Couture, Italian Style

Dolce & Gabbana celebrates a decade of Alta Moda with a look back at some of its standout shows in Italy.

- LAURA RYSMAN

These days, the phrase "Alta Moda" has become synonymous with Dolce & Gabbana's fashion-fantastical extravaganzas and peak Italian craftsmanship. But 10 years ago, for the world beyond Italy, such sartorial heights were strictly delineated by haute couture and its Parisian stewards. "Not one person believed in our idea," says Domenico Dolce. "Especially its all-Italian soul."

The duo brought a swift end to that skepticism, though, with their first Alta Moda show, held at the 14th-century San Domenico convent in Taormina for a crowd of about a hundred. Like those that have followed, it was as much destination weekend as show: a consecration of the designers' Italian aesthetic and unapologetic glamour with amped-up bespoke fashion, bombastic jewels, and an inordinate dose of merrymaking. There was celebrity wattage (Scarlett Johansson, Stephanie Seymour). There was a performance of Bellini's opera Norma. It all fed a hunger for experiential fashion-a trend the brand was early to. And rather than hew to the strict tenets of French couture, it celebrated the designers' home country in all its fortissimo glory.

The most recent gala getaway, held in honor of the 10-year anniversary, was a fitting spectacle of pomp and circumstance in the Sicilian town of Syracuse. Before the Piazza del Duomo metamorphosed into an open-air stage and catwalk, a satin-frocked cast of dozens brought Pietro Mascagni's opera Cavalleria Rusticana to life. Actors were carried forth on golden altars in flamboyant silk mantillas. It was a glittering paean to Sicily, Dolce's home, and the setting for that first show back in 2012.