WHEN IN ROMA: DOLCE & GABBANA ALTA MODA 2025 — A NIGHT AMONG RUINS AND REVERIES
There are moments in fashion when spectacle becomes scripture — when the past and present entwine so seamlessly that time itself pauses to watch. Such was the alchemy of Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda 2025, staged beneath the soft, vanishing light of the Roman Forum — an arena where emperors once whispered ambitions to marble gods, and where, for one surreal evening, silk, sequins, and gilded dreams roamed free upon ancient stones.
A Catwalk Upon the Via Sacra
This was no ordinary runway — it was the Via Sacra, the first street of Ancient Rome, paved with stories older than kingdoms. Beneath the watchful shadows of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, armored soldiers mingled with vestal virgins; theater troupes wove through ruins still echoing with empire. Guests arrived not merely as spectators, but as living pieces of this grand mise-en-scène — 450 Alta Moda clients from across the globe, each a glittering testament to the house’s power to conjure a modern court of couture devotees.
A Collection Carved in Myth and Cinema
For twelve years, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have turned Alta Moda into a roving festival of Italian grandeur — from Siracusa to Venezia, Napoli to Portofino. But Rome, the caput mundi, the city where all roads begin and end, remained unconquered until now. And conquer it they did.
The show opened with a deep red velvet cape that unfurled to reveal the Capitoline Wolf — Rome’s eternal guardian — glinting in sequins. There followed armored corsets of gilded brass, recalling emperors and gladiators, cinched atop diaphanous chiffon skirts that billowed like whispered secrets of a thousand forgotten poets.
Then came the stolae — draped gowns evoking ancient statues, their folds padded to mimic marble come to life. Some shimmered in silk velvet, rich purple and gold, as if plucked from an imperial vault. Mid-century silhouettes followed, balancing the grandeur of antiquity with the playful seduction of La Dolce Vita — fit-and-flare dresses in mille-feuille chiffon, capes in Cleopatra turquoise and orange, all fatto a mano in the purest sense.
Embroideries of marble busts and millennia-old coins crowned the collection, while one dress — the audacious Colosseum — left subtlety behind altogether. As Fellini once mused, “Underneath Rome today is ancient Rome. So close.” In these gowns, that closeness was palpable: a living conversation between stone and silk.
A Constellation Beneath the Roman Sky
Of course, Alta Moda’s magic extends beyond the fabric — it is the people who come to worship at its altar that complete the spectacle. Domenico Dolce, regal yet warm, took his bow seated beside icons and enigmas alike: Cher, ever the ageless muse; Erling Haaland, the unstoppable force; Isabella Rossellini, elegance made flesh; and Christian Bale, observing with the quiet intensity of an artist studying a masterpiece.
The show’s true pulse, however, thrummed among the clients — those who arrive draped in bespoke gowns and high jewelry, who sip champagne beneath ruins older than empires, who understand that Alta Moda is not just fashion, but an heirloom moment.
A Testament to Enduring Excess
Later, as Dolce mingled among guests at dinner beneath a Roman sky still warm with possibility, he cast a knowing eye over the industry’s search for novelty and cool. “Sometimes, fashion kills fashion,” he said. But not here — not in the Forum, where the ghosts of emperors might well have raised a toast in approval.
Alta Moda 2025 was more Satyricon than La Dolce Vita — a decadent feast of myth, cinema, and craftsmanship for those who crave energy over ephemeral trends. It was Rome — ancient, immortal, and forever reborn under the needle and thread of two visionaries who understand that beauty, like empire, demands spectacle.
When in Roma, excess is not indulgence. It is the soul.
— ID SHOPPER CONCEPT