Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana used the golden mosaics of Sicily’s Cathedral of Monreale as a starting point for their new Fall collection. They presumably made that design decision months ago: As they put it in their press notes, “the art of mosaic-making is a slow and precise one.” They never could’ve known that, in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation and in the days leading up to the conclave to elect his successor, new shadows would fall on the Church.
Amidst headlines in Italian papers this week about sexual intrigue in the Vatican, Dolce & Gabbana sent out a dozen dresses printed with Monreale’s famous Byzantine and Venetian mosaics, and just as many lacy frocks in cardinal red. For jewelry, rosaries.
