Dolce & Gabbana entitled their latest menswear collection “The Portrait of Man”. Maybe they should have named it portraits of many, many men so wide-ranging and rambling was the result.
 

Presented on Saturday in their show space on Viale Piave in Milan, the collection certainly had plenty of great clothes. What it lacked was focus.
 
Even down to the order of show, where models suddenly leapt up from the audience, wandered about the set before finally cruising down the catwalk. Made of mock marble Formica even the runway jarred visually.

It didn’t help that the mood entering was sullen, as the thousands of fans that often crowd the sidewalks outside Dolce & Gabbana shows were absent due to the leaden sky and steady rain.
 
All that said, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana remain great tailors, and there were some sensational sartorial statements. Above all in the fabric of the moment, speckled Donegal tweed, made of blends of wool and cashmere. An opening pale stony gray suit with gangster silhouette jacket done with wickedly large lapels and wide pants was perfect. As was a three piece version, where the jacket was replaced by a black mohair sweater. 
 

See fashion show

But then, just when we were in the middle of daywear, an oily haired lothario model beside me hopped onto the runway – attired in matelassé black smoking jacket paired with pajama pants and slippers. Shifting the portraits from gentlemanly chic to patrician dandy.
 
For colder nights, Domenico and Stefano whipped up all sorts of dramatic shearling coats for posh hippie dudes. While at home, the duo want guys to wear faux leopard skin dressing gowns – just perfect for the Mediterranean sensualist.
 
Add in military great coats, piped velvet jackets and the coolest of hussar’ jacket and there was something for everyone in this collection. Even a sporting moment – football jerseys reading Soccer Club or 84, the year the boys opened their brand.
 

See fashion show

“Each man is seen as self-contained universe of a passions, memories and inattentions.  The runway becomes a contemporary gallery of a living portraits, where every look functions as a psychological and sartorial self-portrait,” intoned a British-accented announcer pre-show as a video showed scores of models in their looks.
 
It certainly made for a commercial collection, but perhaps not a great show. One could not help thinking of fellow Sicilian Luigi Pirandello’s classic play “Six Characters in Search of an Author”. This show felt likes scores of models in search of a common.