DOLCE & GABBANA: Exclusive Interview for Romania (english version)

The opportunity of interviewing, exclusively for Romania, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana is a privilege for me, as Romanian, as a journalist, and I have to send their message to you. We talked about Dolce & Gabbana luxury collaboration with Madonna, financial crisis, but also … about Romania! I discovered Domenico and Stefano as they truly are… natural and classy, despite their immense fame and international recognition!

Can you describe the Dolce & Gabbana style in three words?
Stefano Gabbana: Sicilian, couture and tradition.

Which fabric is used the most often in your collections?
Stefano Gabbana: It depends, there isn’t any one in particular… it depends on the season, the inspiration… at the moment, for ladies, we like satin and lace…
Domenico Dolce: …while for the men’s collection the starting point is always the same: velvet and pinstripe.

You have worked with a great many famous personalities in recent years. How did you come up with the idea of collaborating with Madonna for MDG?
Stefano Gabbana: By chance, like many other things that we have done…
Domenico Dolce: …we never plan this kind of thing…
Stefano Gabbana: In the case of MDG, Madonna was in Milan as part of her last tour and we had organised a party in her honour at our restaurant, the Gold…
Domenico Dolce: …we discussed many things on that occasion, including the possibility of using her as the face of the spring/summer campaign…
Stefano Gabbana: …because she had liked that collection enormously… she had wanted practically all the releases…
Domenico Dolce: Like us, she searches for perfection, controls things manically and supervises everything. That’s why we love working with her. Together, we sparkle, we get on famously…

What do you think about the promotion of products on websites and blogs?
Stefano Gabbana: We think that it is a highly effective tool if used strategically. The internet has a great advantage, which is the fact that everyone can be reached at any time. Today, nobody can afford to ignore it, but at the same time it is also necessary to understand how it works, what language it speaks, what people expect to find there…
Domenico Dolce: We have always believed in new technologies, but it is only in the last few years that we have begun to use them as a real communication tool…
Stefano Gabbana: Not just through our official website, but also thanks to the blogazine, Swide, social media such as Facebook and I also have a personal account on Twitter… The internet has really changed perspectives, allowing us to have immediate, constant contact with people, real ones, who should then go to the shops and buy the products…

The international economic situation is not at its best. Has Dolce & Gabbana been hit by the recession?
Stefano Gabbana: Of course, although we have tried to carry out immediate action in order to limit its impact. The recession has forced us to look at many things again, we wanted to re-analyse all the company processes, from creativity to product distribution, in order to understand what we could improve, what we could do without…
Domenico Dolce: Without wishing to compromise on product quality, we tried to find the most efficient ways of using the resources available and cut what was superfluous, for example advertising, showroom and fashion show costs…
Stefano Gabbana: …and we lowered prices by 20%. This allowed us to continue all the projects that we had planned, such as the opening of the largest D&G boutique in Moscow…

Have you ever thought of selling (part of) the company?
Domenico Dolce: No, never.

Do you think you will arrive in Romania soon?
Domenico Dolce: At the moment there are no specific plans, but if the right occasion and moment present themselves, we will consider this possibility.

Would you hire Romanians to work for your company?
Stefano Gabbana: Why not? We select the people who work for us according to their abilities, not based on where they are from…

What does luxury mean to you?
Stefano Gabbana: Luxury is a dream, the ability to be amazed by things… At the moment we are more inclined to link the concept of luxury not so much to a product, as to something immaterial, like the opportunity of spending time with people we love, taking care of ourselves, a journey…

I’m surprised! You seem to me to be two normal people with a great sense of humour. How have you managed to stay this way?
Stefano Gabbana: Maybe it’s due to the fact that we have grown gradually, together with our company…
Domenico Dolce: …and maybe it’s also because only we know how hard we have worked, how much effort we have put in and how many sacrifices we have made to get where we are today. By nature, we are not people who like to waste time thinking about the results achieved, but rather we always try to look further, towards what we have yet to do…
Stefano Gabbana: …and we try to stay grounded, in contact with the real world.

First Photo by MARIO TESTINO Courtesy of DOLCE & GABBANA

Photos: HEPTA