Type	Pr, D.Gelfond
Industry	Fashion
Founded	1985
Headquarters	Milan, Italy
Products	Clothing, footwear, handbags, sunglasses, watches
Employees	3,150
Website	dolcegabbana.it

Dolce & Gabbana (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdoltʃe e ɡabˈbaːna]) is an Italian luxury industry fashion house.^[1] The company was started by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Milan, Italy. By 2005 their turnover was €597 million.^[2] Domenico Dolce was born on 13 September 1958 in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily. Stefano Gabbana was born on 14 November 1962 in Venice, and according to some sources in Milan, Italy (Gabbana, Stephano 2007). The two met in Milano in 1980 and worked for the same fashion house. In 1982 they established a designer consulting studio. In time it grew to become “Dolce & Gabbana”. They presented their first women’s collection in 1985 in Milan, where a year later their store would open its doors in 1986 (Dolce & Gabbana 2011).

Two years later they launched their leotard line and in 1989 started designing underwear and swimming costumes (Domenico). Dolce and Gabbana started to export their products in Japan and other countries like the U.S. where they found their own showroom in 1990 (Gabbana, Stephano 2011). The same year they showed their men’s collections. They launched their first perfume Dolce & Gabbana in 1992 (Dolce & Gabbana 2011). They won the Woolmark award in 1991 and the prize “most feminine flavor of the year” in 1993 (Dolce & Gabbana 2007). They won an Oscar for best male perfume in 1996. Towards the end of the 1990s their sales were around 500 million dollars and in 2003 alone their revenue reached 633.2 million dollars (Gabbana, Stephano 2011).

Brands[link]

Dolce & Gabbana has two central lines:

Dolce&Gabbana[link]

Dolce&Gabbana (spelled without spaces, unlike the name of the company) specializes in luxury items influenced more by designers and is more formal and 'timeless', responding to long-term trends as well as seasonal changes.^[3] It also sells sunglasses and corrective eyewear, purses, and watches. In April 2009 it launched its make-up range, unveiled at Selfridges, London by Scarlett Johansson.^[4] In February 2010, it was announced that American singer Madonna would design a collection of sunglasses titled MDG, set to be released in May of that year. It also has a set of fragrances for men and women.

D & G[link]

D & G is a casual line that follows an urban inspiration and attempts to set trends rather than follow them. It is the younger, more flamboyant diffusion line of the brand. Unlike Dolce&Gabbana, D&G sells watches as well as clothing.

Internet[link]

Dolce & Gabbana made the "DG" logo an iconic symbol,^[5] but they were never able to get the matching internet address DG.com. In fact, DG.com is one of the oldest Internet domains and was already registered in 1986 by the computer company Data General, now defunct. DG.com was purchased in June 2010 ^[6] by the US Variety Store chain Dollar General which uses a different DG logo to sell its products.

Inspirations and style[link]

Originally inspired by eclectic, thrift shop Bohemia, Dolce & Gabbana's deeply colored, animal prints have been described as "haute hippy dom" taking inspiration in particular from Italy's prestigious film history. "When we design it's like a movie (Domenico)," says Domenico Dolce. "We think of a story and we design the clothes to go with it (Domenico)." They claim to be more concerned about creating the best, most flattering clothes than sparking trends, once admitting that they wouldn't mind if their only contribution to fashion history was a black bra (Dolce and Gabbana 2007).

D & G trademarks include underwear-as-outerwear (such as corsets and bra fastenings), gangster boss pinstripe suits, and extravagantly printed coats. Meanwhile their feminine collections are always backed by powerful ad campaigns, like the black-and-white ads, featuring model Marpessa photographed by Ferdinando Scianna in 1987 (Dolce & Gabbana). "They find their way out of any black dress, any buttoned-up blouse (Domenico)," says Rossellini. "The first piece of theirs I wore was a white shirt, very chaste, but cut to make my breasts look as if they were bursting out of it (Domenico)."

Once dubbed the "Gilbert and George of Italian fashion",^[7] Dolce and Gabbana gave their fashion interests a musical turn in 1996, by recording their own single, in which they intoned the words "D&G is love" over a techno beat (Dolce & Gabbana 2011). Newer to the design game than other heavyweight Italian fashion houses such as Versace and Armani, the pair acknowledge that luck has played its part in their phenomenal success. By 1997, their company reported a turnover of 400 million, prompting both designers to announce that they planned to retire by the age of 40 – a promise they did not keep (Domenico).

Controversies[link]

Advertising[link]

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 Spain 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 was trying to sell.^[8] Italian publications followed suit, banning the ad. This advertisement was called "a glorification of gang rape" and declared "one of the most controversial advertisements in fashion history,"^[9] by Debonair Magazine.

Alleged tax evasion[link]

In May 2009, the Italian government charged Dolce & Gabbana with tax evasion for having moved assets for about 249 million euro to tax haven Luxembourg in the 2004–2006 period.^[10][11]

Hong Kong photo ban controversy[link]

One of the four streets blocked during the Sunday protest.

On 5 January 2012, Apple Daily reported that Hong Kong citizens had been prevented from taking pictures of Dolce & Gabbana window displays in both their Hong Kong stores, stirring anti-mainlander sentiment.^[12] In particular staff and security personnel at their flagship store on Canton Road asserted the pavement area outside was private property where photography was forbidden. The actions sparked protests spanning several days and gained international news coverage on 8 January.^{[13][14][15][16]} Local news reports speculated that the Dolce & Gabbanna photo ban may have been imposed at the request of some wealthy Chinese government officials who were shopping and who feared photographs of them in the store might circulate and fuel corruption allegations and investigations into the source of their wealth.^[17]

Dolce & Gabbana finally issued a formal apology to Hong Kong citizens from its Milan headquarters on 18 January 2012.^[18][19]

Further reading[link]

• "Dolce & Gabbana." The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Credo Reference. Web. 29 November 2011.
• "Gabbana, Stefano." Marquis Who's Who in the World. New Providence: Marquis Who's Who LLC, 2011. Credo Reference. Web. 29 November 2011.
• "Gabbana, Stefano." The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Credo Reference. Web. 29 November 2011.
• "Domenico Dolce Quotes – Swide Magazine." Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana. Swide Magazine, 2 June 2011. Web. 29 November 2011.
• "Dolce & Gabbana – Biography on Bio." Bio: Shows, Video, TV Schedule and More on Bio. AETN UK. Web. 29 November 2011.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dolce & Gabbana

• Official website
• Dolce & Gabbana on Twitter
• Dolce & Gabbana on Fashion Net

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)

Noah Mills
Noah Mills after the Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2012 Man Show in Milan
Born	April 26, 1985[1] Toronto, Canada
Ethnicity	White
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Hair colour	Brown
Eye colour	Brown

Noah Mills is a Canadian model and actor.

Career[link]

After beginning his career in 2003 at the age of twenty, Mills progressed into working with a number of fashion companies, most notably Willhellmina, from which he received considerable public exposure. In 2004, Mills made his debut as a runway model for the fall Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent collections in Milan and Paris. In early 2005, he signed a contract with Dolce and Gabbana. He has been a fixture at the Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Michael Kors (for which he has opened since spring 2008, alongside Carmen Kass) shows for many seasons now. In 2009, Mills appeared in the naked D&G Anthology Fragrance campaign with a number of other, established models including Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Tyson Ballou. In 2010, he appeared in Sex and the City 2 opposite Kim Cattrall's character, Samantha Jones. Becomes one of the models to star in Lacoste's "new look" campaign in January, a different advertising concept for 2011 under the new tagline, “Unconventional Chic”. The ads were shot by Mert and Marcus showing models wearing the iconic white Lacoste polo shirts worn over fancy black eveningwear.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Mills was born in Toronto, Canada, but raised in Baltimore, Maryland.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

External links[link]

• Profile at NY Magazine
• Models Profile
• IMDB Profile

References[link]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2010)

Franca Sozzani
Born	(1950-01-20) 20 January 1950 (age 62) Mantua, Italy
Ethnicity	Italian
Occupation	Magazine editor
Title	Editor-in-chief, Vogue Italia
Children	Francesco Carrozzini
Family	Carla Sozzani (sister)

Franca Sozzani (born January 20, 1950) is an Italian journalist and the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia since 1988. She is considered to be one of five most influential people in the fashion industry woldwide.

Career[link]

Sozzani grew up in Mantua, a small city in northern Italy. After completing a degree in philosophy and Germanic language and literature, she married at the age of 20, only to leave her husband after three months.^[1] She started her career at Vogue Bambini in 1976^[2] and directed legendary publications LEI since 1980 and PER LUI since 1982 before heading up the Italian edition of VOGUE in 1988. She was appointed editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Italia in 1994.

In the 90s, Sozzani helped create the phenomenon of the supermodel with one of her closest long-term collaborators, Steven Meisel, and she has championed a group of photographers such as Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, and Paolo Roversi.^[3]

Memorble issues of her magazine include "The Black Issue" (an entire issue devoted to celebrate black women's beuaty), "Makeover" (dedicated to the exploding phenomenon of plastic surgery) and most recently L'Uomo Vogue "Rebranding Africa", for which she was awarded many different international pizes.

In February 2011 she launched Vogue Curvy — an arm of vogue.it staffed by plus-size bloggers who offer fashion tips for the full-figured.^[4]

Sozzani collaborated with artist Maurizio Cattelan and repetitively with Vanessa Beecroft. She also curated several exhibits and retrospectives, including: 30 Years of Italian Vogue, Mario Testino, Bruce Weber (Vietnam Story and My Own Story in Vogue), Peter Lindbergh (Women), Francesco Scavullo and Portraits of Elegance (Milan Triennale).

She is founding member of CHILD PRIORITY – a non profit organization created by Condé Nast to offer concrete study and work opportunities for those who have none, despite being talented and artistically gifted.

Books[link]

Sozzani is the author of several books about photography, fashion, art and design, including: 30 Years of Italian Vogue (1994), Visitors (20 Museums for the Florence Biennale of Fashion and Art; 1996), A Noir (an exploration of the colour Black between fashion and art, published by Assouline, 1998), Style in Progress (30 years of L’Uomo Vogue, 1998), Valentino’s Red Book (2000) and Artists At Work (an itinerary among the most important British artists of the time, published by Assouline, 2003).

• 30 Years of Italian Vogue (1994)
• Visitors: 20 Museums for the Florence Biennale of Fashion and Art (1996)
• A Noir: An exploration of the colour Black between fashion and art, published by Assouline (1998)
• Style in Progress: 30 years of L’Uomo Vogue (1998)
• Valentino’s Red Book (2000)
• British Artists At Work: An itinerary among the most important British artists of the time, published by Assouline (2003)

Recognition[link]

In 2012 Sozzani was knighted by French president Nicolas Sarkozy with the Legion d'honneur and became goodwill ambassador for the United Nations.

She was also awarded several prizes for her contribution to art and culture including: La Lupa (from the City of Rome, for rending Italian fashion known throughout the world), the Premiolino, the Ambrogino d'oro (for making the city of Milan more cosmopolitan and famous around the world) and the Montblanc de La Culture (Art Patronage Award 2007).

Family[link]

Franca Sozzani has one son, Francesco Carrozzini (born 1982), a photographer and director. Her sister, Carla Sozzani, is the owner of 10 Corso Como, a Milan photographic gallery and store carrying hard to find imports and luxury goods.^[5]

References[link]

1. ^ William Lee Adams (September 16, 2011), Franca Sozzani: Fashion's Rebel with a Cause Time.
2. ^ William Lee Adams (September 16, 2011), Franca Sozzani: Fashion's Rebel with a Cause Time.
3. ^ Livia Firth (March 2011), Franca Sozzani Interview Magazine.
4. ^ William Lee Adams (September 16, 2011), Franca Sozzani: Fashion's Rebel with a Cause Time.
5. ^ "10 Corso Como - Shopping in Milan". http://www.milanostyle.com/07/corsocomo10.htm. 

External links[link]

• Vogue Italia website.
• Franca Sozzani on IQONS
• Franca Sozzani in TIME