As our invitation this season, we were all sent a King of Hearts card printed on silk. The show opened with short video clips of Domenico and Stefano dressing the latest offering of male millennial sweethearts.
Silk saffron suits cut in a dapper style walked the runway, along with pants printed in cartoonish leopard print. There was a lot of late eighties / early nineties Italian glamour here, with Moschino-style sequinned bombers featuring playing cards and the lapels of tuxedo jackets. Baseball tops, manga-style comic book trenches and sporty tracksuit bottoms rendered a global street vibe. The casting was fairly multi-racial and this house is continuing to get behind the baby Basquiat style. Young mixed-race models with dreads and afros saw Dolce & Gabbana leave behind some of its Italian preppiness for a more fresher perspective on youth culture.
Last season's Cruel Intentions slickness was not so much here this season - it was more about a Venice beach kitsch. All-knowingly trashy and romantically retro, the words 'King of Hearts' hovered over a photo of a lion. Romeo and Juliet style short-sleeved shirts covered in roses reminded one of Leonardo DiCaprio and his Montague gang kicking around on Verona Beach or in a Coney Island beach bar. Bandanas tied across mouths saw these kings of the jungle also take the basketball courts of LA's Long Beach. Liquid jacquard suiting, metallic beading and embroidered hearts on the chests of tuxedo jackets, as well as silk dressing gowns printed with aquarelle landscapes of swans, will all - no doubt - also take a multitude of Beverly Hills mansions and Shanghai penthouses by storm.