The sun-soaked olive groves, rocky coastline and stone farmhouses of Apulia have inspired artists for centuries. This year, it has inspired the design duo Dolce & Gabbana, who have dedicated their 2023 Alta Gioielleria (high jewellery) collection to the romantic and rugged terrain.
Revealed in Alberobello, a small village and Unesco World Heritage Site, during a star-studded weekend, A-list guests including Erling Haaland, Dame Helen Mirren and Diana Ross were in attendance. Reality star and SKIMS founder Kim Kardashian also arrived to show her support in a plum, off-the-shoulder gown with a full, heavy train, accessorised with armfuls of diamond jewellery and transparent high heels. Kardashian, who was accompanied by her mother Kris Jenner, sat front row alongside singer Anitta, model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and actress Kerry Washington.
Continuing in the tradition they established with their first high jewellery collection in 2012, which was revealed in Taormina, Dolce & Gabbana new, storied collection reads like a glittering love letter to this ancient part of the world. Though each of the 70 lively pieces is utterly unique, many draw on the duo’s now-familiar and quintessentially Italian motifs such as crucifixes, fruits and flowers, religious iconography and designs borrowed from Renaissance art such as sculptures.
The star attraction of the collection is undoubtedly a pair of parures inspired by the olive trees themselves. Apulia produces between 40-50% of Italy’s olive oil, and yet many of its precious (and unimaginably old) olive groves have been devastated by a bacterial infestation in the last decade, resulting in the loss of millions of trees. Here, the designers have reimagined leafy olive fronds as natural works of art, lovingly recreated by the house’s artisans with twisted gold vines emerald-encrusted leaves and hand-enamelled gold fruits in one precious question mark necklace, or with a gleaming green tourmaline cabochon representing a lusciously plump olive, set amongst emerald leaves for a cocktail ring.
Elsewhere, the region’s bright bougainvillea blossoms have been lovingly recreated as a cascade of pink enamel and hand-blown glass blooms in one elaborate bib necklace, while exquisite micro mosaics have been set within engraved gold frames, a nod to the region’s intricately decorated churches, and a carved coral cherub nestles amidst a wreath of delicate roses and leaves in a pair of sparkling unisex brooches.
Aside from their use of magnificent and colourful gemstones such as tourmalines, aquamarines and sapphires, part of the mesmerising charm of Dolce & Gabbana’s jewels is the minute details to be found in each piece, a true testament to the art of the brand’s craftsmen and their work to preserve ancient skills that are fast disappearing elsewhere. That, and their enduring appreciation of the local Apulian belief that ‘fatto a Mano’ (made by hand) is always the best and most beautiful option. In our techno and AI-obsessed age, that is surely the greatest luxury of all.
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