In Search of “Italian Authenticity” at Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda Festivities in Puglia

Nothing can prepare a person for their first Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda experience. While there is no such thing as a “typical” Alta Moda celebration, they all center around events in astonishing and exclusive locations—this year, in Puglia—with clients and celebrities from across the globe invited to preview (and to be the first to purchase) grandiose couture collections. They started off as three-day affairs, though the clients got to liking it so much they simply wanted to stay. Days were added on, year after year, until the whole extravaganza turned into what Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana now only half-ironically call “Alta Moda Fashion Week.”

What I discovered was a hedonistic, fashion-filled, five-day happening with performances and shows centered around collections of couture and jewelry, with guests appearing in outfits and scenarios so over the top they sometimes made the Met Gala look like a Buddhist retreat.

Even though I made my entrance to the party in a beautiful Dolce & Gabbana majolica print kaftan, I felt extremely underdressed. And when word got round to the other clients and journalists that I was a mere novitiate in this order, eyes were rolled.

“Wait, this your first Alta Moda?” “Yes?” I replied, suddenly filled with shame. It seemed impossible that anyone here might not be accustomed to private chauffeurs and champagne-filled days. “Consider it a baptism,” one said, with absolutely no hint of irony. “It’s a true spectacle,” added D Repubblica editor-in-chief Emanuele Farneti. “Just enjoy it.”

As I meandered and eavesdropped in the middle of the millenary olive grove where the 2023 Alta Gioielleria (high jewelry) collection was presented, an angelic man stood next to a tiny but feisty woman in her eighties. His eyes gazed solemnly at the Mediterranean horizon, while the woman, a client, admired an intricate necklace that ended in branches with leaves and large, olive-sized gems.

“Mr. Dolce was inspired by the colors of the Italian sunset for many of these jewels,” explained the man—who, as it turns out, works for Dolce & Gabbana. “Aha,” murmured the lady as she looked up at the sky with a tinge of disbelief, trying to match the jewels with the scenery. Displayed in beautiful cases all around the grove were diamonds, amethysts, emeralds, yellow and blue sapphires, pink tourmalines, hessonites, and pearls—so many stones, so many colors.

We had been whisked from the easy sunset life of caper and lavender plants in the gardens of the magical Masseria Montenapoleone to the Pettolecchia La Fortezza that night in a stream of black luxury vans, passing along the coastal highway like mysterious velvety presences, observing the lives outside our windows from our quiet, sheltered seats: a topless girl on a beach, a well-built mamma feeding her son pane e sugo (olive oil, bread, and pasta sauce), a couple of street urchins speeding by on bicycles.