Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XXI

6 6 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I The past: We would like our audience to get to know you a little, and to understand how the Dolce & Gabbana empire began. So please tell us a little more about yourselves personally. Where are you both from? DD: I was born in a small town in Sicily, Pol zi Generosa. My father had a little ‘sartoria’ and I spent many afternoons there watching him choosing fabrics, making beautiful clothes, talking with clients. Inmy memory, I cannot divide the love for my family from the art of tailoring and for my land. I moved to Milan in 1978 because I felt the need to experience something different and Milan was already one of the most important fashion capitals in the world. SG: I am fromMilan, in the north of Italy. I studied graphic design and then started working at an advertising agency. It was a creative job but I knew there was something different waiting for me! How did you twomeet and how did the label actually start? SG: The first time we saw each other was when I went to do an interview to work for a Milanese designer and Domenico was his first assistant at that time. He interviewed me because the designer was not in town. I was very honest with him during the interview: I had no experience in fashion, I hadn’t studied fashion – I studied graphic design. But I had an extreme passion for fashion. I don’t knowwhy and how it happened, but at a certain point in Milan, it was in ’79, ’80 or ’81, I don’t remember precisely, when everyone in Milan started to talk about fashion, fashion, fashion… I was lucky, he gave me an opportunity. DD: So we started to work together and after a short time, we set up our own office. It was inside a small apartment inside a building full of lawyers. That’s how we came up with the name Dolce &Gabbana: we put a sign outside the door and it looked like one of the lawyers’ offices! SG: It took us little time to decide to try and do something together from that first meeting. Our first show together was in October 1985 within the New Talents section of the calendar of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. How long did it take before the business became commercially viable and profitable? DD: It was very challenging at the beginning: we had to finance our collections, try and create meaningful and impactful advertisements while being on a budget. Our family support has been fundamental. It is hard to really think of a particular turning point as it has been an organic evolution. In March 1986 we launched our first self- produced collection and fashion show. Then, in the followingyears,weopenedanewshowroom,introducedamen’s collection, opened a showroominNY and showed inTokyo. Thinking back to the original launch collection, we assume that there was an immense level of excitement that any new venture would generate. Does this fade with time or is it as alive as when you first started out? SG: Of course! It might sound weird after all the fashion shows and presentations that we have done, but every time there’s always the same feeling of expectation and the same emotion of the first time… DD: We are very lucky: we love what we do. Our job is our life and we never stop to get excited about projects, collections, new challenges. Partners in any business or relationship can have differences of opinion, but ultimately share the same goals. Does this happen with you both? And if so, how do you overcome these differences? DD: The secret is being different but complementary. Stefano and I have very different approaches when we start working on a collection. I focus on lines and shapes; he wants colours everywhere! We have been working together for more than 20 years and between us there’s that kind of deep tuning that allows us to understand each other even at a glance. SG: He is right. We are not afraid of expressing our ideas and of communicating with each other in order to find a solution – maybe different from what we were expecting – but one that, for sure, is the result of a dialogue that’s been going on forever. Ultimately we always manage to find a way to keep each other happy and our collections represent a balance between our two different creative approaches that merge together. The vision is the same; it is the way to get there that is sometimes different. Domenico is usually the more meticulous one: he focuses on lines, cuts and sewing. My vision definitely has more patterns and colours! What do you consider to be the brand’s DNA? DD: Sicily and all Italian things. Sensuality and tailoring. We are sure every collection is equally as important as its predecessor. But out of all your collections, what is your most memorable and why? SG: We see our collections as a continuous evolution of ideas without forgetting the roots and our DNA. If we look back at our history and our advertisements, there were some turning points that are also part of the collective memory: the women’s suit and Sicilian hat of the Barocco collection in 1989; the Dolce Vita collection in 1992 that was extremely sexy and whose ads featured the two great Italian divas Monica Bellucci and Isabella Rossellini; the early 2000 collection inspired by Madonna and featuring Gisele Bundchen in the advertising.