Dolce & Gabbana

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana met in Milan in 1980 working in the same fashion house. In 1982, they established a designer consulting studio, which became “Dolce & Gabbana”. They opened up their store a year after they presented their first women’s collection in 1985. In 1987 they launched their leotard line and in 1989 they began designing underclothing and swimming outfits.

D&G began to distribute their commodities to Japan and other countries like the U.S. In 1992, they launched their first perfume and presented their men’s collection. They received numerous awards such as the Woolmark award in 1991 and “most feminine flavor of the year” in 1993 along with “best male perfume” in 1996.

Dolce was born on August 13, 1958 in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily. Gabbana was born on November 14 1962 in Milan. Dolce began designing and tailoring his own clothing at age 6.

The duo labeled their first collection Real Women because of the use of amateur local women on the runway. Their third collection in 1992 was written about by Michael Gross stating that they were a “secret known only to a handful of Italian fashion editors.”.

One of their pieces from their fourth collection was labeled “the Sicilian Dress” by the fashion press and was named as one of the 100 most important dresses ever designed by Hal Rubenstein.

The commercial created for the first feminine fragrance of D&G ran for several years in Italy. Filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore created the commercial, and starred actress Monica Bellucci.

D&G’s trademarks include underwear-as-outerwear, gangster boss pinstripe suits, and extravagantly printed coats. Their feminine collections are always backed by powerful ad campaigns.

In 2007, D&G pulled an advert in Spain that showed a man holding a woman to the ground by her wrists while a group of men look on. The campaign was branded as illegal and humiliating to women. The ad was banned and was declared “one of the most controversial advertisements in fashion history.”