Yorkshire’s Matty Bovan makes Milan fashion debut with D&G backing
It was Milan by way of Yorkshire on the final weekend of its fashion week as young British designer Matty Bovan showed his collection on the Italian schedule for the first time – thanks to the financial support of major label Dolce & Gabbana.
Design duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana contacted the York-based designer after seeing his work on Instagram, offering him use of their design team, access to their archive and financial backing to stage his spring/summer 2023 show in Italy.
Bovan reissued Dolce & Gabbana signatures, such as the corset and distressed denim, and subverted them with his trademark prismatic knitwear and hand-painted fabrics in his largest collection to date.
With most of the collection made in Yorkshire by local artisans, recycled sequins sourced from Manchester-based the Sustainable Sequin Company, and mirrored cone hats crafted by legendary milliner Stephen Jones driven from London to Italy, it was a show that took the best of British abroad.
“It’s a natural way for me to be working,” said Bovan before the show. “I like to give the clothes energy and soul. They can’t be dead [or] factory produced. They have to have life.”
But it was also about financial incentives. With the simplest of fashion shows starting around the £20,000 mark, it’s no secret that small brands like Bovan’s need financial help to stage something on such an impactful scale.
“It’s amazing a company like this is giving someone like me this to play with. It’s rare to be given carte blanche by anyone … and it’s very important to me,” he said. “It’s been interesting for us to have a bigger scope because it’s a really different way for us to operate.”
For Dolce & Gabbana, the collaboration is mutually beneficial. This marks the second
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