Madonna Makes Veiled Entrance to Dolce&Gabbana for Show Celebrating Her 1990s Heyday

Celebrities swarmed Milan Fashion Week on the last big day of runway shows on Saturday, sending crowds of adoring fans from venue to venue.
Madonna sat in a front-row seat at Dolce & Gabbana, along with Naomi Campbell and Victoria De Angelis of Maneskin. Her bandmate, Maneskin frontman Damiano David, showed up at Diesel, one of the season's hottest tickets, across town. Jacob Elordi took a seat on a bunny-shaped bean bag chair to take in the Bottega Veneta show.
Highlights from Milan Fashion Week's mostly womenswear previews for next spring and summer on Saturday, The Associated Press said.
Dolce & Gabbana Celebrate Madonna
Madonna attempted a semi-stealth entrance to the Dolce & Gabbana runway show draped in a black veil for a runway show referencing her 1990s heyday and celebrating the cone bra.
Models in bleach-blonde wigs strutted in Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s signature corsets and fitted jackets, each featuring the aggressively feminine cone bra, in a collection that notes said “pays homage to an ironic and powerful female figure.”
Madonna wasn't cited specifically, but the stars of the Milan designers and pop star have been aligned ever since they made costumes for her 1993 Girlie Show tour. The tour promoted Madonna's “Erotica” album launched alongside her taboo-breaking coffee table book, “Sex.”
“Madonna has always been our icon. It’s thanks to her that a lot of things in our lives changed,'' the designers said in a note.
The collection, dubbed “Italian Beauty,” perfectly captured that moment in time. Cone bras peeked out of cropped jackets with a pencil skirt, garters swung from corsets and coats sculpted the body. Floral prints returned, accenting a color scheme of black, nude, red and white. Oversized cross earrings finished the looks. Heels were unapologetically high.
After taking their bows, the designers walked down the runway to greet their guest of honor. Madonna, still covered by the Chantilly long lace veil fastened by a gold and crystal crown, stood to embrace them both.
Bottega Veneta taps wonder Bottega Veneta's sometimes misproptioned, sometimes crinkled, always provocative collection explores the intersection between the real world and fantasy, adulthood and childhood. Creative director Matthieu Blazy's meaning is simple: To delight.
“We need beauty. We need joy,'' Blazy said backstage. ”We need that experimental act. It is also an act of freedom.”
In this universe, a dental clinic receptionist wears a skirt with a trouser on just one leg, which Blazy asserts as a playful act. In a familiar scene, a well-dressed father carries his daughter's pink and purple school bag. “Do we like the bag? I don’t know. Does it tell a story? Yes,'' Blazy said.
Each detail is deliberate, from a flat collar on a dress shaped like bunny ears to big colorful raffia wigs, even if their ultimate purpose is just for fun. Crinkled clothes signify a child's attempt to dress up, only to be ruined by the end of the day.
Blazy's characters carried what appeared to be ordinary plastic grocery bags, but which were made out of nylon and leather — part of the brand's ongoing technological innovations. The faux plastic bags signified everyday life, and were accompanied by brand’s trademark woven bags, one for a violin, another a wine bottle.
Ferragamo’s freedom of movement Ferragamo creative director Maximilian Davis celebrated the freedom of movement inherent in ballet in his new collection, inspired by archival photos of brand founder Salvatore Ferragamo fitting African American ballet dancer Katherine Dunham for shoes.
Dunham often trained and worked in the Caribbean, which allowed the British designer’s with Jamaican roots “to find a link between Ferragamo’s Italian-ness and my heritage.”
The collection recalls a 1980s way of dressing, with strong shoulders and oversized tailoring, also an homage to Russian ballet star Rudolf Nuryev, another historic Ferragamo customer.
To emphasize movement, Davis created long parachute dresses in silk nylon, suede and organza with a billowing bubble shape. The ballet dancer is honored in cashmere dancer wraps color-blocked with layered leotards. More subversively, shorts with frayed denim suggested a tutu.
Diesel elevates denim Diesel models tramped a field of 14,800 kilograms (nearly 33,000 pounds) of denim scraps “to highlight the beauty of waste, creating a dystopian backdrop for the brand’s latest collection of elevated denim.
The Veneto-based brand under creative director Glenn Martens has become a laboratory for textile experimentation. Short-shorts are embroidered with a cascade of extra-long fringe, for a skirt-like effect. Jeans are lasered to look destroyed; necklines on cotton sweatshirts look distressed but the effect is actually a jacquard with the cotton burned away to the tulle.
Marten's said the brand's “disruption” goes beyond its design. "We are pushing for circularity in our production,'' he said. In that vein: A coat was made from leftover spools of denim thread, while oversized jeans were from recycled cotton, some from Diesel's own production. And the scraps piled on the floor were to be repurposed after the show.

Fast fashion retailer Shein is considering asking UK regulators to waive listing rules that require at least 10% of its shares to be sold to the public in its planned London flotation, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
The company is exploring this option to facilitate its IPO, one of the people said, according to Reuters.
If granted, it would likely be the first time that a company in London has been allowed to list below the recent 10% rule.
Singapore-headquartered Shein, which sells $5 tops and $10 dresses mostly made in China, in June filed confidentially with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for a London listing.
However, Britain's financial regulator is taking longer than usual to approve its application, Reuters reported last week.
The people declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Shein declined to comment.
Shein was valued at $66 billion in a fundraising round last year. A 10% flotation at that valuation would make the IPO worth $6.6 billion. The biggest European IPO this year was perfume and fashion company Puig's $2.9 billion deal, according to Dealogic.
The current valuation of Shein and how much it is looking to raise via the London listing was not immediately known.
London changed its listing rules in 2021 to boost the attractiveness of the venue for companies. It cut the proportion of shares an issuer is required to float to 10% from 25%, reducing potential barriers for large IPOs, the FCA said at the time.
In July, Britain ushered in the biggest reform of company listing rules in more than three decades to help it compete more effectively with New York and the European Union for new issuers.
Shein began to explore a listing on the London Stock Exchange early this year, Reuters reported in May, citing sources. The China-founded company's original plan to list in New York was derailed after opposition from US lawmakers.
Shein is also waiting for China's securities regulator to approve its plans for a London IPO, Reuters previously reported. Its revenues are expected to hit $50 billion this year, up 55% from 2023, according to Coresight Research.

Madonna Makes Veiled Entrance to Dolce&Gabbana for Show Celebrating Her 1990s Heyday