le Notti di Cabiria Collection Coat

If you read the RARE vintage blog frequently, you will know how much I love early Dolce & Gabbana.  Their collections always have so much story, romance and Drama.  Back in the 1990s, I dreamt of being a hot Sicilian widow bound in black corsets, wearing a baroque cross, with the grittiness of Italian neorealism cinema but also the glamour of the Dolce Vita.  That is what I love about fashion: stories and dreams...

"I was cutting the coats like Balenciaga in the Fifties, loose volume, three quarter length sleeves.  We were inspired by this amazing movie still from Fellini of a woman in a herringbone coat, getting into a car.  All you see is her back, and a flash of of black-seamed stockings as she climbs in."

Domenico Dolce on the Fall/Winter 1996/7 collection inspired by Balenciaga, Fellini and Le Notti di Carbiria...

Just in!

Dolce e Gabbana Fall/Winter 1996/1997 coat with three quarter length sleeves.
 Available for purchase at RARE vintage.  212-581-7273 or email info@rarevintage.com

love, baci and vintage, Juliana

A Pride and Prejudice Moment at Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2014

Who are you in Pride and Prejudice?  The beautiful, kind hearted Jane, the good time girl Lidia just out for a laugh, the practical Charlotte Lucas, the vile Caroline Bingley or Elizabeth Bennet, destined for the arms of a certain Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy with his 10,000 pounds a year and, more importantly, Pemberley...  well, sister, I  don't know about you but I am Elizabeth : )

and if I was in a drawing room, taking a stroll with Duck Face (if you have seen Four Weddings and a Funeral, you will understand my reference) so Mr. Darcy can best admire our figures, I would wear this:

A Dolce & Gabbana hooded spencer with jeweled buttons and a flowing chiffon empire waisted gown covered with keys... the keys to a modern day Pemberley.  Mr Darcy is, unfortunately, not included...

Dolce e Gabbana Fall 2014.  Photos from Style.com

love, kisses and dreams of Mr Darcy, Juliana

Just in at RARE vintage: Dolce & Gabbana Slashed, Graffiti and Safety Pins Jeans

Updated:
"This was an important season: it was about the icons of the 1980s.  Punky jeans were worn with tailored jackets... bits of Grace Jones, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and, of course, Madonna."

Domenico Dolce and Steffano Gabbana

Just in at RARE vintage are these slashed, graffiti covered, safety pinned and jeweled jeans.  I know.  They have everything and then some more!  In 2001, Dolce & Gabbana were busy doing the costumes for Madonna's Drowned World Tour.  And making slashed t-shirts with Britney Spears name scrolled lavishly across Madonna's bust in pink letters and another one in black with Kylie Minogue in gold.  

These jeans from the Spring/Summer 2001 are a little 60s love child mixed with some 70s punk and a good dose of 80s glamore with jeweled brooches here and there. 

Spring/Summer 2001 Dolce & Gabbana slashed, graffiti and safety pin jeans available at RARE vintage.
Email info@rarevintage.com or phone 212.581.7273 for more information.

I think they would be pretty amazing worn with a Repetto ballet slipper and just a simple white shirt or tank top.

love, kisses and vintage, Juliana

ps I forgot to add these photos yesterday...

From the Dolce & Gabbana Spring/Summer 2001 ad campaign and the jeans are available at RARE vintage!

and Madonna in Dolce & Gabbana tee shirts in 2001: