Dolce & Gabbana Catwalk Fashion Show Milan Menswear FW2015

The message of love that drove the latest collection of Dolce & Gabbana couldn’t have been timelier. Love, family, community—the eternal verities that offer security when the foundations are kicked out from under us.

The curtains opened on eight real families in a tableau vivant, friends and colleagues of the designers’, from grandmothers to babies, adding a new spin to the idea of DNA. The images on the clothing featured other families, from Renaissance renditions of the Nativity to naive cartoons of the classic nuclear mum, dad, and two kids. The model casting was cross-generational as well. Regarding the fashion, there was the reassurance of the familiar: a three-piece suit in black brocade, some artfully distressed denim, an embroidered sweatshirt, a graphic tee. There was comfort, too, in tweeds, jersey pants, pajamas, lounge suits, rubber Wellington boots, and shoes that looked like a sophisticated take on pony-skin clogs. And everywhere there were the appliqués: “Amore,” “Famiglia,” “Love Forever.”