The Dolce & Gabbana Brocade Boots: Velvet, Stones and a Wooden Heel

Brocade belongs to the history of ceremony: heavy woven silks with raised patterns, used for church vestments, court dress and the upholstery of grand rooms. Dolce & Gabbana has drawn on that world for most of its history. These over-the-knee boots, made in the 2020s, bring it down to the ground, in multicolour brocade fabric with beige velvet, brown leather, stones, studs and a heel with wooden details.

Dolce & Gabbana and Sicily

Domenico Dolce, born in Sicily, and Stefano Gabbana, born in Milan, met in 1980 and presented their first women's collection in Milan in October 1985. With the autumn–winter collection of 1987–88, titled "La Sicilia", the island became the most consistent source of the house's imagery. The house's own account of its history describes how the designers drew on peasant dress, the painted Sicilian cart, ceramics and puppet theatre.

Rich fabrics, ornament and abundance have remained part of that language, in clothes and in accessories alike.

Brocade on a boot

A boot is not the usual place for brocade. The fabric is decorative and relatively delicate, and footwear takes hard wear. Here the brocade is combined with beige velvet and brown leather, and stones and studs add further ornament.

The heel is decorated with artisanal wooden details, a craft element that connects the boots to the house's interest in handwork and traditional decoration. The sole is leather.

Over the knee, the boot covers much of the leg, so the decorated fabric becomes almost a garment in itself, as visible as a skirt or a coat.

The object

The Archivary describes the boots as Dolce & Gabbana multicolour brocade fabric over-the-knee boots combining beige velvet, brown leather and embellishments such as stones and studs, with artisanal wooden details on the heel and a leather sole. They are an Italian and European size 39, equivalent to a British 6, a US 9 and a French 40, and are recorded as new, from the 2020s.

Sources

1. The Archivary, "Dolce & Gabbana Multicolor Brocade Fabric Over The Knee Boots" (object description, materials, details, size, condition, dating). https://www.thearchivary.com/products/dolce-gabbana-multicolor-brocade-fabric-over-the-knee-boots
2. The Museum at FIT, "Dolce and Gabbana" (biographies; first collection, 1985). https://fashionmuseum.fitnyc.edu/people/3084/dolce-and-gabbana
3. C. V. Donaldson, "Dolce, Domenico and Gabbana, Stefano", Newsmakers 2005, via Encyclopedia.com (meeting in 1980; October 1985 debut). https://encyclopedia.com/books/culture-magazines/dolce-domenico-and-gabbana-stefano
4. Dolce & Gabbana, "The Carretto Siciliano in the history of Dolce & Gabbana" (La Sicilia, autumn–winter 1987–88; carts, ceramics and puppets). https://world.dolcegabbana.com/discover/the-carretto-siciliano-in-the-history-of-dolce-gabbana/