In a celebration of their sartorial DNA, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana presented Sleek, their menswear autumn/winter 2024 show, at Milan fashion week. Setting the tone for a no-frills monochrome collection, the stripped-back runway space at the Metropol was reduced to its essence. Models emerging from a sculpted staircase exhibited the rigour yet romance of tailoring at its finest. Sumptuous silky blouses and fluttering bows added a dramatic touch to structured tuxedos.

‘This collection is about true elegance,’ says Domenico Dolce. ‘It’s about the beauty of the handmade and the supreme quality that comes from our almost obsessive knowledge of the rules of tailoring.’ The exquisite craftsmanship and expertise of fatto a mano (handmade work) comes alive in the collection’s perfectly cut double-breasted blazers and spencer jackets. ‘A well-cut jacket gives you posture and presence,’ Stefano Gabbana says, highlighting its capacity to ‘reset the figure’ and, unsurprisingly, indicating the jacket as the starting point of their design process.

Elsewhere, the outwear offered generous volumes with opulent full-length fur-stitched sheepskin coats and tightly belted leather trench coats. A gentle touch of romanticism broke the monochromatic austerity: lace delicately appeared on see-through tops while velvet and sequin-encrusted diner jackets suggest the desire to dress for a great occasion.

Lastly, the sophistication of the formalwear closing the show evoked a lavish past – nodding to the costumes of a sumptuous Luchino Visconti production – the perfectly tailored silhouette, however, brings lightness and contemporaneity. The creative duo has returned to what they do best.