‘WE BUILT OUR FASHION AROUND THREE FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS: SICILY, TAILORING, AND TRADITION.’

DOMENICO DOLCE

By the end of their twentieth year in business, Dolce & Gabbana had joined the most exclusive club, that of the billion-dollar brands. Through co-operation and allowing each other personal freedom, they had not only made their partnership last beyond their romance, but had in fact made a success of what they have seen as their family – their house and all who worked there with them. To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their first stand-alone show, an epic 98-look presentation for spring/summer 2006 took the essence of Dolce & Gabbana and magnified it. It was in four parts, from red to white, then black and culminating in a barnstorming finale of ballgowns in gingham check, cascading rose print and feathers, after which Dolce & Gabbana walked down the catwalk hand in hand, showing that they and their ampersand were here to stay. Even aside from the gingham that hinted at dresses worn by Brigitte Bardot, the collection could easily have been called after her film And God Created Woman, with the parade of models all sporting the bosom, bursting hips and irresistible wiggle so adored by Dolce & Gabbana since the early days. In tribute, Vogue put these ingredients into its May cover in one look, with Natalia Vodianova its beautifully buxom cover star.

Supermodel Natalia Vodianova is the classic image of feminine seduction in a broderie anglaise bodice with a frayed-fringe trim, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier in 2006.

Overleaf Jessica Stam becomes Maria from Fritz Lang’s pioneering science-fiction film Metropolis in a plastic corset dress, accessorised with a custom case for the newly released iPhone, as Dolce & Gabbana pushed their brand of super-sexy eveningwear into the future. Photographed by Liz Collins in 2007.

For the following spring, the designers took this sexy, curvaceous look far into the future, dipping the exaggerated-bust-and-hip silhouette into chrome and stripping it back to its essence in transparent latex. Both looks were seized upon by Vogue in editorials that commended their harder, more sexual sensuality as a counterpoint to the rather demure and sedate landscape of the season.

‘Our woman is supersensuale and iperfemminile.’

DOMENICO DOLCE