The Dolce & Gabbana Print Edit: Leopard, Majolica, Rose and Carretto

Dolce & Gabbana does not retire a print. It reworks it. That is useful to know
before you buy, because it means the motif you choose is a long-term decision rather than
a seasonal one, and because two pieces bought years apart will usually still speak to each
other.

Four motifs carry the house. Here is what each one actually asks of a wardrobe.

Leopard

The house treats leopard as a neutral, which is why it turns up on coats, slips,
knitwear and swimwear in the same season. That is the key to wearing it: stop thinking of
it as a statement and start thinking of it as the brown in your wardrobe.

A leopard coat over black tailoring is the easiest version and close to foolproof. A
leopard slip is the harder, better one, and it needs a flat shoe and nothing shiny
anywhere near it. Avoid pairing leopard with a second animal print in a different scale,
which is the one combination that does read as costume.

Best for: anyone who already wears a lot of black and wants one piece to do
the work.

Majolica

Taken from Sicilian glazed tilework, usually blue and ochre on a white ground, and
most often cut on brocade and charmeuse. It is the most architectural of the four, because
the motif is geometric rather than organic, and it holds its shape on a structured
skirt, and on a stiff jacket.

Majolica wants a plain, slightly heavy partner. A white poplin shirt above a majolica
skirt is the house’s own answer and still the best one. Because the ground is white, it
sits comfortably with ivory and cream, which is not true of the darker prints.

Best for: a wardrobe with a lot of white and navy already in it.

Rose and floral

The romantic register, and the largest group in the house’s
dress
assortment. Red roses on black is the signature combination and reads as evening. The same
roses on a pale ground read as garden party, which is a genuinely different piece of
clothing.

Check the ground colour before anything else. On black, add a heel and treat it as
occasion wear. On cream and pale pink, a flat sandal keeps it from tipping into formality.
The one rule worth holding: a rose print does not want jewellery competing with it.

Best for: occasion dressing where you want the dress to do all the talking.

Carretto

The painted Sicilian cart, reworked so many times across four decades that it now
functions as a house neutral in its own right. It is the busiest of the four and the most
specifically Sicilian, and it lands most often on
beachwear and
resort pieces.

Carretto is at its best on holiday and at its worst in an office. A carretto bikini
under a plain linen shirt, a carretto sarong over a solid swimsuit. Keep everything else
in the outfit unpatterned and let it be loud.

Best for: warm weather, and anyone who wants the most recognisably Sicilian
piece in the collection.

The rule for wearing two prints at once

Two prints together is a Dolce & Gabbana signature rather than a mistake, but it
only works when the prints share a ground colour. Majolica and rose both on white will
sit together. Majolica on white against leopard on tan will not, because there is no
common ground for the eye to rest on.

The reliable shortcut is black lace. It is the connective tissue of the whole house
wardrobe, and it will hold two competing prints together when nothing else does.

Where to start

If you are buying one printed piece, buy a dress. It is the only category where the
print is the entire garment and no styling decision is required beyond the shoe. If you
are building rather than buying once, start with a
printed skirt
and a plain
top, which gives
you more outfits per piece.

Luxury Handbags carries more than 900 Dolce & Gabbana pieces across Spring Summer and Fall
Winter seasons. Browse the
full collection, read
who Dolce & Gabbana are, and
check the
size guide before you order,
since the house labels on the Italian ladder.