Dolce & Gabbana started its own version of Haute Couture 10 years ago and gave it the name Alta Moda. Ten years later, they hosted an extravagant spectacle in Sicily with the signature events taking place in Siracusa’s main Piazza Duomo to celebrate this momentous anniversary.

How Dolce & Gabbana started the Alta Moda

In 2012 Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce started a very exclusive, specifically-tailored label with a client list of around 100. Today that number of clients is about 750.

What symbolized their particular line was how it made the client the center of their own dramatic event. All the clothing in the line had a basis in a style of life rather than just the style of the day. What this meant for every client in the line was that they had designs tailored just to their specific personalities and tastes.

How Dolce & Gabbana Throws a Party

The Dolce & Gabbana party for Alta Moda took place over four days in Sicily. Some of the events occurring during the party included a concert at a fifth-century BC Greek theater. There was also dinner at a beach club that offered a fantastic firework show plus a dance party that went all hours under a seaside luminaria.

Every part of the festivities included clients in different Alta Moda outfits. All of the events built toward the Saturday night show on the historic square in Sicily.

To add a touch of drama to the entire event, the show started with a reenactment of Cavalleria Rusticana, which is a one-act opera about two different love triangles. The runway show featured a wide array of Sicilian widows, priests, and novitiates, plus a complete procession with a pair of saints carried on large staffs coming from each end of the square.

These saints presided over the presentation of around 100 looks, with each lock coming straight out of central casting of an old-style Hollywood movie. Celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Mariah Carey, and Helen Mirren seemed blown away by the spectacular presentation of all of these amazing looks.

Dolce & Gabbana Does Not Forget About the Men

On Sunday evening in the beautiful seaside town of Marzamemi, Dolce & Gabanna turned to Alta Sartoria, which is their attempt at taking menswear into a future that is more fluid. Their collection blended masculine aggression and brawn into jeweled harnesses and bibs.

What viewers saw were three-piece suits with silk charmeuse blended perfectly with more traditional style tailoring. There were also plenty of baggy pants jammed into knee-high boots. In fact, the amount of metallic lame and rhinestone sparkle at the show matched what gets found in the Alta Moda and thus served as a perfect compliment as part of the overall festivities.

The Alta Moda is such a signature staple of the Dolce & Gabbana brand that it is no surprise that they threw such an extravagant and lavish party to mark the occasion of the 10th anniversary. The lasting image and feel of the party for Alta Moda attest Dolce & Gabbana is well on their way to another great ten years.