Monday, January 26, 2009


Yes, I've been a big Dolce & Gabbana fan of late, ever since, a couple of seasons back, these Milanese boys marched out half a dozen girls in paint splattered dresses like a vision of walking canvases. But who knew just how charming they were?

Interview Magazine has, well, you guessed it, an interview of the designing duo, dishing enough delectable details about them, from the decor of their offices, to their now semi-separate living arrangements. Here's some of the best of the skinny:

The three of us are talking in a leopard spot–draped salon in the designers’ Milan headquarters. Lunch awaits in the zebra-patterned room next door. There are big, important-looking pictures all over the walls, plus two prints of a Steven Klein portrait of Madonna, signed to each of them by their favorite collaboratrix. “Of course, one each,” Gabbana says archly. “Dolce & Gabbana is not one.”

SG: We are so different. Eighty percent of Domenico loves to go somewhere new, to develop an idea, and the other 20 percent goes back to the roots. I’m the opposite: 80 percent from the roots, 20 percent from the future. So it’s a fight all the time. But I say, “Okay, I love your trip. I agree with you, it’s very new for Dolce & Gabbana.” But I need to do it so it’s recognizable.

Q: So he’s the dreamer, and you’re the realist?

SG: No, no, it’s not like that. He is more projected into the future, and I am more attached to my roots, and the balance is Dolce & Gabbana.

DD: I want to dance. I want to live.

SG: And I say to him, “No. You come here.” And he says to me, “No. You come with me.”

Q: So you’re the man, and he’s the little boy. Is that the way you were in your relationship as well?

SG: Yes.

SG: We start every season with a piece of paper, two lists—“Yes” and “No.” And always it’s “No brocade, no animal prints . . .” It’s too easy to do the brocade. We do the list because we are not young. We are old chickens in the system. We’ve done this job for 24 years, you know.

DD: And we design too much animal print. So, “No animal print,” and “Yes a white shirt with lace,” “Yes a new shoulder,” “No brocade . . .” But finally, maybe I need some brocade.

SG: Or then maybe I need to do it in a corset, and in the end . . .

Q: The whole collection is brocade!

DD: Yes, it’s very funny.

SG: When we came back from the holiday, we thought a jacket would be really nice in duchesse satin, or in silk Mikado, but because the shape was really new for us, we felt we needed something to make people more comfortable. He said, “Brocade.” I said, “No. Fuck brocade.” But he was right.

Q: Do you ever get bored in Milan?

SG: I don’t have the time to be bored. We do 14 collections, including D&G children. Plus all the accessories, sunglasses, D&G jewels, perfume, and now makeup. And Domenico took care of the underwear this morning. I forgot. We split sometimes when there’s not time. But I can’t imagine it without him around. Oh, my God!

1 comment:

Kenny Surtani said...

Have to say i love Dolce&Gabbana and the reason of this is the way they both work and when you put on a Dolce&Gabbana what could be enything you can feel the two of there style's mixed up and the end is you feel fantastic!But all i say just read the post about what they say....they are the best to me!!!