Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda Summer 2025 Ad Campaign

Review of Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda Summer 2025 Ad Campaign by Photographers Luigi Murenu and Iango Henzi with model Kristen McMenamy

By Sofia Crawford

Dolce & Gabbana’s Summer Alta Moda and Alta Gioielleria campaign finds itself right at home in the grandeur of Rome, where couture and classical architecture merge under the lens of Luigi & Iango. The campaign stars Kristen McMenamy, a longtime industry icon who elevates the storytelling into something almost mythic, fitting for a collection so deeply entwined with Italian identity, heritage, and craft.

Shot in black-and-white with occasional flourishes of color, the imagery leans into contrasts: fragility and strength, motion and monument, fabric and stone. Architectural silhouettes inspired by the 1950s find echoes in Roman columns, while delicately handmade lace slip dresses are styled with theatrical, baroque jewelry pieces that nod to classical statuary and opulence. In one particularly striking image, a pendant shaped like a Roman miniature gleams with vibrant gemstones, rendered almost devotional in tone.

McMenamy, with her signature otherworldly allure, becomes a living sculpture—a canvas upon which Dolce & Gabbana’s vision of Italian excellence comes to life. Her poses are angular and expressive, her gaze commanding. The styling plays with proportion and gesture, allowing each piece—from corseted gowns to gilded necklaces—to interact with the surroundings and tell a story of permanence and reinvention. The bold beauty look by Georgi Sandev brings further strength to each frame, pushing the campaign’s modern take on classical beauty.

What’s most successful about the campaign is its ability to channel grandeur and opulence without becoming a pastiche. It doesn’t just romanticize Rome; it reclaims it as a living stage for contemporary couture. In celebrating “#DGFattoAMano” and “#MadeInItaly,” the campaign reminds us that craftsmanship is not just history, it’s a living, breathing act of expression.

With McMenamy as its fierce heroine and Rome as its muse, Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda campaign becomes a visual love letter to Italian legacy, rendered timeless in monochrome.