Italian designer duo Dolce & Gabbana have always celebrated their love for their country with designs fusing Italian culture and design know-how, vivacious femininity and just a touch of humour. That blend — which has brought them international success for 30 years now — reached new heights in their spring-summer collection for 2017, which sees dresses in pasta-print fabric, and a minidress advertising pizza.
So saying “let’s go out for an Italian” could now just as well mean heading to the Mall of the Emirates, where the designers will be next week to inaugurate their mammoth new boutique.
“It reflects our new way of thinking for our store concepts around the world,” says Domenico Dolce, who, along with Stefano Gabbana, 53, answered questions from tabloid! via email ahead of their visit on November 7, when they will host events with VIPs and media including a lunch at — of course — an Italian restaurant.
“There were dresses with pasta, pizza, ice cream and cocktail prints ... food that for us Italians is a joyful motif and point of union,” says Dolce, 58, explaining their designs. Food also plays a role in the campaign for the collection, which was shot at the end of October on the Italian island of Capri, with actress and singer Zendaya cavorting with models and locals in the street — as has been the trend for the label’s ad campaigns — eating pasta and pizza at cafes. It’s a message that both designers say resonates well in the multicultural, well travelled UAE market.
“What makes us happy is that [the] brand is loved despite any geographical barrier and that our DNA is well recognised,” they wrote in a joint answer.
The two-storey space — the brand’s largest in the region and their UAE flagship — is a newly renovated 1,103 square metres of clothing, accessories and jewellery, set against black marble and red velvet. The boutique features the brand’s ready-to-wear collections, as well as their abaya range, now in its third collection, the brand’s only Made to Measure men’s suiting service in the UAE and Sartoria fine jewellery.
Ahead of their visit, the pair discuss the abaya range, social media (one of them doesn’t even own a computer) and millennials.
Welcome back to the UAE. Your store in Mall of the Emirates is really big. At what point did you decide as a brand to embark on this project?
Domenico Dolce: Yes, the boutique that we have just renovated is really big. It’s a wonderful two-floor space and it reflects our new way of thinking for our store concepts around the world: we have recently opened Aoyama [Tokyo] and Montenapoleone [Milan] boutiques, realising unique projects for each cities.
Stefano Gabbana: We have tried to merge the external world with the mall design and our signature traits. There’s the marble with white veins, a huge gold staircase and fluid surfaces transmitting the idea of movement that we see is a typical ‘architectonical’ trait here in Dubai. Walnut furniture, attention to details and the red velvet of the walls are all typical features of our boutiques.
Will you be continuing with the abaya collection?
Dolce: The projects that work are not to be abandoned, so yes: we would like to continue. It has been stimulating creating a new line of clothing that could meet local customs and traditions.
Gabbana: We were fascinated by the colours, perfumes and marvellous fabrics that can only be found in the Middle East; we have then, naturally, merged everything with our creativity.
Will you do an Arabic men’s range? Have you been approached by customers for this?
Gabbana: As of now, there is no menswear line, who can tell in the future?
Dolce: We’re interested in menswear. We like to think that men’s tastes — just like the women’s ones — vary very much, spacing from eccentric to classic tailoring.
Your brand has always been a way of discovering Italy, but I feel that this has increased over the last few collections to become a signature — with imagery in the clothing and campaigns set in specific locations. What does this celebration of Italy mean to you? And where do you plan to go next with this theme?
Gabbana: Italy is a big source of inspiration. We are proud to pay tribute to our country with our creations. It’s a unique place for art, culture and history. We love to travel throughout the country thanks to the Alta Moda Project [their haute couture line] and to be inspired by its beautiful locations for our ready-to-wear collections as well.
Dolce: In the latest womenswear fashion show, there were dresses with pasta, pizza, ice cream and cocktail prints. There was food that for us Italians is a joyful motif and point of union. There were lights applied on shoes and small crowns representing the south of Italy, the small town fairs, the traditional codes.
Gabbana: That sense of belonging and of tradition, that will always be in my heart. Italy is this, it is love for life. All of this is Dolce & Gabbana …
You brought Zendaya on board for your campaign in Capri. Why did you choose to work with her? What is the idea behind the #DGMillennials concept?
Both: They’re the new generation and represent the future coming. We think it’s right to be able to pay attention to new generations and to give them the space they need [to express themselves].
How hands-on are you with the brand’s social media and your own?
Gabbana: I use Instagram very often, both for work and for everyday life. I love to publish the magazine covers with our featured pieces or pictures of boutiques. I have fun when I use it with simplicity. I also use FaceTime with my mum.
Dolce: I admit I do not have a computer! I recognise social media’s ever-growing importance. I do not have Instagram, but I know that Stefano uses it very much and sometimes, he published pictures of me while I worked.
What has been the impact of social media on fashion?
Gabbana: Fashion changes, and continues to evolve, as everything does. Social media has influenced everything in the world then the fashion as well.
Is it a positive change?
Dolce: Changes, in a certain way, are always positive; it means moving forward, and growing. The important thing is to learn from the change and not forgetting where one comes from and from where one started.
Do you support the concept of bloggers or influencers?
Both: We are careful observers of the present, nothing more. We are aware of the importance and of the influence that these youngsters that have in today’s world. It is undeniable. It’s a new day reality.
Tell us about your work on the Alta Moda label. How much of your time is given to this part of your brand? This appears to be a passion project for you.
Dolce: The Alta Moda is a dream that I had in the closet, we understood that it was the right moment to create it and we did it. We invested time, effort and love in the Alta Moda project that represents the maximum expression of our creativity.
Gabbana: As [with] every valuable thing, creating an Alta Moda fashion show requires months of work, research, and attention to detail. However, we love it and did it with great enthusiasm. It is like adding a small yet very precious piece to the big mosaic of our history.
It’s been more than 30 years since you showed your first womenswear collection. What has changed for you in that time, in your approach to fashion, and to life? What has not changed at all?
Dolce: Things change from one day to another, in thirty years they surely change! The world goes on, tastes change and we too change. We have always approached fashion with joy, love having fun and being ironic, [in] the beginning and today. Every day I wake up and am happy to go to the office, this is the important thing. What never changes is the love and passion for what we do. I am a tailor, I create dresses, it is what I know how to do and what I have always done. We have to feel free to create, to give voice to our soul, there is nothing that [is] predefined in what we do.
What is the next step for Dolce & Gabbana?
Both: We do not know ourselves. In the meantime, we try to do [our best at] our jobs, our biggest passion, which is to create dresses and dreams …. We hope.
Dolce: Just right now we are in Dubai, a city we love so much.
