Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana

File:Dolce and Gabbana logo.png
Company type	Privately held
Industry	Fashion
Founded	1985
Headquarters	Milan, Italy
Key people	Domenico Dolce, Stefano Gabbana
Products	Clothing, footwear, handbags.
Number of employees	3,140
Website	www.dolcegabbana.com

Dolce & Gabbana (ˈdoltʃe ænd gaˈbana) is an Italian fashion house. Its designs are worn by the likes of Madonna, Monica Bellucci, Ayumi Hamasaki, Christina Aguilera, Isabella Rossellini and Kylie Minogue amongst others.

The company was started by the Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana and is based in Milan, Italy. By 2005 their turnover was £597 million (EUR€ 750 million).

History

Dolce was born in 1958, near Palermo, Sicily, whilst Stefano Gabbana (b. 1962) comes from Milan. The pair first met in Milan in 1980, while working as assistants in an atelier. They started business together in 1982, and continued to do freelance designing for others.

In 1985, they made their name together when the organisers of the Milano Collezioni invited them to take part in a fashion show to launch "New Talents". Just one year later in 1986, they presented their first independent women's ready-to-wear show that won international acclaim. The brand soon expanded to knitwear, beachwear, lingerie and accessories, and also introduced menswear and a line of signature fragrances. The first boutique opened in 1989 in Tokyo, Japan. With subsequent openings in Milan and Hong Kong.

In 2005 the duo officially split up, ending their romantic relationship. However their professional relationship has continued, carrying on the business as friends. They have now resumed their romantic relationship in 2008.

In October 2006, the duo opened their first restaurant, Gold on Via Poerio in Milan with an entirely gold coloured 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.

In 2008, the fragrance Light Blue Pour Homme received "Best Men's Fragrance" by the Acedemia del Profumo and the U.S. Fifi award.

Brands

Dolce & Gabbana has two central lines :

Dolce&Gabbana

Dolce&Gabbana (spelled without spaces, unlike the name of the company) specializes on more expensive luxury items, is influenced more by designers and is more formal and 'timeless', responding to long-term trends rather than seasonal changes.

It also sells:

• beachwear
• underwear
• corrective eyewear
• sunglasses
• fragrances
• purses

D&G

D&G is a more casual line that follows an urban inspiration and attempts to set trends rather than follow them.

It also sells:

• beachwear
• underwear
• corrective eyewear
• sunglasses
• fragrances.
• jewelry
• timepieces.
• In 2005-2006, a limited line of 1000 golden D&G Motorola RAZR V3i mobile phones was distributed by D&G boutiques and major Motorola retailers.

D&G Junior

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.

U.S. stores

D&G store in Milan

There are eight freestanding Dolce & Gabbana boutiques in the United States in:

• New York City
• Beverly Hills
• The Galleria in Houston
• Americana Manhasset on Long Island
• Bal Harbour Shops in Miami
• Las Vegas
• The Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, New Jersey.

Dolce & Gabbana also has kiosks in several department stores, including Bergdorf Goodman, Lord and Taylor, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, and plans to expand into the American cities of Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

Controversy

Advertising

Dolce & Gabbana was publicly criticized by Britain's advertising watchdog Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in January 2007, for an advertising campaign showing models brandishing knives.

Following complaints from consumers' groups in February 2007, Dolce & Gabbana pulled an advertisement in Madrid, Spain and Paris, France that showed a man holding a woman to the ground by her wrists while a group of men look on. Spain's Labour and Social Affairs Ministry branded the campaign as illegal and humiliating to women, saying the woman's body position had no relation to the products Dolce & Gabbana were trying to sell. Italian publications followed suit, banning the ad.

Allegations of plagiarism

In 2007, the company blatantly pirated the "Unikko" (Poppy) print from Marimekko, a Finnish fashion and design company, trying to pass it as their own. The Unikko print, designed by Marimekko's designer Maija Isola in 1964, is the brand's most known print. When Marimekko took up the matter, D&G countered by applying to the EU's Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM) for the cancellation of the registration of the Unikko textile pattern of Marimekko in its interior textiles, clothing, and hats.

External links

• Official website
• Dolce & Gabbana Menswear Spring 2009 collection in Milan.
• D&G Menswear Spring 2009 collection in Milan.