Childhood: Domenico Dolce was born in Polizzi Generosa, near Palermo in Sicily on August 13, 1958. He began his work in fashion by helping out in his family's clothing company. Wishing to pursue a career in fashion, he moved north and got a job in a Milanese design studio.
Stefano Gabbana was born in Milan on November 14, 1962. Initially he went to art school to study graphics but soon transferred to fashion.
Stefano Gabbana was born in Milan on November 14, 1962. Initially he went to art school to study graphics but soon transferred to fashion.
Friends & Relationships: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were partners in life as well as in business. Their personal relationship, which commenced soon after their meeting in the early 1980s, was well documented and they spoke freely about their home life as well as their business partnership in interviews.
In February 2005 Dolce and Gabbana broke up as lovers. According to Gabbana, they "had been drifting apart for about five years" prior to the split. However they resumed their romantic relationship in 2008.
In February 2005 Dolce and Gabbana broke up as lovers. According to Gabbana, they "had been drifting apart for about five years" prior to the split. However they resumed their romantic relationship in 2008.
Business:They have successfully channeled the power of the front row, the ad campaign and celebrity friends to their advantage with friends like Naomi Campbell and Kylie Minogue. Dolce & Gabbana's clothes are worn by a whole host of celebrities: Tom Cruise, Brian Ferry, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Isabella Rossellini, Demi Moore, and Nicole Kidman, to name but a few. They are known for donating clothes to and designing for stars they like. To those they do not like, they say "there is a shop." In 1999 they designed stage outfits for Whitney Houston's World Tour, where the costumes ranged from edgy sportswear to dramatic ballgowns.
But by far their favourite celebrity is Madonna. "We love Madonna, so anything she asks we say yes, because we love the person, the style, the music--everything.” They designed the costumes for her Girlie Show in 1993; put her in the now-famous "Kylie Minogue" tribute and "Rocco" T-shirts in 2000, and in 2001 sent her on stage in a re-interpretation of a "rhinestone cowboy. Their admiration for Madonna is fully reciprocated. She is a very big fan of the duo, who are known in America as "the Italian designers"; she acknowledged their place in Italian culture when she stated "Now that Fellini, Rossellini, Pasolini and Visconti are gone, all we have is Dolce & Gabbana's neo-realistic fashion."
Work: Dolce and Gabbana met in 1980 when they were working as assistants in an atelier in Milan. In 1982 the two men left the design company where they were working when they met to pursue separate consulting careers, but they continued to share an office as well as a private life. After eighteen months, they decided to join forces and the Dolce & Gabbana label was born.
Milan's governing fashion organization, the Camera Nazionale, recognized them as up-and-coming talent and invited them to show their first women swear collection, called "real woman," during Milan fashion week.
Their first collection in 1986 won international acclaim, and their first boutique opened in 1989 in Japan. In 1990 they presented their first men's collection and opened their first women's boutique in Milan. That same year, the duo began designing the Complice line for the Genny Group in Milan (Complice had been designed by Versace from 1975 to 1981, and then by Claude Montana until 1987.) Scarves, ties, beachwear, perfume, and accessories were added in 1992.
Their first collection in 1986 won international acclaim, and their first boutique opened in 1989 in Japan. In 1990 they presented their first men's collection and opened their first women's boutique in Milan. That same year, the duo began designing the Complice line for the Genny Group in Milan (Complice had been designed by Versace from 1975 to 1981, and then by Claude Montana until 1987.) Scarves, ties, beachwear, perfume, and accessories were added in 1992.
Once dubbed the "Gilbert and George of Italian fashion", Dolce and Gabbana gave their fashion interests a musical turn in 1996, by recording their own single, in which they intoned the words "D&G is love" over a techno beat.
By1997, their company reported a turnover of £400 million, prompting both designers to announce that they planned to retire by the age of 40 - a promise they happily did not keep.
D&G licenses its brand names (Dolce & Gabbana, D&G, and &) for fragrances, eye-wear, and footwear. It has boutiques around the world, including a handful of company-owned locations. Dolce & Gabbana brought many of its production licenses in-house in 2000 and introduced a children's line in 2001. D&G Junior is a separate line aimed at children under the age of 11. Similar to the D&G adult line, D&G Junior follows seasonal trends for boys and girls across a range of ages. D&G Junior is more visibly influenced by popular culture compared to D&G, such as the Ibiza line of D&G Junior.
Although known for their fondness for black in their designs (inspired by the dress of the peasants and gangsters of Sicily), Dolce & Gabbana also mix together the same seemingly contradictory collection of fabrics and influences that are apparent in their home. Their collections have been hall-marked by a flagrant disregard for restraint or convention.
From the furs and low cut dresses (1990), patchwork and flowered dresses (1992), and leopard-skin pants (1996) to pinstriped suits worn over white (peasant) singlets, Dolce & Gabbana's clothes for women are both sexy and sensual. Unlike many designers they do not design for stick-thin models but rather for "real" women with hips and breasts.
Their clothes for men mix the same key elements of sexiness and traditional detail as do their women swear collections. Just as they put women in "men's clothes," so they mix traditionally masculine elements such as the white singlet (much loved and worn by gay men in the summer of 1995) and pin-striped suits with overtly feminine designs in bright colors.
"It has nothing to do with sexuality or being gay," Dolce told The Guardian Weekend magazine, "It's just that we all have this side . . . . It's today's society that has made men and women so different. It's good to search inside and discover this small part of the other sex which is inside you."
In October 2006, they opened their first restaurant, Gold on Via Poerio in Milan with an entirely gold colored interior. The 202-seat boite, just behind their Metropol show space, sports a first-floor gourmet restaurant, a ground-floor casual bistro and a small food shop that carries items from Gold's traditional Mediterranean menu.
Greatest Achievement: Dolce & Gabbana’s thriving success gained them many prestigious awards.
Some of them include:
1991 The Woolmark Award for the most innovative Men's collection.
1993 The international prize of the Perfume Academy as the best feminine fragrance of the year.
1996 Oscar des Parfums Award - the first time a French Award was given to an Italian fragrance.
1996 & 1997 Designer of the Year award voted by the readers of the British magazine FHM.
2001 T de Telva award for best international designers; assigned by the Spanish magazine Telva.
2003 New York Best Designer of the Year at the prestigious GQ Men of the Year Awards for outstanding achievement in men's fashion design.
2004 Voted as the "Best International Designers" by the readers of British Elle vote for Elle Style Awards.
2004 & 2006 The German 'Leadaward 2004', the most important advertising prize in German speaking countries, for the Fall/Winter 2003/04 advertising campaign & "Swinging London," women's campaign Fall / Winter 2005/06 respectively.
2008, the fragrance Light Blue Pour Homme by Dolce & Gabbana received "Best Men's Fragrance" by the Academia del Profumo and the U.S. Fifi award.
