Rare Vintage: Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda 2014: Italian's Do It With Style

Hamish Bowles, a delightful writer, perfectly captured the Limoncello scented atmosphere of Dolce e Gabbana's most recent alta moda show in Capri. From the small boats bedecked in lemons and sage, to a soundtrack of Pavarotti filling the sea foam frothed air and to the clothes which sounded like a dream of 1950s Italy and the Viscontil film, Il Leopardo... it was more then just La Dolce Vita.

I had the privilege to view the last Dolce e Gabbana alta moda collection in New York back in May and more then just seeing how truly beautiful the clothing and accessories were, it was discovering that Dolce e Gabbana alta moda is just that: Italian haute couture made by Italian designers and crafted by Italian artisans.

We hear much about the petites mains who make the French haute couture but little to none about the piccole mani in Italy. And there was an enormous tradition of fine dress making in Italy. So it is not just buying something beautiful but supporting a heroic but dying society of people who can make insanely beautiful things with their hands... So buy Italian alta moda and support small businesses! : )

There is a word, a very old fashioned word, which sometimes now seems as lost as the men and women who knew how to make a jeweled button or a hand painted silk flower: discretion. Dolce e Gabbana alta moda is about discretion. It is not borrowed and worn on red carpets. It is about the clients, the designers and the craftspeople.

And you won't see it on Style.com either. Here are a few photos from Hamish Bowles and Instagram...