DOLCE Domenico & GABBANA Stefano (Dolce & Gabbana) (Designers)

This photograph of Italian icon Isabella Rossellini could almost be a still from one of her father, Roberto Rossellini's, black-and-white films of the 1940s. This cinematic sensuality is typical of Dolce & Gabbana's style. Their idealistic vision of Italy revolves around specific themes: silver screen sirens (leopard prints and corsetry à la Sophia Loren), Catholicism (Sunday best suits and rosary beads) and various Italian stereotypes, from Mafioso machismo (pinstripe suits and trillbys) to the simplicity of Sicilian widows (little black dresses, headscarves, fishing village baskets). But beneath this puritanical patriotism there are also hints of playful subversion: suits cut with integral corsetry or lace panels are favourites. Successfully integrating these sensibilities into a global brand, Dolce & Gabbana launched their first couture show in Taormina, Sicily, in 2012. 

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