MILAN: Dolce & Gabbana, fashion's most famous duo, played their trump card on Sunday with their spring summer 2018 collection themed around the queen of hearts in one of the final shows at Milan's Fashion Week.
Wearing glittered, embroidered or chiffon dresses, with eye-catching crowns on their heads or red roses in their hair, Dolce & Gabbana's queens of hearts came in all colours, shapes and textures.
Models opened the show posing on a stage, with moving playing cards as a backdrop, all wearing black creations on the notes of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana opera.
But that gave way to more colourful designs which carried all of the brand's signature traits of abundance, such as lace, gems, flowers, sequins, gold, embroidery as well as references to Sicily and its traditions, culture and food.
They walked along a runway that mimicked a long red carpet with young fashion advocates -- so-called influencers key to many of Dolce & Gabbana's collections and campaigns -- sitting in the front row of the Milan show, held in a former cinema.
The queen of hearts theme was at points interrupted with opulent clothes and accessories with vegetable print or shapes. Models wore big dresses with pea and cabbage prints, carrot hats and aubergine-shaped glitter earrings. One also showed off a dress with a pattern of Sicily's famous Cannoli pastries.
"Love is beauty" read a t-shirt carried over an Andy Warhol inspired fucsia pink skirt with jars labelled "Amore", love.
But simplicity was prized at the show's finale as the Italian fashion house sent all the models back on the runway, stripped of the intricate designs and simply wearing black underwear, as to convey the importance of love over possessions.