Dolce & Gabbana Brand History

 

Domenico Dolce was born on September 13, 1958, in Polizzi Generosa (near Palermo, Sicily). Domenico grew up working in his family's small clothing business. Stefano Gabbana was born on November 14, 1962, in Milan. He studied graphics but soon became interested in fashion. After a brief stint as assistant designers, they launched the Dolce & Gabbana label in 1985, as part of the New Talent group in Milan, at the invitation of Italian fashion promoter Beppe Modenese.

Dolce and Gabbana's First Collection

They released their first collection, "Real Women," in 1986. They debuted their knitwear line in 1987, followed by their beachwear and lingerie lines in 1989. They began producing their ready-to-wear line in Domenico Dolce's family-owned atelier in Legnano, Milan, in 1988. Dolce & Gabbana's first men's collection debuted in 1990. In 1994, they launched the D&G label, which was inspired by street style and a more youthful appearance. Ittierre manufactured and distributed the clothing.

Fragrance Line

Dolce & Gabbana Perfume, By Dolce & Gabbana, and Dolce & Gabbana Men are among the fragrances released by the company. One of their perfume advertisements was directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, an Italian film director with whom Dolce and Gabbana developed a close relationship, going on to act in his 1996 film The Star Maker. They released eyewear under the Dolce & Gabbana and D&G labels, as well as music CDs.

Business Expansion

For their tenth anniversary in 1996, Dolce & Gabbana released Ten Years of Dolce & Gabbana, which included their most important advertising images and texts. D&G Junior, their children's collection, debuted in 1999 at the Pitti Bimbo children's fashion show in Florence.

Their newest store, covering three floors, opened in 2003 in Milan's Corso Venezia, in the former home of Brigatti, perhaps Milan's best-known luxury sportswear store. The store is built in the round around a central piazza and features a bar, a traditional barbershop, and an ultramodern spa. The individual stores are illuminated by Venini glass lamps designed by Domenico Dolce.

In a 1995 interview, Dolce and Gabbana described their first professional foray into fashion as eliciting "one of the strongest emotions we have ever experienced" during the Milan collections. The show marked the birth of the Dolce & Gabbana label, which would go on to play a pivotal role in the history of Italian ready-to-wear. Full-length stretch jersey garments, silk jackets, and oversize shirts could be worn with casual sandals, according to the designers. The collection, which was characterized by fluidity and difference, quickly found an enthusiastic audience.

The Dolce and Gabbana Style

Dolce and Gabbana are regarded as the creators of a Mediterranean style that draws inspiration from the Sicily of Luchino Visconti's 1963 film The Leopard and the sensual and austere women of Italian realism like Anna Magnani, to whom they dedicated a collection centered on the 1940s slip. The designers were also inspired by Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, and Stefania Sandrelli at the start of their careers. The Dolce & Gabbana woman is unbiased and bold, but she is also fearful of God and devoted to church and family, which is typical of southern Italian Catholicism. A woman who wears brassieres and corsets, lace, lingerie, and veils while simultaneously revealing and concealing them, and who is disturbing in her impetuous sensuality—a provocative woman proud of her body. Models for the designers are soft, round, and full-figured. "Dark girls with dark eyes evoke southern women—carnal, provocative, yet austere and proud all at once" (Sozzani, p. 5). Dolce & Gabbana's first collection included tulle and angora, twin sets in jersey lace, and soft, wide, extravagant skirts at a time when fashion saw women as executives in two-piece suits with padded shoulders. Crocheted lace, wool, and silk were among their favorite materials.

They weren't looking for a retro look, but Dolce & Gabbana found inspiration in the past. "We want to use the past to project it into the future," the designers said (Sozzani, p. 11). Making it modern required the use of creative fabrics and colors, as well as the ability to blend various sources of inspiration, primarily those whose origins could be traced back to the diverse world of the Mediterranean.

Italian culture is reinforced by their meticulous attention to their image, and their publicity campaigns have always been handled by the world's best photographers. Every shot is meticulously planned as if it were a film set. Their first campaign was shot by a friend, the Sicilian photographer Ferdinando Scianna, who, like Dolce and Gabbana, was just starting out in the fashion industry. Other photographers who have worked with the label besides Scianna include Fabrizio Ferri, Steven Meisel—famous for his photographs of Italian film star Monica Bellucci and supermodel Linda Evangelista—Peter Lindbergh, and Helmut Newton.

Nicoletta Gasperini of Donna, the Italian fashion weekly that gave them their first cover—model Marpessa photographed by Giovanni Gastel—helped define their image. "We express our feelings to them, and they respond with a mediated image of culture."

Their friendship with Madonna was a watershed moment in their international success. The pop star ordered a guêpière (corset) made of gemstones and a jacket from their New York showroom to wear at the Cannes Film Festival to promote her film Truth or Dare: In Bed with Madonna by Alek Keshishian. Madonna's appearance at the 1992 D&G party and runway show made their friendship public. Soon after, the singer commissioned them to create the costumes for her 1993 "Girlie Show" tour.

Dolce & Gabbana's Mediterranean style is a template for an imaginary world from which they draw inspiration. Every season, the collection changes, ranging from baroque to plastic, aristocratic to working class, brazen to bourgeois, animal prints to a cardinal's cloak. Dolce & Gabbana, for example, introduced a "Sapphic chic" masculine style for women in 1994 after producing corsets, girdles, T-shirts, and styles emphasizing breasts and revealing cleavage, which was exemplified by one of their earliest fans, Isabella Rossellini. In 2003, they drew inspiration from current soccer stars for their Milan men's show. According to Suzy Menkes, an International Herald Tribune journalist, the two designers are the darlings of the Italian and international press because of their ability to mix periods and countries, masculine and feminine looks, fabrics and styles.

Dolce & Gabbana is one of the best examples of the mid-to-late 1980s explosion in Italian ready-to-wear. Creativity and versatility, the integration of the press and the star system, a diverse range of products and clothing lines, and careful distribution planning are all elements that contribute to the realization of an integrated communication system.