Ciao, Kim!
Kim Kardashian took her design talents to Milan Fashion Week this season and teamed up with Dolce & Gabbana on the house’s Spring/Summer 2023 fashion show.
Models walked the runway in a collection of reworked archival looks curated by Kardashian, 41, while a black-and-white video of Skims founder was eating spaghetti and the sound of paparazzi cameras clicking in the background, per Elle UK.
The color palette was mainly black, metallic and leopard print, with some models wearing choker necklaces spelled out “KIM” in bold.
And the reality star herself appeared to make a bow at the end of the show, wearing a sparkly black dress.
“I always loved the beautiful, signature looks from the 90s and 2000s… feminine, daring, they always made me feel so confident and glamorous. The moment you put on a D&G dress, you felt it was meant to celebrate the woman who wore it when it was designed and made. To make her feel like she could do anything, be anything, own her confidence and her beauty,” Kardashian wrote in a lengthy Instagram post after the show.
She also took a behind-the-scenes look at the curation process, donning a dramatic full leopard jumpsuit and gloves, and directing the models in their looks. She said the collection was composed of “the most iconic #DolceGabbana pieces from 1987 to 2007, blended together through spontaneous reinterpretation to create a perfect collection”, adding: “Each piece is not just another item. , it’s a unique memory.”
Kardashian also seemed to be inspired again by Marilyn Monroe and channeling the blonde bombshell in ads for the show ahead of the big event.
In addition, the mother of four children was a muse to her own family; Not only did her daughters Chicago, 4, and North, 9, sit in the front row alongside Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner for the show, but they also wore mini versions of the archive Dolce & Gabbana styles their mom had previously worn.
The Dolce & Gabbana family connection goes back many years indeed, but it wasn’t always a positive one: in 2019, designer Stefano Gabbana famously called the Kardashian-Jenners “the cheapest people in the world” in an Instagram comment.
That same year, he and partner Domenico Dolce found themselves at the center of a racism scandal that resulted in the cancellation of their fashion show in China. In 2015, the design duo also apologized for calling children born via in vitro fertilization “synthetic” and “chemical offspring in a rented womb.”
Kim has two children via surrogate and Khloé welcomed her son via surrogate in July.
It seems all is forgiven though, as Dolce & Gabbana hosted Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s wedding in Italy in May, dressing the whole family in new and archival looks for the multi-day celebrations (and a sneak peek at some of the selects who made it into the #CiaoKim collection).
And the brand’s partnership with the Kardashians is anything but cheap – Vidak For Congress Style previously reported that Kourtney’s Dolce & Gabbana wedding brought in multimillion-dollar media impact value.
It remains to be seen how much Kim’s touch will pay off.