Day: 24/09/2022

Dolce And Gabbana… And Kardashian

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Kim K is D&G’s new muse. How quick she is to switch her allegiance. “Ciao, Kim”

That Kim Kardashian would be the new face of Dolce & Gabbana is not surprising. Three days before the show, she shared the hashtags #CiaoKim and #DolceGabbana on social media following her choreographed arrival in Milan. But for her to move from Balenciaga to Dolce & Gabbana, two labels on the opposite ends of the aesthetic pole, is rather a puzzler. Is she that flexible to be able to adore Balenciaga couture two months ago and walk that show and then go flatter D&G by lending her name—the most famous of the fame-craving family—to their spring/summer 2023 season and appearing on that runway too? Reaching the apex of French haute couture was not enough, she needed to conquer Italian RTW? Is she sick of Demna Gvasalia obscuring her whole body? Or, is she still unsure of what her own style is, more so after her marriage to Kanye West ended, and having admitted on The Kardashians that she had “never really been the visionary”?

To be certain that you know that the SKIMS founder (oh, yes, there’s that Fendi collab!) is with faction D&G, they feature a close-up of her in a black & white La Dolce Vita-ish film as backdrop to the runway. But the only performance she does throughout is eat, sensuously, a serving of unappetising-looking, sauced-up spaghetti, allowing the wheat strands to be sucked into her pursed mouth as if a demonstration of skillful fellatio. Perhaps, that is Felliniesque: the hedonism, the consumption. Even the dabbing of her lips! (Aside: how is it that Kim Kardashian gets to use a fork to eat her pasta when in China D&G had their model use chopsticks?) And to be surer that you do not mistake the unmistakable character on-screen, now with a Bardot blond pile, the show opens with the sounds of the clicks of paparazzi cameras and the canned screams of “’We love you, Kim!” Our eyes did roll.

The reality TV star has brought her preferred silhouette to D&G: body-con. Or clothes that would require a set of SKIMS beneath. Now, this is not some gimcrack collaboration; this is, we are informed, a serious curation. So what did Ms Kardashian curate? She revives pieces she likes from 1987 to 2007. And such breadth: they aesthetically correspond to what she wore before she met Kanye West and what Julia Fox wears today. And for good measure, the legging-boots she was seen in with considerable frequency when promoting Balenciaga. These are all Kim-Kardashian-with-somewhere-to-go or something-to-wear-for-Instagram looks. They really should have made a latex likeness of the woman, as well as derrière enhancements, and make all the models a clone of her. When the brand sponsored your sister’s wedding and the clothes of the ambitious family attending it, the least you could do is lend them your face and body in sensational support.

In the end, is this D&G going archival, again? Have the two men nothing new to say or are there really that much to mine from their past? We do not feel nostalgic seeing the same lingerie style that Cindy Crawford wore to open the spring/summer 1992 show, appearing like an apparition, nary a tweak, again as this season’s first look. It is amazing that they do not factor satiation and see it necessary to let Ms Kardashian pick those very pieces that would be no sartorial challenge to her (interestingly there are no prints, save the leopard spots) to do a show based on her taste. Having witnessed Kim Kardashian enjoying her pasta, even if you close your eyes, you could see bra tops, tiny bustiers, mini-dresses, corset-dresses, nude dresses, clingy dresses, slip-dresses, granny panties, skimpy panties, pencil skirts, high-waist skirts, high-waist pants, low-waist jeans. Momentarily, it could have been Versace on show.

Screenshot (top) dolcegabbana/youtube. Photos: gorunway.com

One That’s Twice The Bang

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Gucci’s show is a parade of its usual motley group in a single file, but then it becomes a final reveal of freakish twins

Do good things really come in pairs? Are twos indeed couple the fun? Or double the dread? The latest Gucci show starts with a typical motley of models in a spaced, single line. They walk in a fairly dim space. On the walls are black and white portraits (presumably of those populating the runway). Then at the end of the show, before the models file past one more time, the wall opposite the audience rises, revealing a parallel runway on the opposite side. It is amazing that, according to social media, the show-goers did not know that the event was, in fact, two-sided. And then the finale: models from each side emerges. They are twins—identical twins. Who would have thought, even if you knew that there would be a dramatic element? Welcome to Gucci Twinsburg, Milan, not Ohio, where the yearly festival Twins Day is held.

Why anyone would need a two-dose Gucci is not quite clear. But the twins walk hand-hand, wearing the same clothes, the same accessories, the same shoes. Is this twice the usual budget for a Gucci show? Reportedly, the twins were invited from all over the world to participate in this runway pairing. It is conceivable that there are not that many body-ideal, good-looking, catwalk-worthy twins in Italy. The idea of having the 68 pairs do the show is to reflect the parturition truth that Michele Alessandro Michele’s mother is one half of twin sisters. In the show notes, Mr Michele said “I am the son of two mothers. Two extraordinary women who made their twinship the ultimate seal of their existence. They lived in the same body. They dressed and combed their hair in the same way. They were magically mirrored. One multiplied the other. That was my world, perfectly double and doubled.”

Yet, the twinning at Gucci does not necessarily mean twofold excellence. Or, wondrousness. We are supposed to read into it that even with a mirror image, self-expression of the individual can take place. The twins do not need to look like each side of a pair of scissors, spectacles, or chopsticks. Do they not? Isn’t this collection again Gucci seeing itself in the mirror installed by Alessandro Michele in 2013, almost ten years ago? To be sure, he has moved away from the deep-seated tapping of ’70s kitsch. But the mishmash from the world’s thrift shops is very jelak. Is that why Gucci needs the gimmick of getting twins to strut the runway? Can the brand distance itself from stylistic tricks?

The clothes require almost no description. Gucci fans know what to expect, and expectations are often met. To note are some stereotyping involved: that twins dress alike. And Chinese girls wear samfoos and cheongsums, but white girls can wear happi coats. Far-out, costume-y, and campy accessories have always been part of the Gucci look, so this season Mr Michele offers glasses (including shades) with fringing, garters for men, Gremlins to hang on bags (or wherever), beaded scull caps, beaded beards, hairbands weighed down the sides of the face with strands of beads (the little spheres are big this season), and face jewellery (again) that are Deepavali door hangings that drape from ear to nose to ear. Every season at Gucci is a festive season. Celebrate.