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Milan highlights: Dolce & Gabbana’s autumn fashion fantasy

By Melissa Dick | Posted: Tue 03 Mar 2009

Celebrities and champagne have been scarce at the international shows so far. No wonder - aside from the eighties - pinching the pennies is next biggest trend preoccupying designers for autumn 09. And, as the Italian government announce this week that they’ll be looking to bolster a flagging luxury fashion industry with cash - on the

catwalk and front row at Dolce & Gabanna’s show yesterday, you’d barely have noticed we’re in the midst of a global recession.

Flying in a stellar cast of A- list celebs, a star packed front row saw Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson (who is the face of D&G’s make up range), Freida Pinto, Kate Hudson, Lauren Hutton, Nadja Auremann, Eva Herzigova and Claudia Schiffer all sitting shoulder to shoulder. It was the most celebrity studded event of the week so far and, a sign of the decadent and over-the-top autumn collection that was about to be unveiled.

For autumn 09 designers Dominico and Stefano railed against the gloom of the times, ‘we felt the need to dream…’ said Stefano Gabanna ‘just like a woman in a crisis; we put on more make up.’

True to their word – and taking a surrealist theme as inspiration, exaggerated, over-the-top cartoonish proportions coloured every ensemble. Emphasis was firmly focused on the shoulders which were given every treatment from fur panels to ruched seams and clusters of cheery fur pom-poms.

Signature 1950s hourglass tailoring came as skirt suits in giant black and white polka dots or chequerboard prints - all worn with satin ribbon seamed tights and the most gigantic wedge heeled shoes. Beautiful capes and coats were in leopard print, metallic and deep violet fur.

Fun, optimistic sexy and as decadent as ever – in terms of escapism for a/w09 - nobody's doing it better than Dolce.

By Melissa Dick

Posted 3rd March 2009