D&G Jewels
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| Società a responsabilità limitata | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1985 Milan |
| Founder | Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana |
| Headquarters | Milan, Italy |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Products | Clothing, footwear, handbags, sunglasses, watches, jewellery, perfumery and cosmetics. |
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Number of employees
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3,150 |
| Parent | Dolce & Gabbana Luxembourg S.à.r.l. |
| Website | dolcegabbana |
Dolce & Gabbana (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdoltʃe e ɡɡabˈbaːna]) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
The two met in Milan in 1980 and designed 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 1988, they launched a leotard line, and in 1989 they began designing underwear and swimming costumes. Dolce & Gabbana started to export their products to Japan and other countries including the United States, where they founded their own showroom in 1990. In 1992, the same year they presented their men's collection, they also launched their first perfume Dolce & Gabbana. They won the Woolmark award in 1991, and Perfume's Academy "Most Feminine Flavor of the Year" in 1993 for their fragrance Dolce & Gabbana Parfum. By the end of the 1990s, the company's revenues were around US$500 million and in 2003 their revenue reached $633 million. By 2005, their turnover was €600 million.
The first collection from the design duo was shown in October 1985 alongside five other up-and-coming Italian labels as part of Milan Fashion Week. The two did not have enough money to hire models or provide accessories for them, so they sought help from their friends. The models (their friends) simply wore their personal items to complement the clothing. They used a bed sheet that Dolce had brought from home as their stage curtain.
The pair labeled their first collection Real Women, due in part to the use of local women as models on the runway. Sales from their first collection were disappointing enough for Gabbana to cancel the fabric order they'd put in to create their second collection. However, Dolce's family offered to help meet their costs when the two visited them in Sicily over Christmas, while incidentally, the fabric company did not receive the cancellation notice in time so the fabric was ready for them back in Milan upon their return. They produced the next collection in 1986 and opened their first store that same year.Michael Gross wrote of their third collection in a 1992 interview, "They were a secret known only to a handful of Italian fashion editors. Their few models changed behind a rickety screen. They called their collection of T-shirt-cotton and elastic-silk pieces, Transformation." The clothing in this collection came with instructions on the seven different ways a piece could be worn in an outfit, as the wearer could use Velcro and snaps to alter the clothing's form.
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Wikipedia