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Another fashion week happens after the lights on the Paris haute couture catwalks go out. It comes courtesy of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who since 2012 have included in their flamboyant repertoire the Alta Moda collections, staged as extravagant multi-day affairs in Italy’s most picturesque locations. The Alta Moda grand tour is a luxurious treat to their community of deep-pocketed clients, who flock from around the world to take part in the designers’ exuberant festivities: They party, mingle with celebrities, and dress up to the nines, while shopping along the way for the next one-of-a-kind addition to their Dolce & Gabbana wardrobes. That price tags often reach to six figures is just a minor bother, shooed away like an annoying mosquito.
This season the Alta Moda caravanserai (“between clients and production, we move around 2,000 people,” they said) landed on the shores of Sardinia, an island dense in history and blessed with stunning natural beauty. It’s also a land of deep-rooted traditions and rituals, some mysterious and fierce, harkening back to its rural prehistoric times. Over the eons, Sardinia was colonized and inhabited by Phaenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, and Saracens; the Spanish Aragonese ruled over its vast, barren landscapes for about four hundred years. It’s upon the island’s visually intricate, ancestral ecosystem of symbols and mythologies rooted in paganism that Dolce & Gabbana drew their inspiration for this year’s Alta Moda.
“We deep-dived into Sardinia’s intriguing world,” the designers said at a press conference before the show, which was staged at the archeological site of Nora, on a promontory of the island’s southern corner. Dating back to the 8th century BC, the ancient city’s ruins made for a metaphysical, almost lunar setting, framing a large scale site-specific artwork by the American artist Phillip K. Smith III. A monumental installation of mirrored askew columns called Nora Mirage, it marked the first-ever commission by the designers of a contemporary artist. When they were scouting for the show’s location, they said they were struck by its surreal atmosphere, as if they had stumbled “into a piazza in one of De Chirico’s paintings.” It has a spare, modern quality to it. “We wanted to bridge the past with the present; we felt that the set-up and the collection should be more contemporary.” Fascinated as they are by Italian folklore, it’d been easy to fall into a pantomime, “but we went the opposite direction,” they said, “going more simple, elegant, with just nods to Sardinian traditions.”
The island is known for its abundance of exceptional indigenous crafts. Stefano and Domenico focused on a few techniques that they deftly reworked and integrated into the slender, fluid couture silhouettes that made for the collection’s core: the intricacies of filigree, the primitive motifs of coarse-wool carpet weaving, and the artisanal bravura of shirtmaking and skirt-pleating. Mostly rendered in black and cut to perfection, the flowing tunics were embellished with golden filigree jewelry of an ornate simplicity. The spare seaside landscape, the silver reflections of the mirrored artworks, the island breeze making the clothes billow and ripple—it made for a stunning, operatic scenario.
A few majestic pieces referenced the thick multicolored carpet-weaving that’s distinctly Sardinian; as a further homage to the island’s artisanal finesse, six puff-sleeved shirts cut in white cotton and embellished with lace were handcrafted by local women through a lengthy fine-pleating technique used only for ceremonial costumes. Yet a modern couture spirit was significant in a series of handsome flou draped dresses in bright-hued chiffon that were a visual high point. The designers said that a loose reference for the collection was the couture work of Maison Carosa, a sartoria di Alta Moda founded in the late 1940s by Roman princess Giovanna Caracciolo Ginetti—a (largely underestimated) atelier that catered to the aristocracy, where Italian designers Pino Lancetti and Angelo Tarlazzi trained in the early days of their careers.
While the Alta Moda had a distinctive modern flavor, for Alta Sartoria the designers made a sort of creative u-turn, giving free rein to their amore for the folkloric and the extravagant, reveling in haute showmanship. The set was an illusionistic recreation of a rural palazzo built from scratch on a hillside site; the show’s opener was a spectacular reenactment of the religious procession that takes place every year in Cagliari, celebrating Sant’Efisio, the city’s patron saint martyred in Nora in 303 AD. It was a highly elaborate cinematic affair—jaws dropped, guests looked on not quite believing their eyes. Hundreds of local people in their own ceremonial costumes paraded on ornate carts carried by oxens, rose petals and mint leaves strewn about, only to be followed by the disquieting apparition of the mythological Mamuthones—ancestral wood-masked creatures wearing sheepskin mantles, carrying 30 kilos of bells strapped on their backs.
Framed by such pyrotechnics, the collection exuded a spirit of romantic indulgence and ornate exuberance, encompassing slim-fitting floral-embroidered suits, trailing capes in furry black wool, stiff geometric skirts replicating an elite weaving technique usually reserved for the bedspread of aristocratic trousseaus and embellished with crystals, and golden-thread bibs emblazoning high-collared white shirts. A hint of a toreador feeling (the Spanish had a strong influence on Sardinian culture) was perceived in the richly decorated short boleros and stiff round-brimmed black hats.
Across several nights of parties, guests were treated to a variety of performances by leading artists. Christina Aguilera, clad in a hot pink bodysuit with matching feather boa, pianist Micah McLaurin, dazzling in a rustling golden mantle and sequined top, and Trixie Mattel took to the stage on the opening night. Tonight, Violet Chachki and Katy Perry will cap off the festivities, mingling with Maluma, Naomi Campbell, Halle Berry, Choi San, Lucien Laviscount, and Theo James, among others.
Although their love of a good party can’t be denied, what Dolce and Gabbana are most passionate about is making the case through their practice for the incredible variety of Italy’s centuries-old crafts and customs. “We want it to be known, protected, and respected, and be valued by the young generations”, they said. “There’s so much to learn working with the artisans, learning from their knowledge is such a privilege. What we do, we do per amore.”