Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana are famous for marketing their fascination with the exotic bombshell look. Inspired by the films of Roberto Rossellini and Luchino Visconti and a mutual passion of everything Sicilian, the pair has patented the perfect brew of voluptuously feminine style. However, with the ‘prim and proper’ avalanche descending upon alta moda, even Signori Dolce e Gabbana have abandoned their trademark sultry vixen allure in favor of a more graceful sensibility. This season the Dolce & Gabbana collection is less Sophia Lauren and more Catherine Deneuve.

Introducing their new body of work with Indie movie golden girl Chloë Sevigny, dressed in a fur trimmed boxy coat belted around the waist, the dynamic duo signaled that they had something other than a sexy mix of satin corsets, fishnets, and baby-dolls in store for their fervent enthusiasts. Indeed, the well-conceived and brilliantly executed procession of minis, maxis, tailored jackets, chiffon blouses, boucle skirt-suits, and fur coats that followed, reconfirmed the fashion cognoscenti’s suspicion that the reinvented Dolce & Gabbana woman would be a positively more demure and elegant version of her old self.

The white and silver red-carpet gowns, embellished with crystals and exotic feathers, which came at the very end, made gentle references to the enticingly fierce core of the brand, but ultimately kept the sizzle factor under control.

For fall 2005 refraining from communicating an overt message of come-hither sexuality, the gifted Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana focused on empowering women through beautiful clothes. The result was a radiant collection defined by polished poise and impeccable panache. Bravo ragazzi!