The exclusive event was held at the emblematic Surf Club hotel
Marc Anthony, Nadia Ferreira, and Maluma amongst some of the celebrities that attended Dolce & Gabbana’s latest fashion show in Miami
It’s an interesting time to be in Miami. Until recently, the city was a bitcoin boom town, flush with newly-minted millionaires snatching up paintings at Art Basel or paying £3,000 for a reservation at Carbone. Yet, with FTX’s recent bankruptcy and cryptocurrency cratering along with it, you can’t help but think: Is this all just a bubble that’s about to burst?
Leave it to Dolce & Gabbana to remind everyone of the enduring glamour of the Florida metropolis. This week, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana presented their Alta Moda and Alta Sartoria collections at the Surf Club, the iconic member’s only hotel that was a playground for the world’s glitterati through the highs and lows of the 20th century. In 1946, Winston Churchill went there to relax after World War II: “I want sun, solitude, serenity, and something to eat, perhaps something to drink,” he said. From his cabana, he painted the ocean.
Miami itself acted as an influence too: A handful of men’s jackets embraced Art Deco motifs, the city’s famed architectural style. One black-and-gold robe boasted geometric fan-like detailing. Both the colour, and the abstract pattern, are hallmarks of the era. Gabbana said they fused “south with south” – or Southern Italy and South America, Miami being a popular vacation spot for Latinos. “The South American and the Italian people have the same mood – they enjoy life, enjoy feeling, enjoy partying,” he explained. “We dreamt of a beautiful, elegant moment for the new social life.”
That sentiment was most apparent in the men’s pieces. The designers looked at archival photos of guests at the Surf Club, especially during its legendary opening party on New Year’s 1930. The stock market had crashed mere months before, plunging the country into the Great Depression, but in that ballroom, you wouldn’t have known it. For the likes of Marc Anthony and the Colombian singer Maluma, both of whom could be seen dancing in the front row, Dolce & Gabbana proposed suits that make a statement, whether via bold colour, pattern or embellishment. In their world, it’s not just ladies who get the gems, either. One guy had rings from their Alta Gioielleria line woven into his hair. In bad times and good, Miami will always be down to party.