Dolce & Gabbana

The classiest from Italy, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have come a long way in their nine years.

From Milan, the Dolce & Gabbana Women's Ready to Wear, Spring/Summer 1996 Collection.

From Milan, the D&G Women's Ready to Wear, Spring/Summer 1996 Collection.

Left over from the Fall 95 season, the Dolce & Gabbana Women's Collection.

Left over from the Fall season, the Dolce & Gabbana Men's collection.

A bottle of the perfume for her.

Here's an interview I found...

DOLCE & GABBANA'S SWEET SUCCESS

In the nine years since setting up Dolce & Gabbana, this remarkable duo have graduated from sewing their own clothes in a small atelier on the outskirts of Milan to a multi-million-dollar empire with shops and licence deals the world over. The Dolce & Gabbana style confidently mixes the masculine and feminine, radically re-interpreting traditional images of female sexuality. Popularized by their most notorious exponent, Madonna, Dolce & Gabbana's extravagant bras, corsets and suspenders, are cheekily worn outside tight masculine suits. But their collections extend well beyond this image. In men's as well as women's fashions, from beachwear to gowns, Dolce & Gabbana describe their approach as essentially 'baroque', in other words, without the rules or boundaries that restrict the creativity of their competitors.

PROFILES

Domenico Dolce, now thirty five, is the son of a Sicilian tailor. He remembers working in his father's workshop at the tender age of six: "I was obliged by my parents to work in the atelier, where I started drawing and sewing and I loved it. I was making miniature clothes as samples." Surprisingly for Italy, and especially Sicily, it was not assumed that Domenico would enter the family business. He began studying science at university but soon grew bored with the dryness of the subject and dropped out to attend art school instead. On graduating from there, it wasn't long before he left his native city to search for fame and fortune in Milan. Stefano Gabbana, thirty-one-years old, admits a similar early interest in the fashion world, but never imagined he would become personally involved in it: "Since I was a child I really liked fashion. When I was thirteen I was going to Fiorucci to buy the most trendy things; but I didn't think the pleasure of dressing myself would become my job." Although he studied graphic design at a fashion college in Monza, he left before graduating to become an advertising art director. His interest in fashion never diminished though, and soon he found himself working for the same Milan-based fashion designer as Domenico.

INSPIRATION

Dolce & Gabbana soon found they shared a lot of the same idols and influences. Although Stefano comes from Northern Italy, they both claim their principal influence is the Mediterranean. Stefano's admiration stems from watching old Italian movies with Southern Italian actresses like Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, whose voluptuous bodies are constrained by tight suits, stockings and suspenders. Adoration and glorification of the female physique is the departure point for all of Dolce & Gabbana's female collections - they have been quoted as saying that breasts are the point of departure for all their designs! Domenico's experience of the Mediterranean is first hand. He remembers the tight Sunday-best suits when he went to church, not to mention his own mother, who unconventionally used to dress in men's pinstripes. Even ideas for Dolce & Gabbana's menswear are essentially Italian in origin. They confess to being influenced by the films of the fifties by directors like Roberto Rossellini and Luchino Visconti. They also claim to be inspired by the photos of Enzo Sellerio as well as by Giuseppe Lampedusa's prose.

GETTING IT TOGETHER

The solidarity of their vision encouraged the pair to leave the studio where they were working and set up shop on their own. In 1981, a year after they met, they formed a partnership and began working as consultants to factories and thread companies. For the next five years they remained faithful to their dream of working independently, refusing lucrative offers which would have sacrificed their autonomy. Their determination paid off when, in 1985, Beppe Modenese invited them to show their designs at the New Talents Forum of the Milan Collections. The following spring they presented their first catwalk show. Borrowing money and using girl friends as models, they launched 'Real Woman' - creations which were snapped up by buyers from stores like Harvey Nichols and Browns. By autumn the fashion world was beginning to sit up and take notice with their show 'Transformations' , which featured a fabric panel with Velcro and snaps, that could be converted from a wrap belt, to sleeves, to a full cardigan. In 1987 with their first knitwear collection behind them, they set up their showroom in Via Santa Cecilia. From then on, Dolce & Gabbana were in the big time, staging shows in Tokyo and enlarging their repertoire to include lingerie, beachwear and menswear collections. By 1990, Dolce & Gabbana had become a full-blown international designer label with all the associated trappings. New shops opened in the heart of Milan and New York's fashionable centres. Their designs were given the ultimate seal of approval by fashion-world guru Donatella Girombelli. She offered Dolce & Gabbana the enviable and prestigious role of acting as consultants for her Complice line, a position previously held by Gianni Versace and Claude Montana. There was no doubt by this stage that they had reached the upper echelons of the international fashion scene. Domenico and Stefano have handled their rapid rise well. Whilst retaining the exclusivity and kudos of designer fashion, they have also enjoyed commercial success. In 1990 the company turned over $66 million, doubling that of the previous year. This phenomenal growth is continuing with the introduction of accessories, a ready-to-wear bridal collection, world-wide licencing deals, and the award-winning 'Dolce & Gabbana Parfum'. The possibilities seem endless. With two new lines, 'Dolce & Gabbana Basic' and 'D & G Dolce & Gabbana', already presented this year, who knows what they will come up with next? Rumours abound that a leap into the cosmetics and furnishings markets is imminent. No wonder they now employ over two hundred people to help them keep up with it all!

LA 'DOLCEGABBANATA'

Given the enormity of the operation now - a far cry from the early days when they sewed all their own outfits - it is surprising to hear how the whole business is still very much a two-man show. Both claim they would not continue on their own: "If I had to stop working with Domenico, I probably wouldn't be in the fashion business anymore," claims Stefano. Domenico holds a similar take-it-or-leave-it attitude to the designer fashion industry: "I wish I could go back, to be in a room with a shelf full of fabrics, a mannequin, a sewing machine, and two women - I would be very happy... We don't know what it would be like to work alone." In fact, unlike other duo designer partnerships, where one concentrates on designing, the other on the business aspects, Dolce & Gabbana actually create together. They even have a special word for this unique phenomenon: 'la dolcegabbanata'. Stefano explains that they start out having different ideas and then " ... sometimes a third idea comes out of the two and this is a real Dolce & Gabbana thing - 'la dolcegabbanata'." We get the most out of the two of us."

MATERIAL GIRL

Dolce & Gabbana's special relationship with their modern-day female icon, Madonna is well known. They describe her as their "friend, admirer and inspiration". Before they even knew her, they always used to go to her concerts in Italy and dream that some day they might meet her. They were naturally overjoyed when they saw a picture of her in the newspaper wearing one of their outfits. Her secretary rang them up to enquire about a body suit that Madonna had seen in a magazine and she was soon asking to see other designs. It was a dream come true for Domenico and Stefano when they got to meet their heroine: "She arrived in this restaurant in New York all dressed up as a young man. She was affable, seductive and there was a feeling straight away, a positive feeling." Madonna herself has noted an instant rapport with Dolce & Gabbana: "Their clothes are sexy with a sense of humour - like me." Madonna's admiration for Domenico and Stefano led her to commission them to design her costumes (as well as those for all her dancers and musicians) for her 'Girlie Show' tour. In the short space of two months one thousand five hundred pieces were made, many of them by hand. It seems remarkable to the rest of us mortals that they don't even appear bothered about getting paid for the work: "She didn't ask how much and we didn't mention it." Whilst Madonna may be the 'Material Girl', Dolce & Gabbana are certainly not materialistic. Either that or they already have far more money than they know what to do with.

NON-CONFORMIST

Although they have no doubt benefited from their association with the most successful female pop star of all time, they generally shy away from contact with celebrities. True, they may have used Linda Evangelista for their famous photo campaign shot in Sicily some years ago, but nowadays they prefer anonymity. Stefano explains: "We want all young girls, not the same old faces everybody uses." Similarly, they have encouraged photographers who bring new interpretations to fashion photography, such as Ferdinando Scianna, Gianpaolo Barbieri and Steven Meisel. Even the background music to their catwalk shows underlines their individualism. Where most designers use rock music as accompaniment, Dolce & Gabbana presentations are always hallmarked by the rousing operatic tones of 'Cavalleria Rusticana' by Mascagni. Let's hope that Stefano and Domenico continue to surprise us with their inimitable mix of street fashion and quality, providing a welcome antidote for Milan, the most innovative of fashion capitals.

by Jane Garrett

Return to Derick's Home Page