Dolce, Versace and Bottega in Milan for Spring 2013

How lovely it would be to live in a world as imagined by fashion designers. For spring 2013, they have not been cowed by sluggish economies. They aren't feeling blue from all the death and violence that racks the Middle East and North Africa. They are not fretful about global warming, West Nile virus, or any of the various and chronic existential pains that come from living in these turbulent times.Designers in Milan have adhered to one of the fundamental goals of the creative class, which is to help us find solace and joy in the beauty that surrounds us—whether in a museum or at the mall. Without regard to politics or political correctness, they have been plain and honest about pleasure, fond memories, and illogical delights.
At Dolce & Gabbana on Sunday afternoon, a spare stage surrounded by troughs of dripping greenery and paddle-shaped succulents served as a backdrop for a loving homage to Sicily. Their spring 2013 collection was a stirring, silly, dizzying parade of kaleidoscopic patterns, wry uses of materials such as raffia, luxurious embroidery, and evocative prints. It was a pleasantly lush Dolce & Gabbana romp filled with shaped dresses, circle skirts, and bloomers.The prints were inspired by characters that populate Sicilian street fairs and puppetry stages. They are figures rooted in traditions—funny, personally meaningful, and not especially politically correct.Exclusive: First look at RHONY LuAnn de Lesseps' dress line.Full skirts, slender dresses, and tunic tops were stitched from fading Moorish-looking prints depicting lemon-lipped blacks and mustachioed knights on horseback. Images of lemon trees adorned blouses. And skirts dazzled the eyes with patterns borrowed from traditional ceramics.
There was nothing ponderous or political about this collection—no matter how gut-clenchingly odd it might be to see a kind of Golliwogg face on a designer shirt worn by a white model.In the 1980s African-American designer Patrick Kelly tried to reappropriate that bug-eyed, thick-lipped image by incorporating it into his work. The Mississippi-born designer tried to defuse it of its freight of derisiveness and racism, while not forgetting its distinctly American history. The Golliwogg is not fully freed of its burden. But it is thought-provoking to see it in the context of another culture's sweet memories—a reminder that our world is both vast and tiny, as well as exceedingly complex.