Today we celebrate Domenico Dolce. His birthday a reminder that the infamously loud Fashion House is rooted in classic Sicilian tailoring.
Dolce, the son of a tailor, was born in 1958 in Polizzi Generosa, a hill town in Sicily. His father Saverio ran the workshop, his mother sold fabric, and Domenico was sewing by the age of six. He tried architecture briefly, then gave it up for tailoring. When people call him a fashion designer, they slightly miss the point. He is a tailor in the traditional sense.
People often forget this side of D&G, instead remembering Dolce & Gabbana for its second half. Stefano Gabbana, Milanese, came from a graphic design background, and what he brought was the brand: the styling, the casting, the communication, and, subsequently, the infamous noise that surrounded it. The corsetry, the sharp tailoring, the now-classic black Sicilian lace, all of that is Dolce, and it is the half that often gets lost behind Gabbana.
Understandably so, as the noise behind the brand has been considerable. There was the Italian tax case that ran through the courts for years before they were cleared, and the 2018 China campaign that collapsed into a boycott and a cancelled Shanghai show, with Gabbana at the centre of most of the storms. The spectacle that built the house has more than once nearly burned it down.
But, strip all of that away, and the craft is what remains. The Sicilian tailoring and hand-finishing come straight from a boy in his father’s shop. It’s what has earned the brand Heritage status. And, at 68 today, Domenico Dolce’s trained hand still actively shapes what the House makes.
Today we celebrate Domenico Dolce
