Dolce & Gabbana also known by initials D&G, is an Italian founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, cosmetics, and fragrances and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear

History

Early history

Dolce&Gabbana founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana met each other in 1982 while working for Giorgio Corregiari, an Italian fashion brand. Domenico Dolce was born on 13 August 1958, in Polizzi Generosa, while Stefano Gabbanawas born on 14 November 1962, in Milan. Dolce began designing and making his clothes at the age of six. In 1983, the two established their own design consulting studio, which they named "Dolce & Gabbana". Their first women's collection debuted in 1985 at the New Talents section of Milan Fashion Week, and the following year, they opened their first store in Milan. The first meeting between the two happened over the phone when Dolce called the fashion company where Gabbana was working, looking for a job. After being hired by the company, Gabbana took Dolce under his wing and taught him the workings of a fashion company and how to sketch new designs. Shortly after Dolce's hiring, Gabbana was drafted for 18 months of civil service at an institution for the mentally ill, but after his return, the two created a design consulting business.

The company's 1986 Spring and Summer (SS) collection, titled Geometrissimowas presented alongside other fashion labels. Dolce & Gabbana did not have enough money to hire models or provide them with accessories, so they sought help from their friends. Their friends served as models and wore their personal items to accessorize the clothing. A bed sheet from Dolce's home was used as their stage curtain.

In March 1986, Dolce & Gabbana released their first self-produced collection, Donne Vere/Real Women, for the Fall and Winter (FW) 1986/87 season. The name of the collection was influenced by the local women who served as models on the runway. However, sales were initially disappointing, and Gabbana canceled the fabric order for their second collection. Dolce's family later offered to help with costs during a visit to Sicily over Christmas. Incidentally, the fabric company did not receive the cancellation notice in time, and the fabric was ready for them when they returned to Milan. In September 1986, Dolce&Gabbana presented the SS 1987 Women's fashion show entitled Trasformismo.Despite working together, they always invoiced separately until an accountant advised them to invoice jointly to simplify things and make the business more cost-effective. The two began invoicing clients under the name Dolce and Gabbana, which became the name of their developing design business. They produced their next collection in 1986 and opened their first store the same year.

The fashion house continued to gain recognition, and in 1987, Dolce & Gabbana presented the Women's SS 1988 fashion show, entitled Il Gattopardo/The Leopard line. The following year, they began designing underwear and swimwear, and by 1990, the company was exporting their products to Japan and the United States. In the same year, they launched their first perfume, Dolce&Gabbana Pour Homme and Dolce&Gabbana Pour Femme, produced and distributed by Euroitalia.

In 1990 the company opened its first women's boutique in Via Sant'Andrea, Milan. Michael Gross wrote of their third collection in a 1992 interview, "They were a secret known only to a handful of Italian fashion editors. Their few models changed behind a rickety screen. They called their collection of T-shirt-cotton and elastic-silk pieces, Transformation." The clothing in this collection came with instructions on the seven different ways a piece could be worn in an outfit, as the wearer could use Velcro and snaps to alter the clothing's form.

Dolce & Gabbana's fourth collection, influenced by Dolce's Sicilian roots, made an impact on the Italian fashion market. In this collection, Dolce drew on his Sicilian roots. The collection's advertising campaign was shot in Sicily by photographer Ferdinando Scianna and featured Dutch model Marpessa Hennink in black and white pictures reminiscent of Italian cinema from the 1940s. The brand's use of Italian cinema as a theme continued in their fifth collection, which drew upon the work of filmmaker Luchino Visconti and his film The Leopard.

One of the dresses from their fourth collection, called The Sicilian Dress, became iconic for the brand and was named one of the 100 most important dresses ever designed by author Hal Rubenstein. The dress is considered to be the epitome of Dolce & Gabbana's style, with a slip-like silhouette that emphasizes the figure and flares out at the knees to create a swaying motion when walking.

Hal Rubenstein described the piece in 2012, writing: "The Sicilian Dress is the essence of Dolce & Gabbana, the sartorial cornerstone of the brand. The dress takes inspiration from a slip, but it is a slip that adorned Anna Magnani, and it is a silhouette that graced Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren, and so on. The straps fit tightly to the body just like those of a bra; the neckline runs straight but is pinned at least twice, once on each side, to caress the two breasts and in the middle to meet an uplifting fold that provides slight support. The slip does not simply fall down but rises at the waist to hold the figure firmly but not too tightly, and then flares out to emphasize the hips, falling slightly tapered at the knees, ensuring the swaying of the hips while walking."

1980s and 1990s

In 1987, Dolce & Gabbana launched their first knitwear collection line, and in 1989, they started an underwear and beachwear collection. In the same year, they launched their first women's fashion show in Tokyo and opened their first store in Japan in partnership with Kashiyama Co.

In April 1990, they held their first fashion show in New York, started exporting their products to the United States, and founded their own showroom. That same year, Dolce&Gabbana presented the first Men's FW 1990/1991 collection.The collection features linear-cut garments, characterized by dark and solid shades, such as black, gray and burgundy. The common thread of the collection is the high-waisted trousers, combined with shirts, wool sweaters and blazers. In 1990 as well, the brand moved the design house into its first official offices. The company also began to design gowns and other more expensive pieces in addition to their original clothing.

Their 1990 Spring/Summer women's collection, featured in the Gli Anni '60 women's fashion show, referenced the mythological painting of Raphael, and the duo began to build a reputation for crystal-encrusted clothing. The 1991 Fall/Winter women's collection was also adorned by trinkets, including filigree medals and embellished corsets. The 1992 Fall/Winter women's collection was then inspired by the silver screen of the 1950s, though the collection still included crystal embellished body suits.

In 1991, their men's collection won the Woolmark Award for the most innovative men's collection of the year. Madonna wore a corset made of gemstones and an accompanying jacket from Dolce & Gabbana at the 1991 New York City premiere of Truth or Dare: In Bed with Madonna, which is considered their first foray into international recognition. The duo partnered with Madonna in 1993 to design over 1500 costumes for the artist's Girlie Show international tour in support of her 1992 album Erotica. In 1994, the house's trademark double-breasted jacket was named "La Turlington" after model Christy Turlington. That same year the company launched the D&G brand, a line produced and distributed by Ittierre, aimed at younger individuals.

In 1993, Dolce & Gabbana Pour Femme was awarded the Perfume Academy's 1993 award for best feminine fragrance of the year; Dolce & Gabbana pour Homme, was the recipient of the best masculine fragrance of the year award from the same academy in 1995.

They won an "Oscar des Parfums" for best male perfume in 1996 from the French Parfum Academy, the first time ever that the title has been awarded to an Italian brand. Towards the end of the 1990s their sales were around $500 million and in 2003 alone, their revenue reached $633.2 million.

In 1990, they launched their first men's collection. That year, they also moved the design house into its first official offices and began to design gowns and other more expensive pieces in addition to their original clothing. Their 1990 Spring/Summer women's collection referenced the mythological painting of Raphael, and the duo began to build a reputation for crystal-encrusted clothing. The 1991 Fall/Winter women's collection was also adorned by trinkets, including filigree medals and embellished corsets. The 1992 Fall/Winter women's collection was then inspired by the silver screen of the 1950s, though the collection still included crystal embellished body suits.

In 1995, the brand presented the SS 1996 Women's fashion show, Le Eolie, featuring garments with leopard and zebra prints. That same year Dolce & Gabbana's collections caused a controversy with the British and Italian press, when they selected the American gangster motif as inspiration for their work. The brand transposed this Fall/Winter 1995 inspiration onto women's wear, which critics stated brought an erotic edge to the clothing. The duo had used the motif before in 1992 when photographer Steven Meisel shot an ad campaign for the house in which the models posed in "gangster chic". This included wide-lapelled 1930s style coats and black leather caps.

In 1996 the D&G runway show was streamed on the Internet instead of being held on a physical runway, in an experimental move towards new media. That year Dolce & Gabbana also designed the costumes for the film Romeo + Juliet.

2000s

Dolce&Gabbana worked with various musical artists in the 2000s, designing costumes for Madonna's Drowned World Tour in 2001, Missy Elliott, Beyoncé, and Mary J. Blige's international tours and Whitney Houston's My Love Is Your Love tour. Additionally, they designed costumes for Kylie Minogue's Showgirl Homecoming tour and featured Madonna in their 2010 advertising campaigns.

During this time, Dolce & Gabbana drew inspiration from the sport of football, and their designs continued to influence trends in both fashion and music. In 2002, their early corset designs were revived by many European designers as a trend. The brand also began holding private viewings of their new collections for buyers to pre-empt the copying of their designs by fast fashion companies.

In 2006, the company started a new journey in accessories and leather goods for men and women. In the same year, the brand launched a controversial ad campaign featuring two men kissing, which received criticism from some conservatives. However, the Advertising Standards Authority of Italy did not find the ad unacceptable for broadcast solely based on the depiction of two men kissing.

In February 2009, the Dolce&Gabbana makeup line was launched. Dolce & Gabbana created their first makeup in collaboration with make-up artist Pat McGrath. Scarlett Johansson appeared as the face of the advertising campaign for this new venture.

2010s

In 2011, Dolce&Gabbana merged with D&G, with the aim of strengthening the main line. The final independent D&G collection was the Spring/Summer 2012 collection shown in September 2011. The New Yorker publication in 2005 stated that, "Dolce and Gabbana are becoming to the two-thousands what Prada was to the nineteen-nineties and Armani was to the nineteen-eighties—designers whose sensibility defines the decade."

In terms of personal awards, FHM named Dolce & Gabbana as the designers of the year in 1996 and 1997. In 2003, GQ Magazine awarded Dolce & Gabbana the title of "Men of the Year". The following year, British Elle readers voted Dolce & Gabbana as the best international designers at the 2004 Elle Style Awards.

On 19 June 2010, Dolce&Gabbana celebrated the 20th anniversary of their brand at the Piazza della Scala and Palazzo Marinoin Milan. The following day, a public exhibition was held which included a room with several dozen televisions piled haphazardly upon each other, each displaying a different collection from the design house's twenty-year history.

In 2019, Dolce & Gabbana extended its size range up to UK 22, making them one of the first luxury fashion houses to move towards body positivity and inclusivity for women. While most luxury fashion houses cater to women of sizes up to UK 16, Dolce & Gabbana took the initiative to extend their size range for greater inclusivity.

2020s

In September 2021, Dolce&Gabbana collaborated with UNXD to issue Collezione Genesi NFT, its first non-fungible token (NFT) collection. The collection consisted of nine pieces, including five physical and four digital creations, such as "Glass Suit" and "Impossible Tiara", and was sold for 1,885.719 Ether (equivalent to nearly $5.7 million). This collaboration with UNXD was a significant move towards the incorporation of blockchain technology into the fashion industry, and was widely reported by publications such as Vogue and The New York Times as being one of the first NFT collections created by a major fashion house.

Dolce&Gabbana collaborated with the British-American designer Harris Reed to present Somali model Iman Abdulmajid at the 2021 Met Gala fashion event in New York City. Harris Reed stated that fashion has a responsibility to spark conversation around social injustices. Iman, who faced institutional racism as a model, and founded a cosmetics line for women of color in 1994, was seen as an ideal collaborator to create a statement on the red carpet.

In 2022, Dolce&Gabbana teamed up with American celebrity Kim Kardashian to produce the Ciao Kim collection. The collection predominantly showcased black, white, and silver clothing with embellishments such as lace, crystals, and leopard prints. Later, in February 2023, Kim Kardashian was introduced as the face of D&G's Spring/Summer 2023 collection in campaign photos shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.

Dolce&Gabbana has a history of co-branding with various Italian companies such as Baci Perugina, Fiasconaro, Murano glass company, Barovier & Toso, Mian, I Dogi, Venini, Barbini, Salviati, and Tessiture Bevilacqua, among others. These collaborations have been an integral part of the brand's marketing strategy for many years.

In 2023, Dolce&Gabbana won the Craft and Artisanship Award at the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards.

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