Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2024 – The “Italian Mafia Boss Wives”

With impeccable tailoring skills, a cool black color palette, and powerful tuxedo silhouettes, the women portrayed in Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2024 exude sharpness, decisiveness, and strength akin to real “Mob wives” – the wives of Mafia bosses.

With nearly 40 years of experience in the fashion world, Dolce & Gabbana – the legendary designer duo in Italy – not only know who they are and what they represent but also excel in proving it through each collection. As top-tier fashion figures, instead of compromising the core creative values in their design DNA to fit into the “sensitive” fashion trends of the time, recently, the “two fashion lunatics” have embarked on a journey to refine their own signature.

The fashion scene at Dolce & Gabbana shows is gradually shedding its extravagance, rebellious spirit, or the pulse of contemporary fashion. Instead, we are reliving the glorious past, in the golden age of Italian fashion in the 90s or the 00s. We get to witness the time-dyed beauty from masterpieces stepping out of the archive, clothing tags with years from their earliest shows also make a prominent appearance on the latest runways. They have never shied away from being criticized as “one-note” by repeating the same design language. They turn their forte into highlights in the presentations.

“By perfecting and constantly honing our craftsmanship on the very DNA of design, we have created the personal style and essence of the brand on the fashion map,” Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2024 press release clearly stated.

Returning to the familiar runway of Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2024, the Italian fashion house chose the tuxedo as the name for the entire collection, as well as the primary “material” to be explored. “They are the ultimate symbols of purity in style,” Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana shared. “The simpler, the more classic a garment like a tuxedo, the more perfect, eternal, free from the constraints of time.” A Spencer jacket with a fringed back, outside yoke in lace, and shorts with a skirt flap tied with a large ribbon bow opened the show. The initial styles led to a series of experimental variations. The audience was mesmerized seeing the Italian designer duo freely experimenting with different lengths of jacket edges, single-button and double-button closures, or adjusting the width and height of the jacket lapels accordingly. Somewhere on the runway, all attention was focused on an oversized box-shaped tuxedo, sturdy with square shoulders, or another tuxedo snug at the waist with hip padding to create a sleek hourglass figure.

Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2024 emerges as a powerful statement about the strength, sophistication, and confidence of femininity. Through a series of looks deeply inspired by the tuxedo, the Italian fashion house once again sets higher standards, dropping multiple ensembles on the runway that are both appealing and elegant, inspired by the indomitable spirit of powerful, independent women who know exactly what they want. And nothing is more perfect than when those tuxedos symbolize the portraits of those women. For the two Italian designers, the tuxedo not only represents masculinity, as it is a garment created for gentlemen, but its elegant silhouette also intertwines with the feminine beauty of independent women as they enter new fashion eras. “In the seductive combination, femininity converges, and masculinity merges, Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2024 embodies many seductive nuances, from boldness to sophistication. This combination defines the essence of timeless femininity while establishing standards of timeless elegance,” Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana shared in the collection’s notes. In Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2024, viewers undoubtedly see those strong Italian women resembling real “Mob wives” or “wives of Mafia bosses.” They also attract all eyes with their powerful, sharp, and icy personalities through oversized fur coats, scarves, fishnet stockings, or sunglasses.

The combinations of traditional shrimp tail coats with satin and lace bodysuits or garments made of lace or sheer mesh are likened to a masterclass in fashion, expressing the essence of a modern Madonna. They evoke the influence of pop music icons in the 1990s. The collection captures the boldness intertwined with the unapologetic femininity of that era and reimagines it for today’s fashion-savvy women. It’s a tribute to women who wear clothes, “use” fashion not only to adorn their appearance but also to turn it into a “language” to tell stories about themselves; and for those who can find strength in the subtle interaction between velvet and shiny leather, between feathers and mesh, between silk and sequin-embellished fabric. And it’s thanks to the tuxedo that those materials, especially the familiar lace fabric in recent collections of the Italian fashion house, become stronger, more decisive, and bolder than ever before.

Among the 64 looks inspired by the tuxedo in the collection, Dolce & Gabbana embellishes them with contrasting styles and tones such as: boudoir-style dresses, sometimes accentuated by their own satin fringe details or decorated with a hand-folded pleated scarf; lace cocktail dresses and stretch dresses adorned with crystals; asymmetrically draped dresses revealing inner lingerie layers and daring coats made of faux fur, leopard print, or feather, as if taken from the closets of “Mob wives.” The women in Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2024 also prefer to wear tuxedos with high-heeled sandals decorated with stone-encrusted bows or ankle ties; harmonize the tuxedo bow with a bow under the toe of high-heeled shoes; complete the overall look with a Marlene bag, a vintage bucket hat, paired with satin gloves. One of those accessories, a lace face veil, is definitely the standout. Made of the finest lace, covering the entire face of the models, worn with lace underwear, it adds mystery and allure. It’s the perfect choice to enhance the ambition and desire of Dolce & Gabbana women.

It’s no coincidence that Dolce & Gabbana continues to choose black as the dominant color palette throughout the collection. The color black carries the soul and a unique story of the Italian fashion house. The captivating black hue in this show is a declaration to honor the timeless beauty, the strength, and the fragile vulnerability of women. It’s a choice that speaks to the core of Dolce & Gabbana’s aesthetic. Moreover, black becomes more elegant when adorned with gold accents and the sparkling effect of faux diamonds.