Dolce&Gabbana turn to muse Sicily

MILAN (AP) — Dolce&Gabbana have turned again to muse Sicily for inspiration for next summer's menswear collections.

Against a soundtrack of romantic orchestral music and the backdrop of a twisted old olive tree, the collection presented on the first day of Milan Fashion Week on Saturday referenced the southern island's architectural wonders, natural beauty and native fauna.

The designing duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana stamped their creations with images of ancient Greek temples and pastoral countryside scenes, imprinted across three-piece suits and loose top-and-shorts combinations. The renderings are in black-and-white and color, creating a tapestry effect.

Dolce&Gabbana's Sicily is both formal and restrained, requiring suits that can be bold in shimmering red or blue, or simply somber black, and casual and lusty, with roughly woven drawstring pants or Bermuda shorts worn with nothing at all.

Outfits were paired with woven shoes, dark or white, or Greek-style leather sandals.

Just after the designers took their bows at the end of the show, a naked man jumped on the runway. He was immediately led away, and his motives were unclear.

On a more decorous note, Barcelona soccer player Lionel Messi set up shop in a Dolce&Gabbana boutique in the city center Saturday to sign books of photographs taken by Dolce himself.