In Milan this summer, an exhibition at the Palazzo Reale called From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana commemorated the first 12 years of Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda project. With immersive rooms dedicated to different collections – a mirrored space full of creations featuring Venetian Murano glass; a room of bright, handmade Sicilian tiles with a painted wooden cart at its centre, hosting equally brightly decorated outfits; a recreation of the ballroom of the Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi in Palermo where the ball in Visconti’s The Leopard was filmed, complete with gowns to match; and a replica of the interior of La Scala to show a collection that celebrated opera – the show was a huge hit.

Domenico Dolce says, ‘Today the success of the exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, on our journey into Alta Moda, is one of the greatest satisfactions of my life. People have understood that we did it with intellectual honesty.’

Alta Moda, Italian for “High Fashion”, is the pinnacle of the world of fashion design; one-off pieces created by hand for a select clientele. Stefano Gabbana says that he and his partner launched it because of demand from people who wanted something really remarkable. ‘In 2012, at that first Alta Moda show, we were completely unaware of what was going to happen next; we just trusted our instincts. We were the only ones who believed in it.’

That first show was of womenswear and took place in Taormina in Sicily. Dolce is himself from Polizzi Generosa on that island, and it has proved to be the foundation of the label’s aesthetic. ‘In 1984, when Dolce & Gabbana was founded, we were making clothes without really knowing what we were doing. Then we had the feeling that we should talk about Sicily and it turned out to be a revelation: this is our story; this is us.’

After the first outing at Taormina, each collection became inspired by a particular location in Italy, focussing on its traditions, culture and people, interpreting these through a contemporary Dolce & Gabbana lens. ‘Alta Moda forces us to take a deep dive, inside of things, to understand their history, their spirit and then adapt everything to today’s world,’ explains Dolce.

This year it was the turn of Sardinia. An Italian island in the Mediterranean with a rich history stretching back to the bronze age, it has been home to the Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Saracens and Aragonese. It proved fertile ground for the design duo’s imaginations, resulting in extraordinary jewellery incorporating the local artisan-made “Su Coccoi” decorative bread, and a women’s collection of largely black-and-white gowns embellished with gold filigree, a centuries-old art-form of the island.

But these days, Alta Moda has been joined by Alta Sartoria (“High Tailoring”) for men, and it was the men’s show in Sardinia that really brought home the ethos of Dolce & Gabbana’s couture mission. The designers explain that their aim is to immerse themselves in their chosen setting: ‘We want to know everything, meet everyone, listen to everyone, involve everyone,’ says Gabbana. For Alta Sartoria menswear, this has extended to employing local artisan techniques in the richly adorned garments. Florals embroidered with French wire, crystal, beads and jet, or crocheted or rendered in petit point. Velvet pieces with gold embroidery echo the local boleros, while creations in a heavy fabric featured pibiones (“grapes” in Sardinian), produced by “grain weaving” on a hand loom, creating small yarn rings. Luxurious fabrics like lace and moiré also shared the catwalk with the rough black woollen “mastruca” coat, associated with shepherds.

However, as the inspiration for these pieces is none other than Sardinia’s annual procession for the feast of Saint Ephysius, the designers conceived the audacious plan to re-stage the parade as a fashion show. Cue a set featuring a theatrical, full-size Sardinian palace constructed from scaffolding and material, and a cast of around 1,000 locals in their personal feast-day finery. They spread rose petals on the floor, as is customary on the Festival of Sant’Efisio, and moved slowly in a parade featuring oxen pulling decorated carts, horse riders in magnificent costumes, musicians, singers and celebrating islanders. The models followed suit, walking steadily in their Alta Sartoria creations.

‘Alta Moda demands absolute honesty, it cannot tolerate lies,’ says Domenico Dolce. ‘For me, it’s a matter of life and death; it’s not about money, it’s about creating a good impression, of being proud of things done well.’

dolcegabbana.com