THINGS I LOVE vol.5

　

Last time (＃2) is a continuation.

After that, I returned to Tokyo and went to the DOLCE&GABBANA showroom at the time to find out why I hadn't received an invitation. As I listened to the story, I realized that a relationship of trust had not been built between the company and DOLCE&GABBANA in their home country. By the way, there were only two seats available for Japanese journalists. At the time, top buyers were prioritized over major foreign media outlets and journalists, and friends of designers and staff were invited to the show first. I was a naive person and had no idea that this was a family-level event, so I went all the way across the ocean to see it. Well, the trip taught me a lot of things.
Actually, while I was in Milan, I saw Domenico Dolce himself on Via Spiga. At the time, I wasn't sure it was him, but when I met him a few years later, I realized it was him after all. I was walking arm in arm with a young, cute boy. She wore a vintage varsity jacket with jodhpurs. I think it was probably a Golden Bear or Skookum jacket. As is often the case with designers, I didn't wear my own brand, I wore second-hand clothes. I was impressed by his sharp eyes.

I received a video of the collection from the PR person as an apology. I watched that video day in and day out. Not only the clothes, but also the models' choices, hairstyles, walking styles, and even the music, everything about it was better than any other collection I'd seen that season. This completely overturned my thinking, which up until then had only been styling in the context of Ivy and Ametra, and evolved it. The design is not unique, but I was impressed by the fact that it was easy to match with standard items such as Levi's and Converse.

The songs that were being played were "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Something Got Me Started," and "With or Without You," and there wasn't even a single hip-hop song used yet. Nowadays, it's common knowledge that runway shows include songs by rappers, but back then, there was still a distance between hip-hop and collections from Milan and Paris. I think the influence of what we now call street culture was small, and the music scene was on the eve of hip-hop. This collection in particular was a Sicilian interpretation of 60s London-based fashion (Carnaby Street, etc.). Pairing it with a torn knit cap, wrapping a loose low-gauge cardigan around the waist, layering high-gauge knitwear...it was cool to see elements of grunge, which was popular at the time, subtly incorporated into the Sicilian shepherd style. Those were super impressive shows that touched my brain and heart. How on earth could they create such a powerful collection? I thoroughly watched Luchino Visconti's film ``Wildcat'' and Federico Fellini's films ``La Dolce Vita'' and ``The Road,'' referring to their few interview articles. I also became interested in Italian architects, so I researched Aldo Rossi and became obsessed with it.

During the spring, summer, fall and winter of 1992, my mind and heart were dominated by DOLCE & GABBANA. Then, in January 1993, I wanted to see Carnaby Street, so I stopped by London before the Milan and Paris collections. I wanted to go see ``PATRICK COX'' and ``Agent Provocateur'' stores, but I stayed at the ``Cadogan Hotel'' (currently The Cadogan Belmond Hotel), famous for Oscar Wilde. There is Jones (select shop) near the hotel on Sloane Street, and I came across the DOLCE & GABBANA patchwork jacket I was looking for on the men's floor. Autumn/winter items that were not available in Milan stores during the June collection of the previous year. The size was 50. I'm usually a size 48, but I wanted it too much and the design made my shoulders narrow, so I said to myself, ``50 is just right!'' and bought it. As it is, the collection went to Milan and Paris, and I wore it to the "José" show in Paris. When I went to the ``Lévy'' venue, before the show started, Ms. Susie Menkes came across the runway to me and said, "Which jacket are you wearing?" At the time, I didn't even know who she was, and cheerfully answered, "DOLCE&GABBANA!" Later, I was happy to learn that she was a well-known reporter for the Feral Tribune.

DOLCE&GABBANA introduced D&G as a diffusion brand in 1994. It became a familiar and popular brand in Japan, but was consolidated into after the 2012 Spring/Summer collection. Their collections, which have their roots in the Sicilian worldview, still reign as the top Milan collections.

■Tomoki Yuma (@stsukezane）
Born in Kyoto City in 1965. Started his career as an editor in the editorial department of Magazine House ``POPEYE''. Currently, in addition to planning and styling fashion pages for magazines, she also designs advertising costumes for artists and musicians. Before the coronavirus, he covered men's collections in Paris and Milan for over 35 years.

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