Nothing succeeds like excess at Dolce & Gabbana’s Milan menswear show

The Dolce & Gabbana runway on Saturday. Photograph: Pietro D’Aprano/Getty Images View image in fullscreen The Dolce & Gabbana runway on Saturday. Photograph: Pietro D’Aprano/Getty Images Nothing succeeds like excess at Dolce & Gabbana’s Milan menswear show Italian house’s catwalk emphasised the brand’s ‘molto sexy’ look with flamboyant, sometimes revealing outfits Dolce & Gabbana leaned heavily into the art of theatrical misdirection on the second day of Milan fashion week as it aimed to draw attention away from its debt issues, catwalk controversies and management reshuffles. On the catwalk its signature “molto sexy” Italian aesthetic that comes served with a generous scoop of la dolce vita was in full swing. This was Euro summer on steroids. There were clingy muscle vests and micro shorts that made short shorts look modest while some models simply went topless. Jeans came ripped, shredded or smothered in sparkling jewels while T-shirts featured everything from giant prints of Sicilian lemons and ancient amphitheatres to a mosaic depiction of Christ. The SS27 show was its first menswear collection since its disastrous all-white casting earlier this year, which joined the brand’s long list of previous controversies. It also marked the brand’s first show since Stefano Gabbana stepped down as chairman. View image in fullscreen The Dolce & Gabbana runway on Saturday. Photograph: Pietro D’Aprano/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Dolce & Gabbana menswear model. Photograph: Pietro D’Aprano/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana acknowledge the applause of the audience after their show at Milan fashion week on Saturday. Photograph: Pietro D’Aprano/Getty Images In March it was announced the designer had tendered his resignation last December as chair of the company he co-founded with his then partner Domenico Dolce in 1985. In January as part of the reshuffle the former Gucci chief executive Stefano Cantino was appointed co-chief executive working alongside Alfonso Dolce, a brother of Domenico. Gabbana’s role as co-creative director remains unaffected. In a turbulent luxury market, the fashion house has found itself left trying to navigate a £391m debt pile. This week there were reports that, as part of negotiations with creditors, the brand is considering a potential sale and leaseback of several properties it owns in the city. While the brand continues to dominate the red carpets during award season (Colman Domingo, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Ryan Gosling are fans) a wider luxury slump has left the brand struggling. Saturday’s show was a reminder to its fans of what it does best – excess. Later in the day, the British leader of menswear Paul Smith who has been showing in Milan since 2025 also honed in on his speciality – suiting. Backstage Smith credited the suit’s resurgence to young people not wanting to dress like gen X. “A lot of our customers grew up with their dads wearing hoodies during the pandemic,” Smith