Ciao, Kim!
Kim Kardashian took her design talents to Milan Fashion Week this season, teaming 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 the Skims founder eating spaghetti and the sound of clicking paparazzi cameras played in the background, per Elle UK.
The color palette was kept to mostly blacks, metallics and leopard print, with some models wearing choker necklaces that spelled out “KIM” in bold letters.
And the reality star herself made an appearance to take a bow at the end of the show, clad in a sparkling black gown.
“I always loved the beautiful, quintessential 90s & 2000’s looks… feminine, bold, they always made me feel so confident & glamorous. You could feel the moment you put on a D & G dress that the intention when it was designed & made was to celebrate the woman wearing it. To make her feel like she could do anything, be anything, own her confidence & her beauty” Kardashian wrote in a lengthy Instagram post after the show.
She also posted a behind-the-scenes look at the curation process, wearing a dramatic all-leopard catsuit with gloves and directing the models in their looks. She said the collection was composed of “the most iconic #DolceGabbana pieces from 1987 to 2007, mixed together through spontaneous reinterpretation creating a perfect collection,” adding, “Every piece is not just an item, it’s a unique memory.”
Kardashian also appeared to be inspired by Marilyn Monroe once again, channeling the blond bombshell in advertisements for the show leading up to the big event.
Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Plus, the mom of four was a muse to her own family; not only did her daughters Chicago, 4, and North, 9, sit front row alongside Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner for the show, but they also wore mini versions of archival Dolce & Gabbana styles their mom had sported before.
Indeed, the family’s connection to Dolce & Gabbana goes back many years, but it wasn’t always a positive one: In 2019, designer Stefano Gabbana famously called the Kardashian-Jenners “the most cheap 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 after calling children born via in vitro fertilization “synthetic” and “chemical offsprings in a rented uterus.”
Kim has two children via surrogate, and Khloé welcomed her son via surrogate in July.
However, it seems all has been forgiven, as Dolce & Gabbana hosted Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s wedding in Italy in May, dressing the entire family in new and archival looks for the multi-day celebrations (and previewing some of the selects that made it into the #CiaoKim collection).
And the brand’s partnership with the Kardashians is anything but cheap — Page Six Style previously reported that Kourtney’s wedding made Dolce & Gabbana many millions in media impact value.
It remains to be seen how much Kim’s touch will cash out.
