Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana announced on Wednesday that “From the Heart to the Hands,” an exhibition celebrating the work of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, will travel to the United States in 2026. The exhibition is scheduled to open at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami on February 6 and will run until June 14.
The ICA Miami event follows presentations at the Royal Palace in Milan, the Grand Palais in Paris and the Palazzo Esposioni in Rome. The exhibition is curated by art and fashion historian Florence Müller, formerly of the Denver Art Museum and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
The show featured more than 300 pieces from historic and current collections, focusing on the fashion house’s Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria and Alta Gioielleria collections. The pieces, on display in immersive rooms, are “inspired by art, architecture, folklore and the spirit of la dolce vita,” according to a press release. There are also many collaborations with visual artists, including Quayola, Alberto Maria Colombo, Obvious, Vittorio Bonapace and Felice Limosani.
Courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana
The exhibition is the latest museum-quality exhibition by a fashion brand. Last year, Loewe staged a fashion show in Shanghai that set the stage for designer Jonathan Anderson’s tenure at the brand. (He left earlier this year to become creative director of Christian Dior.) That show also relied heavily on immersive rooms and showcased the brand’s collaborations with artists, from Ken Price to Joe Brainard to Pablo Picasso.
Over the past decade or so, cultural institutions have increasingly relied on luxury brands to attract new audiences, from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s 2023 Coco Chanel exhibition to the Brooklyn Museum’s 2024 “Solid Gold” exhibition. (Not to mention the many other fashion exhibitions hosted by the latter.) But crucially, designer brands get something in return: recognition from the host institution. And, in a world where “selling out” is no longer a prominent concept, there seems to be little negative repercussions on either side.
