WHEN you think of the world of high fashion, it’s all too easy for the mind to slip back to some of the more retrograde images that represent it, of stick-thin models making their way down the runway in outfits that could never practically be worn.
While most of the high fashion companies make clothes a lot more wearable than those you might see on the runway, there’s still a lot more to be expected in welcoming the average fashion-enjoyer into the fold. However, Dolce & Gabbana has been making waves in recent years as a company that’s appealing to a wider range of people. Could they be the more inclusive angle on high fashion that many have sought?
Going fur-free
One of the most recent changes that have been made to the Dolce & Gabbana approach is the discontinuation of any products that include fur. Aside from the fact that anti-fur sentiment has been growing much more popular from the ground up, there’s also the brand’s latest commitment to sustainable fashion production. This move ended up earning them some endorsements from the Humane Society USA and International. As such, D&G is one of the brands looking to improve the quality of faux-fur alternatives, which are being called “eco-fur” products, designed to have less impact on the environment.
Fashion for men and women
Making clothes for men is by no means new to D&G, who first introduced their original line of menswear back in 1992. However, that’s still relatively recent, and still ahead of a lot of fashion designers who still have only a token, if any, offerings for masculine bodies. What’s more, the brand has been focusing on practical options that men actually want to wear, such as their Dolce & Gabbana t shirt offerings. Creating designs that people outside of fashion models want to wear is making D&G a more approachable company, even if they are still on the higher end of the budget, regardless of which sex they’re designing for.
Embracing plus-size women
For the longest time, plus-size women had to look to boutique houses or smaller designers to get anything approximating high fashion support for their body types. With Dolce & Gabbana, that has been changing as of late. They were the first luxury fashion house to extend sizing to UK 22, which was a fairly big deal when it happened, with several fashion houses following suit. The brand has stated its ongoing commitment to diversity in women, which has become increasingly a hot-button topic, with Fashion Week routinely being a target by protestors with a body positivity message. Of course, there’s a lot more room for expansion into the market, yet, but D&G made waves when they first started catering to it.
Dolce & Gabbana is, by no means, the idyllic dream of high fashion made for everyone. There are certainly more budget-friendly brands in the fashion space, such as Burberry. It is, however, a promising look into a future where fashion is open to more people, at the very least.
