Classic performance

Dolce & Gabbana stages the Alta Moda show at opera house La Scala. Photos provided to China Daily

Dolce & Gabbana's latest fashion show at one of the world's top opera houses was dramatic. Chen Jie reports in Milan on all that jazz.

La Scala is a prestigious name in the world of opera, but on Sunday the opera house turned into a fashion venue for gorgeous women and men from around the world, and had splendid clothing, the clapping of hands and opera arias all in abundance.

It was Italian label Dolce & Gabbana's Alta Moda (haute couture) show. Some 200 guests, mostly clients and members of the media from the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Mexico and other countries sat on gilded chairs on the stage recreating a scene from the opera Rigoletto, with a full view of the auditorium and the boxes.

A total of 88 models including Ju Xiaowen from China, walked from the back of the auditorium straight onto the stage and around the audience to music from the operas Turandot, Tosca and Madame Butterfly, among others.

On show were models wearing body-hugging black sheaths, tailored skirts with golden buttons on cuffs and gored fishtail hemlines, a deep green, swatch-neck silk velvet dress like Scarlet wore in Gone With the Wind and the gilded lace pagoda-shoulder Madame Butterfly dress.

There was a thrilling sense of high drama as models dressed as opera characters Tosca, Turandot, Minnie and Cio-cio-cio San walked the ramp. Another model dressed as a late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) princess received a lot of attention.

After the audience was led offstage, the curtain closed and then the set changed: more than 20 tables set for a celebration lunch emerged like a raised platform.