“It’s like wearing a cherry pie!” declared the actress and jewelry collector Jennifer Tilly, as she slipped on the one-of-a-kind Dolce & Gabbana Alta Gioielleria gold statement ring festooned with miniature cherries in enamel, diamonds, pink sapphires, and rubies. She was having an impromptu private fitting on Sunday night’s opening event of Alta Moda, the Italian fashion brand’s annual multi-day luxury extravaganza, this year set in the Sicilian coastal town of Taormina. The price of that mini cherry pie: $145,000—before tax. “I’ll have to think about it,” Tilly told the vendeuse. She then rejoined the party in the cloister-like courtyard of the San Domenico Palace, the Four Seasons hotel set in a former 15th-century monastery perched on a cliff above the Ionian Sea—yes, the same hotel that was in Season Two of The White Lotus.
The next morning, the cherry ring was no longer in its vitrine; another Dolce & Gabbana V.I.C., or Very Important Client—the high-net-worth shoppers who, according to Bain, make up 2 percent of luxury’s customer base but account for 45 percent of its sales—had bought it. Tilly was disappointed but not bereft. There were plenty of other Alta Gioielleria pieces to consider, like a necklace with life-size porcelain lemons and bejeweled lemon blossoms. Plus, there was the Alta Moda women’s-couture show on Monday night, and Alta Sartoria, Dolce & Gabbana’s made-to-measure men’s-wea showr, on Tuesday night. (Women often buy Alta Sartoria, since its beaded tuxedos, hand-painted silk robes, and embellished tunics can easily be adapted to the female form.)
