Fourteen years after launching their high-fashion pilgrimage in Taormina, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana returned to the Sicilian town where Alta Moda began, staging five days of Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria, and Alta Gioielleria presentations across some of Sicily’s most extraordinary settings, including the Ancient Theatre, Isola Bella, and the Radicepura Horticultural Park beneath Mount Etna.
The return was deliberate, and the choice of the botanical park at Radicepura as the Alta Moda runway gave the house a setting that matched the collection’s governing idea precisely.
The Collection
The Alta Moda 2026 presentation at Radicepura transformed the fertile slopes beneath Etna into a backdrop for wearable art, with the essence of Sicily’s vibrant blooms translated into structured silhouettes through masterful handcraft, floral embroidery, sculptural corsets, trademark house lace, and ornamental jewellery parading through an ornate floral forest set.
Among the most striking presentations was a living bouquet moment, employing an intricate micro-draped inlay technique; décolleté dresses were transformed into structured flora, pieces that sat closer to botanical sculpture than conventional couture, in the particular way that only Dolce & Gabbana can make feel credible rather than theatrical.
The Front Row
Jennifer Lopez and Monica Bellucci were among those in the front row, a guest list that reflected the exclusive, invitation-only world Alta Moda has built across fourteen years of grand tour presentations.
Approximately 500 international guests and over fifty journalists attended across the five days, with gala evenings set against Sicily’s ancient architecture giving the week the atmosphere of a cultural event rather than a commercial fashion presentation. For a house whose entire identity is rooted in this island, returning to Taormina was never simply a location decision. It was a statement about what Dolce & Gabbana is and where it will always come back to.
