.jpg "Dolce & Gabbana Show Off Their New Alta Gioielleria Collection in Sardinia—“Italy Is in These Pieces”")
It’s dusk on the southern coast of Sardinia and around 400 people have gathered for dinner on the terrace. Every now and then the candlelight catches a bright spark thrown from jewels as guests table-hop to greet each other. Christina Aguilera is about to perform and in front of us the sea is glowing with lights twinkling on a clutch of mega yachts anchored off shore.
This is a party to launch Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda. The group of well heeled, couture clad guests have arrived a day early to view the Alta Gioielleria, an increasingly important part of the four-day extravaganza. July is a big month for new high jewelry collections across Europe—luxury houses have hosted client-facing events in Florence, Vienna, and Monaco, for starters—so these customers don’t lack invites to glamorous launches. What is it about Dolce & Gabbana jewels that entices them?
“At first it was the clothes that drew me in,” one American guest tells me the next morning, dressed in a green crochet caftan for the beach teamed with a magnificent pair of golden micro mosaic earrings. “Then I fell in love with the one-of-a-kind jewels because they are so different from any other jewelry. It’s the hand craft element. Maybe it’s their Italian-ness that I love.”
For these seasoned jewelry buyers, diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires can be commonplace; they require more. And within Alta Gioielleria lies the culture, folklore, and artistic traditions of particular regions of Italy told through finely crafted gold and gemstones.
“I have to say, I recognize Italy in these pieces,” says Naomi Campbell who’s flown in to join the show. “From hints of baroque architecture and renaissance paintings to the vibrant sun-drenched colors of the Mediterranean. When I wear one of their creations, I feel like I’m carrying a piece of Italy with me.”
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