TTraffic in Milan came to a halt Saturday afternoon as Madonna arrived at the Dolce & Gabbana Fashion Week show. The singer, who was widely rumored to have been a front-row guest, was the last to arrive at the brand’s headquarters, eliciting a spontaneous standing ovation from the crowd of 1,000.
Madonna, a longtime friend of designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana and an ambassador for both brands since the early 1990s, wore a head-to-toe black lace outfit from the label’s latest collection, a gold crown over a black Chantilly lace veil and chatted with front-row audience members before the show began.
The show, titled “Italian Beauty,” was a tribute to Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition Tour costumes and themes, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.
Models descended the penthouse-style staircase wearing cone-shaped bra bustiers worn by Madonna on tour and blonde, spiraling curl wigs reminiscent of her style of the time, a look chronicled in the fly-on-the-wall documentary In Bed with Madonna. Models also wore pencil dresses with corset and suspender detailing, sheer lace overlays revealing cone-shaped bras and oversized pants, and the black-and-pinstriped tailored dress seen in the Vogue music video.
As the designers took their final bows, they made the unusual decision to walk down the catwalk in search of their muses in the front row, who rose to receive kisses on the hands and more applause from the audience.
This isn’t the first time Dolce & Gabbana has presented a collection inspired by the platinum artist: in 2000, they presented their Spring/Summer 2001 collection titled “Madonna, A Great Anniversary,” and prior to that, they presented the costumes they designed for her 1992 “The Girlie Show” tour.
“Madonna has always been our icon. She changed so many things in our lives,” the designers wrote in their show notes.
Jason Hughes, fashion and creative director of Wallpaper* magazine, said after the show, “Madonna was connected to her Italian-American roots long before she was a pop star and has a long association with Dolce & Gabbana. They are a match made in heaven. Think of their shared 1990s fame for religious symbolism, sex appeal and female power. The Blonde Ambition era was when Madonna was at the height of her fame and power, the biggest superstar on the planet, making headlines every day. When you’re working at that level, it’s hard to accept and understand how important what you’ve achieved is, but you can now. This feels like she’s embracing how big a thing it was.”
The Observer understands that Mr Gaultier was not involved in the conception or execution of the brand’s collections, and that the show was a homage to Madonna and its themes. Mr Gaultier, who The Observer has attempted to contact, continues to collaborate with Madonna.
The collection likely comes with his approval, as it was reported last June that the designer was working on an animated film starring Madonna, directed by Benoit Philippon.
