Words Niku Kasmai
EXCESSIVELY ITALIAN
Italy’s luxury fashion brands embrace gorgeous overabundance
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There was a time when some of Italy’s most famous fashion brands were all about excess. Specifically, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana gained enormous popularity thanks to over-the-tip, colorful, incredibly wild designs that could easily have slid into trashy territory but instead remained at the forefront of fashion because of the designers’ skills. Versace was founded in 1978 and Dolce & Gabbana in 1985, and for much of the ensuing years, the two brands embodied the dramatic beauty of excess. When maxilamism gave way to minimalism, both labels toned down their designs, as did most of Italy’s top brands, but suddenly around 2015 and seemingly overnight, excess was back. Gucci, under the helm of Alessandro Michele, was one of the first to dive head-on into flashy, fabulous, fantastic fashion. Soon most other brands followed suit, and for fall/winter 2019-20, Italian excess is back in full force.
