There are wonderful inspirations for fashion collections all over the world and by educating yourself at spotting beauty and keeping your eyes open you will be able to easily spot them.
In Anacapri there is for example a wonderful little church dedicated to San Michele that has an astonishing feature – the floor is entirely made with tiles representing Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden.
Walking around Capri you will also be able to spot amazing benches covered in majolica tiles forming exquisite images, while the beauty of the benches and octagonal columns of the famous cloister of the Santa Chiara complex in Naples will remain embedded in your mind forever, thanks to the yellow and blue swirls, decorative elements and delicate scenes painted on the majolica tiles in Rococò style.
Fragments of floors and majolica tiles from the 16th century can also be admired at the National Museum of San Martino housed inside the Certosa di San Martino (St. Martin's Charterhouse) in Naples.
The museum collection preserves indeed intriguing examples of tiles with geometrical elements and decorations.
All these inspirations were infused in the Autumn/Winter 2014-15 Alta Moda (High Fashion) collection by Dolce & Gabbana, showcased last week to roughly two hundred people on the island of Capri.
Quite often you feel that D&G reserve these events to just a few people – mainly wealthy clients with some selected members of the foreign press added – because if they invited too many educated Italian journalists, the latter would immediately spot the obvious references in the collections and would therefore be less surprised than their foreign colleagues (and than foreign buyers/clients…).
As much as surprising the opening lavish ball gowns with enormous crinolined skirts were, you couldn't really get out of your mind the impression that they were remixed versions – with embellished bodices and a series of hand-painted yellow, green, blue and red stripes on white background borrowed from classic deckchairs – of the iconic ball gown in Visconti's The Leopard.
The colours of local majolica tiles reappeared on another hand-painted ball gown that wouldn't have looked out of place in the cloister of Santa Chiara; citrus fruits were the inspirations for the jewellery and lemons also reappeared as painted motifs on a striped parasol, while the iconic faraglioni in Capri and the Amalfi coastline were reproduced as tiles on a design hemmed with lynx fur.
Crowns, bejewelled bodices and swimsuits encrusted with crystals were maybe references to the San Gennaro treasure in Naples, but floral day wear, flat sandals with beaded flowers or good-luck charms and straw bags evoked the looks of choice of the famous celebrities that used to holiday on the island of Capri in the '50s – Liz Taylor and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis included (while the stark black dresses with inset bodices were classic D&G's "widow dresses").
While the rich marvel, if you like the looks don't despair at the news that a) you can't afford them and b) there is only one of each of these designs available (and they are already more or less sold out…). Just go around Capri/Naples and take pictures of your favourite majolica tiles, get them digitally printed on fabric, then come up with your own design.
You may not be super-rich and you may not be one of the stars that in the '50s walked around Capri followed by the paparazzi, but you would at least be able to tell people where those tiles come from. In the meantime, remember to keep on educating your eyes to beauty.
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