For Dolce & Gabbana, opera provides dramatic inspiration for its most exclusive collection
Dolce & Gabbana celebrate their latest alta moda collection at Milan’s La Scala.
More than 100 years after the ever-popular opera Madama Butterfly had its premiere at Milan’s La Scala opera house, its lead character Cio-Cio San took to the stage once more on Friday.
Only this time she wore Dolce & Gabbana.
For their latest “alta moda” collection, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana took inspiration from their picks of Italian operas by Verdi, Puccini and Rossini for starters, creating fashion fantasies for stars and spear carriers alike from operas including Aida, Tosca, Rigoletto and Turandot.
One model even sported a headpiece that was a miniature replica of the theatre’s interior.
The pieces that sashayed from stage to red-carpeted catwalk were certainly epic in execution, many taking hundreds of hours to complete and embellished in dazzling crystals, sequins and embroideries. Their eventual price tags will be similarly grandiose.
Over four days, Dolce and Gabbana will showcase to top-tier clients and a small number of international media the crème de la couture of their business.
Alta moda – which translates literally as high fashion – works along similar principles to Parisian haute couture - a rarefied world of bespoke pieces created for a top global clientele for whom money is no object.
Dolce & Gabbana introduced the line in 2012, and it has added an extra layer of luxury to the 34-year-old brand, known for its glamorous, sexy and ornate designs that pay equal homage to Sicilian widows as Sophia Loren bombshell.
Also on show was its alta gioielleria (high jewellery) collection, which kicked off the schedule on Thursday night, with pieces presented against the frescoes of Giambattista Tiepolo in the Palazzo Clerici, one of the city’s most spectacular residences of the 17th century.
Jewellery valued into the hundred of thousands of euros included contemporary and more classical styles in colourful stones including pink sapphires, aquamarines, tanzanites, amethysts and morganites.
Dinner followed at lavishly set tables across a number of rooms within the palazzo.
Men’s tailoring is also on the schedule, with its alta sartoria show next in show.
As luxury fashion houses the world over try to outdo each other with spectacular one-off shows in exotic locations, Dolce and Gabbana largely stick to their home of Italy, with previous outings set against Lake Como, Capri, Naples, and Sicily’s Agrigento, Palermo and Taormina.
As well as the fashion, these weekend events include plenty of Italy’s finest carbohydrates – for once not a sin in fashionable circles.
Glynis Traill-Nash travelled to Milan as a guest of Dolce & Gabbana.
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