Dolce Gabbana – Inspired Alta Moda by the Hellenistic ideal
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The negotiations lasted two years until Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana managed to secure the ancient site in the Acragada Valley of the Temples, for their Alta Moda show. The Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda show in the Valle dei Templi in Agrigento on the south coast of Domenico Dolce’s native Sicily – a two-hour drive from Palermo – he and Stefano Gabbana erected a runway structure within the 430 BC Temple of Concordia and told the story of their Italian island’s Ancient Greek roots through stupefying savoir-faire splendor.
“Culture is a complicated word”, Dolce said in a preview. “This is a very private story. We only want to share this with people who feel the same as we do.”
Because much as the Alta Moda experience is connected to the elitism that comes with haute couture, this weekend in Agrigento felt more like a spiritual gathering. They wanted to present their show in the Temple of Concordia because these structures, like haute couture, represented a sense of elevation to the Ancient Greeks who built them. Much like decorating one’s physique in the divine craftsmanship that goes into one-of-a-kind dressmaking, classicism was man’s way of building a stairway to the gods: reaching for an all-encompassing beauty ideal that went beyond the material. Dolce and Gabbana named each dress after a Greek muse and took inspiration from their patronages, from the armor of Athena to the crossbow of Diana. But beyond the theatrical metal accessories and beaded gold leather sandals, each dress interpreted Ancient Greece through painstaking artisanal proficiency.
