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Spoiler alert: the archetypal Italian mamma, part Sophia Loren, part fecund Mother Theresa is, in reality, quite thin on the ground. Italy has the lowest birthrate in Europe. The eventual extinction of the Italian race is a matter of considerable hand wringing here.

Dolce & Gabbana to the rescue. If the clothes in this tribute to mothers don't lead to a population spike in nine months, there is no hope for Italian manhood. These clothes make women look the way God surely intended.

This was classic Dolce & Gabbana territory, for which read an update on their beloved 1950s and 1960s tailoring. Waist-lines were subtly raised and darts adjusted to make torsos seem even trimmer and legs longer, no matter what - as model Bianca Balti, six months pregnant, proved.

Balti's baby has yet to make an appearance, but 11 other tots made it onto the catwalk with their mothers, including little Emily with her mother Ashleigh Good; the lushly named Azzurra with Eloise Fontes and Raffaele with Olga Serve. And there wasn't one tantrum, not even from the adults.

The cute factor was off the Richter scale and there may even have been some tears in the front row, especially from Stefano Gabbana's 84-year-old mamma, although that may have been because she was missing the iPad her recently gave her.

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Ashleigh Good with her baby daughter Emily

"It's good to see emotions on the catwalk," said Gabbana. "Domenico and I were talking about this the other day, and we decided in a way, our job is like social reportage. We wanted to pay tribute to the family and show how important it is, now more than ever."

The signature Dolce & Gabbana dainty, tailored jacket with (removable) padding over the hips was present and looked particularly luscious in cream wool. So too did slim and full skirts, and the occasional mini dress (mammas work out these days).

Drawings by the children of Dolce employees were printed on to silk. Lace and wool were embroidered with loving messages, or appliqued with red roses or jewels. Mamma is not a cheap date.

Occasionally - for she is a very traditional kind of mamma - she slipped into a mink cape, lined with lace.

Dolce & Gabbana's financial resources, combined with the designers' wit and the ingenuity of their workrooms enable them to explore every last angle of a theme, down to the transparent heels of their silk tango shoes, which were filled with the contents of mamma's handbag - her lipsticks for instance.

Tiaras, introduced as a tongue- in-cheek accessory a few season ago, have become a cult hit, and now incorporate headphones. Since they belong to mamma, let's hope they're noise cancelling.

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