Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria inspired by Biblioteca Ambrosiana’s precious codices and manuscripts

Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria inspired by the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana’s works of art.

The Dolce&Gabbana Alta Sartoria show 2019 took place in the halls of the prestigious Biblioteca and Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the home of some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian art and culture.

Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria inspired by the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana’s works of art
Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria inspired by the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana’s works of art; @Dolce&Gabbana

Dolce&Gabbana Alta Sartoria 2019/2020: This collection is truly a work of art.

The Biblioteca Ambrosiana, founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo and inaugurated on 8 December 1609, was one of the earliest libraries to grant access to all who could read and write. It was conceived by its founder as a centre for study and culture, and it was the very inspiration for the Dolce&Gabbana Alta Sartoria Show.

Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria capewas inspired by a rich banquet showing a forest green collar, entirely embroidered by hand with silk and raffia threads to depict a sumptuously set up on a table.

This year’s Alta Sartoria collection was inspired by the typical subjects of the still life paintings of the Flemish seventeenth-century, like the tables filled with fruits, food, tableware and glasses. There were an abundance of silk satin shirts with a scarf tied to the neck and green fringes of hand-knotted silk, printed with a still life on black background. A printed silk-satin shirt with an all-over pattern of antique open books was paired with a scarf tied to the neck, a turtleneck sweater and classic trousers with a high turn-up at the bottom in grey marbled fabric.

Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria large shirt inspired by the uniform of a Renaissance painter’s workshop is made of silk-linen with a camel-coloured effect, complete with vertical striped textures in tone. Giorgione’s “Portrait of a Youth” inspired an embroidered shirt with contrasting sleeves and back in green velvet, finished with a trimmed neckline in tone.

Gian Giacomo Caprotti’s “San Giovanni Battista” were re-imagined on a jacket with contrasting sleeves in sage green velvet. The Alta Sartoria jacket depicts San Giovanni, and the artist Caprotti, one of Leonardo da Vinci’s favourite pupils. The shirt and scarf in white poplin and the classic trousers in dark green brocade complete the look.

A model presented a single-breasted coat with lance lapel and bright dark brown collar embroidered with silk, wool and chenille threads and ribbons.

Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria single-breasted jacket inspired by still life paintings features a tailored cut with a burgundy braid frog closure. The expertly hand-made embroidery techniques distinguish and characterize the subjects of a composition made of fruits, flowers with autumnal hues.

The double-breasted chamber jacket in burgundy velvet is inspired by the use of trimmings on military dresses, embellished with shawl collar and the contrasting handguard, bow-shaped closure in cannettè fabric.

The ultra-luxury collection includes a shirt inspired by the pages of the “Codex Atlanticus”, the largest collection of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci, dated between 1478 and 1518 and kept at the Ambrosian Library in Milan. The shirt printed in silk crepe, with a scarf tied to the neck and hand-knotted fringes are embellished with mother-of-pearl buttons.

To conclude the ceremony of the Dolce&Gabbana Alta Sartoria Show, the guests were invited to a unique place, the Bar Martini, ready to enjoy a special lunch of unbelievable sensory experience. See also some of the stunning Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Orologeria timepieces presented on the occasion.

Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria inspired by the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana’s works of art-2019-2020
Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria inspired by the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana’s works of art-2019-2020; @dolce & gabbana

 

Selling James Bond: why No Time to Die is a product placement dream

 

 

no time to die 007 poster
no time to die 007 poster; @007.com/

Powered by Guardian.co.ukThis article titled “Selling James Bond: why No Time to Die is a product placement dream” was written by Catherine Shoard Film editor, for The Guardian on Friday 6th December 2019 16.05 UTC

The official trailer for the new Bond film, No Time to Die, was released only on Wednesday but has already been viewed tens of millions of times, which is an efficient sales job for a film its producers hope will make at least $1bn.

Appetites have been whetted and nerves calmed in the run-up to the film’s release in April after a bumpy production. The budget for the movie – Daniel Craig’s last in the lead role – is estimated to have exceeded $250m (£190m), having rocketed after the departure of the director Danny Boyle in August 2018, who left at the 11th-hour citing “creative differences”.

Boyle’s exit, along with his co-writer and their script, led to a six-month delay as well as a plot and production overhaul. In addition to the costs incurred by the studio and producers, the departures also prompted scrabbling by companies with Bond sponsorship deals, many of which plan campaigns in line with new releases.

Bond has always been a labels man. Ian Fleming’s novels nod to Gordon’s gin, Bentley and the cigarette maker Moreland, so product placement has long been a self-consciously central component of the franchise.

The early films featured tie-ins with the airline Pan Am and Smith & Wesson firearms, with Aston Martin coming onboard for 1964’s Goldfinger and the champagne house Bollinger for 1973’s Live and Let Die. Other brands to display their products alongside 007 include Camel, Playboy, KFC, 7 Up and Toblerone.

Meanwhile, countries have long competed for the chance to be one of Bond’s destinations, sometimes offering lucrative tax breaks to sweeten the deal. Norway paid NOK 47m (£4.2m) to be included, and it’s likely Italy, Jamaica and the Faroe Islands, which act as key locations alongside London and Scotland, followed suit.

The dividends are potentially enormous. The mayor of Matera, the town in Basilicata, Italy, that provides the backdrop for the opening car chase, predicts No Time to Die will provide a €12m (£10m) boost to the local economy.

The trailer is essentially a shopfront not only for the film but also its product and location partners. Airtime in the 2.5-min promo will have been exactingly brokered, with separate deals negotiated for exposure on character posters and other marketing materials.

Timepieces

In Casino Royale, Eva Green asks Daniel Craig if he’s wearing a Rolex. He shakes his head: “Omega.” To which she replies: “Beautiful.” The sponsor switch actually happened 11 years earlier but viewers are made aware of this change by this seamless dialogue.

A similar subtlety can be detected in the No Time to Die trailer, which features at least five conspicuous wrist glimpses, some requiring substantial hoisting of a jacket sleeve. The showcase watch this time round is Omega’s new Seamaster Diver 300M 007 edition (from £6,520) which, according to a press release, has been “purposefully built with the needs of 007 in mind”.

Luxury lakehouse

Sadly for anyone frantically searching on Airbnb, the Jamaican waterside pad to which Bond retreats after quitting the service is merely a film set. Still, the production design is immaculately aspirational: not only does the house boast all the amenities 007 might hope he would still need – including a four-poster bed and yacht space – it also looks a suitable choice for what is essentially a retirement property.

It is a bungalow, which is ideal for someone with mobility issues – a visiting agent, Lashana Lynch, points out Bond’s dicky knee. There’s also wicker armchairs, a chess set with chunky pieces and an abundance of cushions. Even the coffee-table books are old-timers: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Complete Book of Sea Fishing.

Supercars and superbikes

An Aston Martin DB5 is displayed in Times Square, New York, during a promotional tour for No Time to Die.
An Aston Martin DB5 is displayed in Times Square, New York, during a promotional tour for No Time to Die.
Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Judging by the trailer, Aston Martin bankrolled a sizeable proportion of the new film’s budget. The camera lingers on a variety of models – the DB5, V8, DBS Superleggera and the Valhalla electric supercar (£250,000) – while Bond’s other vehicle sponsor, Land Rover, is relegated to a few fleeting appearances. A Triumph Bonneville Scrambler 1200 motorcycle demonstrates remarkable traction, leaping high up a cliff, and the new model Spirit Yacht (the one used in Casino Royale recently sold second hand for £600,000) also makes an appearance.

Bond’s wardrobe

While there’s nothing quite as arresting in this trailer as Craig’s tight powder-blue swimming trunks (La Perla “Grigioperla Lodato”, permanently sold out) seen in Casino Royale, all the actor’s outfits will be the result of lengthy discussions between designers, producers and the costume department. A navy ribbed N.Peal cashmere sweater with shoulder and elbow patches features on posters and in a climactic showdown. Also Bond wears a Massimo Alba cotton-corduroy sloop suit (€880) during the Italy chase scenes, followed by a grey Prince of Wales check Tom Ford O’Connor suit (€2,820) on his return to London.

Punny parka?

There’s much in the trailer to get fans gasping – fireballs, fjords, a flying motorbike – but the biggest shock is Rami Malek’s unpleasant parka. Sources confirm the jacket was specially tailored. Malek pairs it with a Phantom of the Opera-style face mask and some heavy-duty black gloves. It’s a look few would rush to copy but one that superfans have interpreted as evidence Malek’s character is actually Dr No, who sported prosthetic hands after a radiation accident. Were that to be the case, it would also mean the film’s title has a previously unappreciated element of punnery.

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