Welcome to The Style Files

A Newsletter about Arts, Culture and Fashion

Bonjour!

Welcome to The Style Files, a new newsletter about arts, culture, and fashion.

Or The Fun Stuff, as I used to say at Newsweek.

You’ll find fab features on something you want to know about—a bit like what I used to write for Newsweek when I was its European Cultural Correspondent in Paris, and before that, for The Washington Post Style section. You’ll find a mix of news, analysis, and criticism. And scoops. Always scoops. Naturally, since I live in Paris, there will be a European sway—you’ll see dispatches from the European fashion shows, the Venice Film Festival, and more. But there will be always be an international point of view, too.

This first edition is free. But I’m sure you’ll agree that my knowledge and experience have value, so, from the second edition onward, The Style Files will be a paid-subscription read on the Dana Thomas Substack page. The subscription will give you access to bonus content from The Green Dream, my sustainability podcast and newsletter. So it’s a win-win. Anyone who has a paid subscription to The Green Dream, my sustainability newsletter, will receive The Style Files for free.

I hope you’ll subscribe to both. And if you are one of my journo friends—there are a lot of you out there!—you’ll share this news, as well as The Green Dream podcast and newsletter—with your audiences, too.

And now, The Style Files:

We are living in a Maximalist Age.

And no brand today is more Maximalist than Dolce & Gabbana, the Milanese fashion house that is about to kick off its 40th year in business.

The epitome of Dolce & Gabbana’s Maximalist ethos is Alta Moda, a multi-day event for its top clients, each year staged in a different Italian locale. Other couture brands present couture during show week in Paris, and some have one-off events, like Dior’s haute joaillerie show in Como this spring. But Dolce & Gabbana is the only luxury brand to host an ultra-high fashion and jewelry festival.