By: DENISA PALSHA
How Dolce & Gabbana keeps pushing its creative limits.
Despite launching trends since the mid-’80s Dolce & Gabbana shows no signs of slowing down. The world’s most renowned luxury lifestyle house, with products ranging from clothing, perfume, and eyewear to jewelry and home furnishing, has been celebrating several grand-scale American debuts, much to its fanbase’s delight.
Recently launching at Miami’s Luxury Living space (its first and only location in the U.S.) DG Casa offers a complete furniture range in the original, eye-popping Carretto, Blu Mediterraneo, Leopardo, and
Zebra prints. New categories like ‘DG Logo’ and ‘Oro 24k,’ a nod to Baroque opulence, are included in the American debut, with additional new collections dropping this Spring. In crafting its creations, the duo collaborated with a number of heritage artists and brands, from legendary Murano glassmakers, like Barbini or Salviati, to luxury textile companies, meticulously selected for their excellence. From twill, Duchesse, or velvet cushions inspired by archival scarves, wool blankets or rugs with illustrations of leopards, hand-blown jewel-toned Murano glassware, and hand-painted Sicilian ceramics, the line will, no doubt, appeal to a wide range of customers.
Dolce & Gabbana’s imperative is to highlight the quality of the Italian ‘fatto a mano,’ or made-by-hand, craftsmen’s ‘know-how,’ and quest for innovation on display with each detail from the small stitch to woven straw, mosaics, and hand-painted ceramics. DG Casa is meant for maximalists, who ‘dress their home in imagination and fantasy,’ pointed out the designer duo. While the Luxury Living showroom services Miami design savants, the website accepts orders from coast to coast.
The choice of Miami for DG Casa’s American kick-off is obvious. “We chose Miami as an important bridge between the Americas,” explained Stefano Gabbana. “We feel many similarities between our cultures. We all enjoy life!”
Speaking of dolce vita, to celebrate the DG Casa’s introduction, the designer duo raised the bar by dazzling its fans with a special showing of its “made to measure” Alta Moda at the Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club. “Our Alta and DG Casa collections are handmade. They are a huge effort, taking many hours and months to make,” explained Domenico Dolce.
“We are very happy to share them for the first time with our American friends in Miami, thanks to Gloria and Emilio Estefan.” With Marc Anthony and Maluma in the front row, Latin influence was undeniable on the catwalk with rich laces, sensual silhouettes, and abundant embellishments in rich colors and prints. It’s clear that both in fashion and home décor Dolce & Gabbana has found a strong foothold in Miami. “Domenico and Stefano have been our friends for 30 years; I used to wear their clothes on many album covers,” cheered Gloria Estefan in the audience. “We love having them with us, presenting their projects in Miami,” added Emilio Estefan, “we have similar values and lifestyles. They are close to our community.”