Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda tribute to Sophia Loren in Naples, her home city

The cacophonous chants echo down the ancient cobblestoned street.

“SO-PHI-AAAA! SO-PHI-AAAA! Te amo! Be-lli-ssi-ma!” shout Neapolitans from cordoned off boutiques and balconies on Via San Gregorio Armeno, passionately throwing their arms out at the figure enveloped by a mob of photographers, cameramen and fans, slowly making her way towards a gold and red velvet throne.

The ancient street in Naples is closed off for an event for some of the world’s richest and most eccentric couture clients, and a few lucky locals who live or work there. With guests from around the world – Russian oligarchs and their wives, Middle Eastern and Chinese uber-rich (who came with families and personal photographers) – all decked out in outfits worthy of royalty and red carpets, the surreal scene could be taken straight from a film.

As the 81-year-old Oscar winner, Sophia Loren enters the street flanked by stressed security and Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, the fans go wild. Having grown up in a town close to the city, it was Loren who chose Naples as the city of focus for this season’s show of Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda collection.

“We came to Napoli because of Sophia Loren. She’s the inspiration for this whole collection,” says Dolce. “Each summer, it’s a different city we take inspiration from. They asked her what city. She wanted Napoli.”

Some of Loren’s early roles involved the city – small parts in Italian Cinecitta productions like L’Oro di Napoli. The city’s rough and ready reputation hardly makes it an obvious choice for a couture show, nor a natural host for the world’s richest fashion clientele, but the designers delved into the history and culture of the place and discovered a rich, complex texture to Italy’s messy, passionate and most densely populated city.