Don Alberto Rocca, Dolce’s priest and a regular guest at the brand’s Alta Moda festivities, said no. “You are on the razor, as we say in Italian, but what I like is that it’s not mocking, it’s about the spirit. More often than not, you see people using religious symbols in order to deprive them of their symbolism, but that’s not the case with D&G, otherwise I would not be here.”

After the show, Dolce laughed, “I want to be Pope very soon.” In fact, the opening look was an elaborately embellished cape depicting a conclave held in 1903, but it’s not the collection’s religiosity that the clients are interested in; it’s the exacting work with the exquisite, otherworldly results. A fireworks display over the Tiber certainly doesn’t hurt, either.