The eclectic theme continued through to the following spring’s Mix and Match collection, shown amongst a set made up as a traditional Sicilian market stall, complete with heckling barrow boys. It was another cornucopia of print and fabrics, with leopard-print hosiery and bikinis exposed through open shirts keeping the thread of continuity. As ‘bling’ seeped out of hip hop culture and into the mainstream, Dolce & Gabbana reflected this with a crystal mesh fabric used at times to hem cropped tops and hipster trousers in 10cm/4in wide bands, and others in entire jackets and coats.
At the turn of the millennium, Dolce & Gabbana was now a vast fashion empire with annual sales comfortably above $300 million. This had afforded them a lavish lifestyle with residences in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera (later sold), the island of Stromboli off the Sicilian coast and a lavish property (originally three separate apartments) in Milan. The duplex, created to the designers’ exacting tastes in collaboration with the architects Claudio Nardi and Rodolfo Dordoni had a rooftop garden and was the subject of a Hamish Bowles profile in the May 2000 issue of American Vogue. A perfect reflection of the Dolce & Gabbana style, with leopard-print rife on wallpaper and upholstery throughout, the house reflected the increasingly opulent extravagance of their fashion designs. Explaining the link, Gabbana told Bowles that ‘our job is our life, our life our job’.
Nick Knight photographs a sleek and sexy Claudia Schiffer wearing a collision of prints from the Kitsch collection of autumn/winter 1999 for a portfolio honouring Vogue’s greatest models.
Overleaf The autumn/winter 2000 collection was inspired by artist Tamara de Lempicka and in this appropriately Art-Deco styled image by John Akehurst, a pleated silk-chiffon dress is worn over a pair of oriental cropped brocade trousers and gold sandals.
The designers also developed a careful aesthetic for their retail spaces. These sumptuous emporia, with changing rooms built for couples to try on and compare outfits together, reflect Gattopardo levels of luxe, with gilt mirrors, marble and deep patterned carpets. In turn, the decoration of their own home has provided inspiration for collections, most notably for autumn/winter 2000, where a 1926 Tamara de Lempicka portrait – a Christmas gift from Stefano to Domenico hanging in their Milan mansion – provoked an expression of languorous Art Deco laid against wallpaper-flocked brocades.
Though the first decade of the new millennium perhaps saw the designers exploring the Italian personality of the brand less consistently, their designs would retain enough of the core identity with tailoring, corsetry, artisanal embroideries and sumptuous fabrics. Dolce & Gabbana’s heroines were one vehicle for maintaining continuity, and for spring/summer 2001 they joined forces with an old friend. In early 2000 Madonna asked for something cowboy-like to wear in her video for ‘Don’t Tell Me’. Dolce recalled that ‘her ideas were completely in sync with bits of the collection we were already working on: the jewelled leather and suede fringed pants that were in the show and the jeans that had satin inserts that made them look like chaps’. Their spring/summer 2001 runway collection was dedicated to and named for Madonna; into a display of slick and sharp crystal-embellished tailoring and Western-style denim, the designers incorporated several tributes to the singer in the form of ‘greatest hits’ t-shirts emblazoned with record cover images.
Gisele Bündchen’s Brazilian roots and German heritage perfectly captured Dolce & Gabbana’s world-spanning inspirations. Here she wears a paisley silk-chiffon dress from the spring/ summer 2002 Latina collection Photograph by Thomas Schenk.
Overleaf Photographed by Nick Knight, Victoria Beckham wears a tulle and organdie dress from spring/ summer 2008.
By the time of the spring/summer 2002 Latina collection they had their own South American heroine: Brazilian bombshell (and the world’s highest-paid model) Gisele Bündchen had become the house favourite, starring in most of their advertising campaigns and opening the majority of their womenswear shows. In 2003, Dolce and Gabbana brought her to the Vogue-chaired gala to celebrate the opening of the Goddess exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, along with a new member of their own circle (and now fashion icon in her own right) Victoria Beckham.
‘Unabashed exuberance, with tongue placed firmly in cheek.’
TIM BLANKS, VOGUE.COM
