Milan, Italy ? Dolce & Gabbana set the tone for the summer of 2005, with the designing duo’s poolside show opening the week of menswear preview showings.

“It’s not what you wear, but how you wear it,” was the slogan printed on the invitation to Sunday’s show, which took place in the garden of the designers’ downtown Milan home, around a pool created for the occasion.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who combine street smarts with sexy creativity, managed to transform the banal items that make up the male wardrobe — jacket, shirt and trouser — into weapons of seduction.

Despite regular buttons and button holes, shirts are open to a very low waist, where they meet tight trousers or distressed jeans. An impeccable silk blazer is worn over a commonplace T-shirt.

“It’s not about casual or elegant, but about the concentration on detail, which should become a pleasant obsession,” Gabbana said after the show.

The freedom of the Dolce & Gabbana collection reflects a new discerning customer. According to recent surveys, women and men are no longer label shopping, but choosing according to personal taste.

“They don’t care if the name is Dino or Pino. If they like it, they’ll buy,” said Bruno Di Pietro, who owns a boutique for men and women in Ascoli Piceno on the Adriatic coast.

The new attitude also gives more freedom to buyers, he said.

There was great expectation for Sunday night’s Donatella Versace show. Donatella’s daughter, Allegra, turns 18 today, and so comes into possession of the 50 percent of the company willed to her by her late uncle, designer Gianni, who founded the label more than 30 years ago.

A model shown at the Versace men's fashion collection for Spring/Summer 2005, unveiled Sunday in Milan, Italy, features a popular motif for the season: the dollar sign.

The show was all about elegance, preppie for the younger Versus line and glamorous for the signature label. Stripes played a major role in the collection from classic pinstripe to bold awning stripes. Like Dolce & Gabbana, Donatella underlined the “free-choice” feel of her collection by pairing striped T-shirts with expensive shantung silk suits.

Detail obsession at Versace came in the constant use of the dollar sign, whether embroidered in gold on a shirt or printed on the sole of a crocodile shoe.