As guests milled in the piazza, a marching brass band struck up a resounding tune, leading a procession through the
cobbled streets, over which balconies full of smiling women and children tossed handfuls of rose petals, until
finally they came to an incredible second piazza, decorated with the most magnificent ancient fig trees and a public
balcony with a ludicrously broad view of the Mediterranean. Dotted among the flora and fauna were the duo's Alta
Gioielleria collection (having seen the word a thousand times, it becomes no easier to spell), which guests could
try on and buy in private tents. Us normal folk were shown the way into Palazzo Ducale, where Lampedusa was born,
and where the significance of his novel, The Leopard, became immediately apparent. Called onto the stage by the
town’s mayor, Stefano Castellino, was one Sylvia Mantella, a Toronto-based philanthropist-zookeeper (and married to
Robert Mantella, the Canadian real estate mogul), one of Dolce & Gabbana's most visible haute couture clients,
who in 2017 purchased an incredible gown from the Palermo show hand-painted with two leopards. Tonight, she was
donating it to Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi, which was the location of a good deal of Visconti’s movie adaptation of Il
Gattopardo.
And so that was the curtain-raiser, but what of the subsequent shows? Being The Rake, I might normally omit
any reporting of womenswear shows, but I feel that as an audience of discernible menswear buyers, it would be remiss
of me to skip over what was one of the most brilliantly sensual theatrical shows I've ever seen, set as it was in
Agrigento's Valley of the Temples, considered by archeologists as the most complete architectural relics of ancient
Greek society outside of the Parthenon. To use such an important historical construction as the setting for a
fashion show was not easy - in fact, negotiations took all of two years and a number of complex and elaborate
preparations had to be made in order to preserve the delicate integrity of the temple and the ground it stood on.
When the crowd had navigated its way past an all-woman orchestra dressed as Vestal Virgins and the show eventually
started, models appeared from behind the ancient columns and strode down the steps, their intricately embellished
and heavily embroidered garments immediately evoking the myths of classicism, which have continued to fascinate
poets, painters and sculptors for centuries now. The clothes presented in the Valley of the Temples were inspired by
the beauty of female divinities, both Greek and Roman, and as the sun came down over Agrigento and the shadows began
to lengthen, one couldn't help but be moved by the crescendo of artistic craftsmanship on show.
As the final model disappeared into the temple and Stefano And Domenico took their bow, the audience spilled onto the
runway to personally congratulate the pair. In previous years, this would then be followed by a buying opportunity,
with the models quickly de-robed and the looks taken to a nearby showroom. Not this time, however, given the sacred
surroundings and how, in recent seasons, the post-show buying blitz had become something of a bun fight.
The mens' show the following evening lacked the romantic intensity of the evening before (which I don't think will
ever be topped) but it was nonetheless epic in every sense of the word. Once more the myths of ancient Greece
provided ample source of inspiration for the Alta Sartoria garments that were presented in a crumbling courtyard of
the town hall of Sciacca, replete with gargantuan plaster of Paris sculptures of heroic Greek figures. Speaking to a
handful of journalists before the show, Stefano and Domenico described how the myths of Zeus, Apollo, Dionysus,
Poseidon and Ares represented and reproduced in a long canon of artistic masterpieces formed the catalyst to a
collection that had everything from literal interpretations of ancient sartorialism to the most delicately
embroidered suiting, leatherwork and application of crocodile skin. Speaking to a client after the show, I learned
that there was a WhatsApp group available only to the buyers, allowing them to make their claim to any of the 130
looks as they saw them. Chief among my picks were a number of stunning silk shirts printed with classic Grecian
motifs, often paired with very wearable wide-legged trousers, together with the suiting, much of it double-breasted
and lavishly embroidered. A few of the suits came embellished with real coral in a hat tip to Sciacca's long
tradition of coral jewellery craft, while certain gowns - perhaps the most striking pieces of all - provided a
canvas for hand-painted reproductions of classic paintings such as Jean Baptiste Leloir’s 1841 painting of
Homer.
For those private clients in attendance, it was a case of gods observing gods, with clothing the conduit upon which
flowed 3000 years of art history, and money the manna from the heavens. Empires are not permanent however, a fact
not lost on Dolce & Gabbana who have experienced their fair share of ups and downs. As I write this, I'm
reminded of a moment on the first night after dinner, when gazing out over the fig trees from a terrazzo, Domenico
stepped onto the balcony with some guests and pointed to the piazza below. "Beauty is truth, and we are all looking
for it." Some have the means to purchase it, some have the desire create it, and others, like me, are simply content
regarding it.
