16-07-2025
Haute Priests—Dolce & Gabbana Present Their Alta Sartoria at Rome's Castel Sant'Angelo
How do you follow a women's show of Fellini-esque proportions at the Roman Forum? If you're Dolce & Gabbana, with a men's show at the Ponte di Castel Sant'Angelo. The circa 134 AD bridge was built by Emperor Hadrian to connect Rome's city center to his future mausoleum. Over the centuries, the ancient builing was transformed into a medeival fortress, a papal residence, and the backdrop for a scene in Roman Holiday. Tonight the castle was lit up like a movie set with klieg lights and scores of Cinecittà extras vamping as cardinals.
Conclave II might be a good name for the would-be film. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana took priestly garb as their subject, and they left no hem unturned in their study, which ranged from the ascetic to the ornate, emphasis on the ornate: There were starched linen tunics that looked like fashionable updates to the traditional surplice, double-breasted suits dressed up with bejeweled crosses, and dramatic papal robes lavished with crystal embroideries.
