Revealed: 20 years of Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana autumn–winter 2010–11

CNN

Thanks to CNN, we’re able to bring readers this month’s Revealed, on 20 years of Dolce & Gabbana.
The show is an intimate portrayal of the pair, showing them backstage at Moda di Milano and talking about their relationship. It features interviews with them in their holiday home, and on their yacht in Cannes.
The programme also includes interviews with Claudia Schiffer, Eva Herzigova, Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz and Chace Crawford backstage.
The company’s summary of the programme is below, with subedits made by us for accuracy.

When it comes to la dolce vita, no one delivers Italian style better than Dolce and Gabbana. Gowns by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana rule the red carpet and high-end shopping boutiques across the globe. This month, to mark the designers’ 20th anniversary of menswear, we reveal the personalities behind the brand.
Our episode starts at the Dolce & Gabbana headquarters in Milan. It is January during menswear fashion week and Domenico Dolce is alone. His partner Stefano Gabbana is ill, and Domenico has 90 male models to ﬁt for a fashion show the following day. Working without Stefano is uncomfortable for him: although their relationship is no longer romantic (they were an item for over 20 years), as friends and business partners, the pair are inseparable.
As Domenico places the ﬁnishing touches to the collection, we learn that the theme for this season’s show is the Italian movie Baaria. Set in Sicily where Domenico was born, the clothes reﬂect the designers’ love of southern Italy and traditional tailoring. An acting coach has been hired to train the models to walk down the runway with a sense of characterization from the movie. While Dolce & Gabbana’s leading models Noah Mills and David Gandy can achieve the required expression effortlessly, some of the less experienced models ﬁnd it hard to break the habit of looking vacant while strutting down the catwalk.
At the show the following day, Stefano feels well enough to join his partner backstage. ‘We are together! We are Dolce and Gabbana!’ they exclaim as they set about approving over 200 different outﬁts and looks.
With the success of the autumn–winter collection behind them, Dolce and Gabbana invite Revealed to their holiday home in Portoﬁno where the designers show us how they like to relax. The paradise cliff-top retreat holds many happy memories for the pair—here they have holidayed with Jennifer López, Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes. Amongst the art and stylish furnishings, the designers play with their dogs and tell us how they manage to work together since they broke up. In Gabbana’s own words: ‘If we didn’t love each other this much, Dolce & Gabbana would not exist …’
The episode closes back in Milan. It’s June and Dolce & Gabbana are celebrating 20 years of designing men’s fashion. A glamorous crowd of celebrities have flown in to town to party with them: Revealed interviews Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz and Chace Crawford backstage. Annie Lennox is resplendent in a Sicilian widow’s gown as she performs a live soundtrack for the occasion.
The mayor of Milan has given over the town hall for Dolce and Gabbana as a mark of thanks for their contribution to the city, and an installation within the Piazza della Scala projects 20 years of designs to the public.
Not all Milanese residents agree with this public celebration of a private company. Revealed talks to a small band of protestors who have gathered outside the party. In the words of a demonstrator, ‘Dolce and Gabbana have moved their company to Luxembourg because their taxes are lower. There is an investigation in to taxes for hundreds of millions … so why give them the best space in Milan?’
For the few who voice their objections, there are thousands who laud the designers. The party seems a ﬁtting tribute to two of the key players in Milan’s foremost industry. Dolce and Gabbana are a powerhouse of design in a country where beauty and style will always be beacons of national pride.