From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana’s Couture Craft Comes to Miami

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Stepping into From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana feels like entering a theatre devoted to art and craftsmanship.

Dolce & Gabbana has long been defined by a bold, unapologetically Mediterranean aesthetic—opulent, sensual, and deeply rooted in Italian culture. The house is known for its embrace of maximalism: hand embroidery, intricate lace, sequins, and saturated prints drawn from Sicily, Baroque art, and Italian cinema. Figure-hugging silhouettes, sculpted corsetry, and dramatic volumes recur throughout the work, often infused with references to opera, religious iconography, and folkloric tradition.

All of this is on full display in the travelling exhibition, first presented at the Grand Palais in 2025 and now set to open at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami.

At their core, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have always treated craft as spectacle. Hand-stitched embroidery, structured corsetry, and layers of lace are not embellishments but foundations, transforming history and heritage into garments that are theatrical without losing their intimacy—and unmistakably Italian.

Across eleven rooms, the exhibition traces the designers’ path from inspiration to finished form. Sicily’s folk traditions emerge through fine needlework; the drama of opera—whether Verdi’s grandeur or Bellini’s lyricism—appears in the sweep of skirts and the taut control of drape. Some ensembles read as studies in cultural memory: folds that recall cathedral architecture, silhouettes that borrow the scale and symbolism of myth. A Murano-inspired gown crystallises this approach. Tesserae are layered to echo reflective glass, scattering light across silk with architectural precision, each stitch placed deliberately rather than decoratively. At times, the insistence on ornament risks overwhelming silhouette, but when restraint is exercised, the results are among the exhibition’s most compelling moments.

Ultimately, From the Heart to the Hands positions couture as an act of resistance in an industry built on speed. The exhibition is most convincing when ornament is disciplined and labour is allowed to speak for itself. Here, craftsmanship is not presented as nostalgia, but as a rigorous, contemporary choice. Every stitch, fold, and bead reflects a series of considered choices, where skill is tested against imagination.

The exhibition will run Feb 6 – June 14, 2026