The Eternal Season

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana define high fashion in terms of the timeless human desire to experience something extraordinarily beautiful

- Jonathan Ho

Piazza san marco is where Dolce&Gabbana chose to present its Alta Sartoria and Alta Moda collections this year, tempting fate and rolling the dice with hail and rain. A tourist attraction today, St Mark’s Square, as it is known in English, used to be the social, religious and political centre of Venice. Napoleon had called it “the drawing room of Europe”.

Given the city’s tremendous social and cultural influence in history, it is interesting to note that men in 18th century Venice took great care in dressing and styling themselves, even more than the women. Though in the intervening centuries, attitudes switched and fashion began focusing on women’s clothing, affirming a luxurious mode of dress only for them. Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria and Alta Moda are more than the usual fashion collections. They are a dream, made up of unique pieces that are not replicable nor subject to seasons, and which brings together creativity, research and the perfect execution of craftsmanship. August man spoke to the pair of legendary designers for this exclusive interview.

Your physical shows reminded me of a line of a line from the movie The Two Popes, “The church that is married to the spirit of this age, becomes a widow in the next”. In fashion, we are accustomed to brands conforming to the “spirit of the age”, but with Alta Moda and Alta Sartoria, and even your other collections at large, there is always a sense of timeless. Do you think brands should evolve with the times or should they stand for something eternal?