New York would have been the likely city for the U.S. debut of the expansive Dolce & Gabbana exhibition, “From the Heart to the Hands,” following acclaim in Paris, Milan, and Rome.
The show’s curator, however, Florence Müller, thought Miami would be the place to introduce the United States to this love letter to Italian culture and a look behind the inspiration of the fashion house led by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
“Yes, the most evident city to start the tour in the U.S. was New York, of course,” said Müller, fashion curator, historian, and author who splits her time living in Miami and her native Paris. “I was pushing very hard toward Miami. It’s a city where so many people are coming now and it’s very desirable. It’s full of excitement and life and full of a lot of fashion vibes.”
(Photo: Mark Blower)
After tours in Milan, Paris and Rome, “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana” makes its U.S. debut in Miami at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami through June 14, 2026.
The company’s producers, MARI, were sold on the location, as was the fashion house. They also found the perfect exhibition space at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Miami. With its recent acquisition of the former de la Cruz Collection’s 30,000-square-foot exhibition space two doors down from ICA’s Design District building, it would be able to accommodate the five exhibit rooms of “From the Heart to the Hands,” in which each area showcases different themes related to the brand’s heritage.
“The other thing I was interested by was this communality between the exhibition, which is a lot about Italy, about a Latin country, and the fact that Miami is also very Latin,” said Müller. “With all the people that are from South America, and that it’s a hub as well. I thought that would be a great encounter – a great mix – with an exhibition that can speak to a lot of people here in a very natural manner.”
(Photo: Greg Kessler)
One of the exhibition rooms in “From the Heart to the Hands” at the Dolce & Gabbana exhibition at ICA Miami is “The Art and Craft of Glassworking.”
The exhibition opened on Feb. 6 and will remain at ICA through June 14.
How the work fits into that of a museum is clear, according to Müller. The show is deeply embedded in Italian culture, from the Renaissance to Catholic iconography to regional folk traditions.
“Many people describe the exhibition as a retrospective, which it’s not,” said Müller. “It’s a retrospective about 12 or 13 years. Usually, when you speak about a retrospective, it’s 40 years, 70 years.”
The house was founded by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in 1985, initially focused on ready-to-wear. Only in 2012 did they formally launch their Alta Moda line, followed later by Alta Sartoria and Alta Gioielleria.
Müller said that during the 12 years when the designers began Alta Moda, which translates in English to High Style, they kept it secret.
(Photo: Greg Kessler)
In the final gallery of “From the Heart to the Hands,” Dolce & Gabbana crescendos into “The Opera,” a theatrical homage to Italian stagecraft.
“I think they wanted to do something like in the old times when couture was for clients, collectors who were buying clothes like they would buy a painting from a famous artist,” Müller said. “Now after 12 years, they’ve decided to share this. And it is a privilege to see it, which is why I want everyone to know about this exhibition.”
As visitors go from room to room, the structure of the exhibition is to keep everything in a state of constant discovery, said Müller.
(Photo: Greg Kessler)
The historical influences that shape Dolce & Gabbana's tailoring philosophy are on display in “Anatomy of Tailoring,” one of the exhibition rooms in “From the Heart to the Hands.”
“The idea is to have, really, different experiences so that when you leave one room, you don’t know what you will see next,” she said. “It’s shaped in a way that each time you have a surprise.”
She points to one sequence as an example. Visitors might leave a dark, contemplative space devoted to “devotion,” bathed in music and quiet, only to find themselves suddenly immersed in a cacophony of color.
(Photo: Gregg Kessler)
Curated by Florence Müller, Dolce & Gabbana’s three core crafts, Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria, and Alta Gioielleria, are explored in a celebration of Italian craftmanship and couture at ICA Miami.
“You go to exactly the opposite room, full of colors and lights and the music of the Tarantella, the world of Sicilian popular tradition,” she said. “It’s really conceived like this — keeping the visitor excited by the fact that they don’t know what they will see next.”
(Photo: Greg Kessler)
Visitors can get up close to see the mastery and the handiwork for Dolce & Gabbana’s artisans in the ICA Miami
There is also a reverence to the identity of Italy.
“The exhibition is paying a tribute to all the artisans that are working in the house, in the company, and elsewhere as well,” she said.
One room, for example, is inspired by Sardinia.
“You discover these very ancient ceremonies with mountainous deities that have a very strange look, looking like (something) between animals and humans,” Müller said. “And then they discovered that in Sardinia there is this huge tradition of filigree — jewelry made with filigree — and this is included in the collection.”
(Photo: Mark Blower)
The installation design of “From the Heart to the Hands,” created by Agence Galuchat, crafts the immersive environments that frame the fashion, art and storytelling of the exhibition.
Another room evokes the Temple of Concordia in Sicily.
“There is the décor of a Greek temple,” Müller said. “It speaks about the Temple of Concordia in Sicily, built by the Greeks in the fifth century. The collection was inspired by the temple and by Greek culture. And on top of this, the collection was presented in the temple.”
If there is one message she hopes visitors will carry with them, it is that fashion — especially at this level — is personal and serious.
“I hope people will start to love fashion and understand that it’s a very serious job,” she said. “It involves people who have devoted their life and their passion to this work. The people working in the workshops at Dolce & Gabbana were not forced to do this. They love what they do.”
She is encouraged by the younger generations who are continuing the craft.
“It’s full of young people,” she said. “They have included the notion of school in their workshops. The young people are trained by older artisans. There are a lot of young people who want to do things with their hands.”
In an era of increasing automation, artificial intelligence, and mass manufacturing, Müller sees the exhibition as a way to deliver a message.
“We are in a world full of machines, and we are all on our devices and AI,” she said. “The whole of our world has been built by our brain and our hand. We are very powerful with our body, with our soul, with our hands. We have changed the world this way, and we can continue — and we should continue — to do this.”
In keeping with the title of the exhibition, “From the Heart to the Hands,” Müller said visitors react to the beauty and the craftmanship of the work.
“People are transported in a different world,” Müller said. “They live an experience that includes their body, their soul, all their senses. It’s very emotional. They learn things, but they also feel emotions. There are people who I have seen crying in the exhibition. They see this and they are like, ‘Wow. This was made by the hand of people, by people who devoted their life to this?’”
Visitors can get up close to see the mastery and the handiwork, which offers a perspective not often available.
“Maybe you can see images on social media, but images do not give you the closeness,” Müller said. “The designers really wanted for people to be able to see all the elements, the stitching, the details,” adding that fabric is fleeting.
“It will not be shown forever, you know,” Müller said. “It is not like a painting and how the great master works from the past live on. Textile is very fragile. There is a limited life.”
The exhibition is expected to travel to other cities although the schedule has not yet been determined. But for now, ICA and Miami is alive with Dolce & Gabbana’s rooms filled with stories from the past and the present.
IF YOU GO
“From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana”
Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA)-Miami
23 NE 41st St., Miami
Tickets: $26-$28
305-901-5272
miami.dolcegabbanaexhibition.com/
1 of 6
(Photo by Greg Kessler)
2 of 6
(Photo by Greg Kessler)
3 of 6
4 of 6
(Photo by Greg Kessler)
5 of 6
(Photo by Greg Kessler)
6 of 6
