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| Mr. Domenico Dolce and Mr. Stefano Gabbana |
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| Mr. Domenico Dolce and Mr. Stefano Gabbana |
We are in love," Stefano Gabbana said. "It's a different kind of love, but we love each other. It's a difficult word to explain, but there's no real difference in the way we work together. We have a better level of understanding and tolerance maybe since separating romantically. People are jealous of what we have: still being in love and being able to make something interesting - we are strong and that's disturbing to some people. Domenico is like my family - even though we're not a couple any more. I have a brother, a mother, and Domenico... it has been a 20-year love affair."
They also revealed that their notion of love extended to their respective families, who very much tally with the image of a typical Italian "famiglia".
"I come from a small village in Sicily," Domenico Dolce said. "For all Italian people, family is very important. We don't fight with our families."
"It's impossible; he's Sicilian!" Gabbana laughed. "And people who have worked with us for 25 years - the team we have; that's a family too."
"If they stay for six months, they have to stay forever," Dolce added.
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| Stefano Gabbana with Vogue fashion director Lucinda Chamber |
They revealed that the strategy of ending the D&G line, which showed its last collection for spring/summer 2012 in September 2011, was met with trepidation from some quarters.
"When we decided to do it, the people [stockists] called us, going crazy - but we need to do it," Gabbana said. "Chanel has one label; Gucci; Vuitton - why do we need D&G? The people call Dolce & Gabbana 'D&G' - it is the symbol for Dolce & Gabbana, there's no need for us to have two labels."
They also revealed their thoughts on the underage model debate.
"People say: 'Models are so young, they're so skinny,'" Dolce said. "But Mr Balenciaga used models at 16 and that will never change. People say they are skinny, but there is a difference between skinny and sick. If someone is sick, they're sick. It's not because of fashion. If I have flu, I have flu; it's not because I work in fashion."
They also revealed all about their first celebrity encounter - the first star who ever wore one of their dresses: Madonna.
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| Madonna in Dolce & Gabbana for Truth Or Dare Fragrance launch |
"We went to see her on the Blond Ambition tour, we were big fans," Gabbana said. "We were watching the show - she was wearing Jean Paul Gaultier then - and I said to Domenico: 'Imagine if one day she wore Dolce & Gabbana.' Then we picked up the paper and there she was, in one of our dresses."
And they still dress her to this day: "She's beautiful, she's mature, she's a mother - like Isabella Rossellini or Monica Bellucci. She's a real woman."
And will their red carpet presence ever make way for a couture offering, as fellow Italian label Versace has done?
"Now the D&G label and Dolce & Gabbana are one, we can have pieces from an opening price to a high price," Gabbana explained. "We have a new fine jewelry collection; one for men - and we also want to make something more special in the future, so couture? It's possible."
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