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Dolce and Gabbana

In October of 1985 the infamous pair of Dominco Dolce and Stefano Gabbana introduced their line, Dolce & Gabbana, at the Milano Collezioni New Talents runway show. The show was praised internationally and attracted buyers from high end stores like Harvey Nichols and Browns. A year later the men held their first self-produced collection with a fashion show titled ‘Real Women’. Their Southern Italy inspired, sexy and glamorous designs were an instant hit that in 1989 the duo expanded their line to include lingerie and beachwear collections.

Throughout the 1990s Dolce and Gabbana continued expansions to their label starting with the introduction of their first men’s collection. The next few years saw the launch of numerous new lines for scarves, men’s ties, bridal, men’s underwear and women’s fragrances. Most lines are still wildly popular and in production today. In 1993 Dolce and Gabbana branched out and designed costumes for Madonna’s world tour “The Girlie Show”. The men have since designed costumes for other Madonna tours along with tours for Kylie Minogue and Whitney Houston. The next year Dolce and Gabbana opened their first flagship store in Milan, Italy and introduced a new contemporary and youthful label, D&G. Also in 1994, the partners launched a men’s fragrance line and a now defunct Dolce & Gabbana Home Collection. In 1995 the duo unveiled a mens and womens eyewear and sunglasses line under the label Dolce & Gabbana and held their first ever runway show in New York. Their D&G label also continued to expand throughout the rest of the decade to include a fragrance line, eyewear and a sunglasses collection.

In 2000 Dolce and Gabbana launched their official website and two new D&G lines for both men and women: time and underwear. The next year, the men launched a third label, D&G Junior, a children’s line of clothes and shoes for both boys and girls. In an effort to branch out, the men partnered with Citroen, a French company in 2004 to create two limited edition cars C3s and convertible C3 Pluriel. Two years later they partnered with Motorola Inc. to design a new Motor AZR V3i; a limited edition cell phone. Also in 2006, the duo revealed Animalier, a new line of leopard printed accessories. A couple years later Dolce and Gabbana launched a calendar and struck up another partnership, this time to design uniforms for the Milanese Beach Soccer team. By 2009 the pair launched an online boutique and a debuted Dolce & Gabbana ‘The Make-up’, a color cosmetics collection.

Thanks to their low cut corset style dresses, leopard prints and fur embellishments Dolce and Gabbana has gained quite a following which include but are not limited to rock stars and celebrity fashionistas Demi Moore, Victoria Beckham, Isabella Rossellini, Monica Bellucci and Beyoncé.

Life Facts:
Dolce and Gabbana currently operate stores in over 30 countries around the world. In 2001 they sponsored a charity fashion show to benefit Children’s Action Network. In 2006 they were presented with the lead award for “Best Advertising Campaign of the Year” and opened a restaurant in Milan, Italy called Dolce & Gabbana GOLD.
The duo have published eight books: “Ten Years of Dolce & Gabbana” (1996) “Dolce & Gabbana Wildness” (1997), “Hollywood” (2003), “Calico” (2004), “Milan Dolce & Gabbana” (2006), “Fashion Album” (2006), “Dolce & Gabbana Milan Family” (2007) and “Milano Beach Soccer” (2008) and launched two single CD’s entitled “D&G Music” (1996) and “D&G More, More, More” (1997).

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