Dolce & Gabbana marks 10 years of Alta Moda with Sicilian extravaganza

On a balmy Saturday evening on the Sicilian island of Ortygia, a subsection of Dolce & Gabbana’s freest-spending clients paraded, twirled and fanned the trains of their embroidered capes and glittering dresses — all one-of-a-kind, made-to-measure, and costing tens to hundreds of thousands of euros — before photographers and iPhone-wielding members of the press. Onlookers leaned from their balconies as Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana emerged from behind the Duomo escorting a gold-stiletto clad Mariah Carey, the train of her narrow, glimmering bustier dress held aloft by a man in a red brocade suit.

Then came a procession of black-robed men bearing saintly effigies in ornate litters, and a performance of “Cavalleria Rusticana”, Pietro Mascagni’s 19th-century one-act opera, before the first of 106 — yes, 106 — models made their way on to the catwalk. They were outfitted in: angels’ wings and sexy riffs on black Sicilian-widow dresses; as ancient warrior-goddesses in silver pleated gowns and golden breastplates; in elbow-length lace veils over pleated, semi-sheer dresses with visible suspender stockings; and a white mini dress with shoulders moulded into cherubs, all of it made in Italy. Applause broke out as the final model emerged trailing a dramatic cape in ruffled red taffeta, the other 105 models assembled in a tableau around her.

Such was the visual feast — one of many — that Dolce and Gabbana served up over four days for the 10th anniversary of Alta Moda, their fun, extravagant — and by all appearances, thoroughly successful — answer to Paris’s haute couture collections. More than a sequence of fashion shows, it is an occasion for top clients to shop, network, show off previous purchases, and rub shoulders with the designers over fittings, boat tours and seaside dinners that break into dancing before dessert is served.

“It’s not just about 2,000 hours of embroidery,” said Domenico Dolce in a press conference. “It’s a way of life.”

Alta Moda’s client roster has swelled from 100 to 750 over the past decade, Stefano Gabbana added, plus another 500 who buy from the men’s equivalent, Alta Sartoria. Launched after the closure of the company’s lower-priced D&G line, it was a bet on the highest echelon of luxury spenders that has paid off handsomely.

These Very Important Clients (VICs) account for an outsized proportion of the company’s sales and tend to buy across the product range, from accessories to £35,000 made-to-measure suits and seven-figure necklaces. They are also powerful brand ambassadors within their own moneyed circles and to a broader audience online.

“It is a special customer,” said Gabbana.

This year the event welcomed about 700 guests over four days, including friends of clients, who will be invited back again if they buy (as a client-recruitment tool, Alta Moda is unrivalled). They came to shows with their phones poised: there is only one of each look, and the first to snap a photo from the runway and text it to their client adviser is the one who gets it.

“It’s the best publicity, the best advertising,” Gabbana told the FT last year. “It’s a kind of club.”

The shows are a significant investment. Gabbana said he didn’t know how much this year’s event cost, insisting that “we usually don’t pay [celebrity] guests”. But it certainly cost millions.

Dolce & Gabbana’s reputation remains tarnished in parts of the world after a backfired China campaign in 2018 cost the company a third of its business, which as of last year was hovering above £1bn in annual sales. But plenty of celebrities are willing to align themselves with the brand again: in addition to Carey, Drew Barrymore, Sharon Stone, Lupita Nyong’o, Helen Mirren, Ciara, Casey Affleck, Heidi Klum and Christian Bale (whose daughter walked the show) attended this year’s festivities.

Also in attendance were Russian-speaking clients. While LVMH, Kering, Chanel, Hermès, Burberry and others stopped selling in Russia after the country invaded Ukraine in February, Dolce & Gabbana has continued to sell there at the urging of its partner, a spokesperson said.

While Alta Moda’s designs are strictly feminine — not a single pair of trousers appeared among the looks in this year’s show — Alta Sartoria is more progressive and gender-fluid, offering peacocking clothes for a client who has no interest in wearing a Savile Row suit after hours.

“Fantasy for men is important,” said Gabbana. “In the past, kings, princes, sultans dressed up a lot — jewels, hats, coats. There is under the skin of the men’s customer a vanity.”

Along the waterfront of the quaint fishing village of Marzamemi on the third evening, bare-chested models stepped out in bejewelled body-armour paired with ripped and overdyed denim, fringed satin kimonos with black silk-satin shorts, and trim brocade suits layered over sheer Chantilly-lace tunics. These were accessorised with crystal-studded gladiator sandals, velvet smoking slippers embroidered in silver and gold, and chain belts whose large jewels looked as if they had been plundered from a pirate’s chest.

It was heady stuff. The looks might not have been to fashion critics’ taste, or even the taste of the designers themselves, who favour trainers and Birkenstocks and head-to-toe black. But they were certainly to the taste of the clients. At the ensuing dinner, Ricky, the owner of a construction company, pointed to a pair of gold chain earrings he had bought for his boyfriend from the High Jewellery collection shown in a watery cave two evenings before; he himself was wearing a large diamond necklace from a previous collection. He planned to buy about five looks and the crystal-encrusted gladiator sandals. “I always buy something,” he said. Alta Moda had worked its magic.

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