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It is official; Italy’s prosecutors
have sentenced the stylish duo to 1 year and 8 months to jail for tax evasion.
Althought Domenico and Stefano have
always denied any wrong doing on their side, there was "rock-solid"
evidence that Dolce and Gabbana had engaged in a "sophisticated tax
fraud", Laura Pedio, a prosecutor, told the court in Milan during closing
arguments.
It goes
without saying that Dolce and Gabbana’a
lawyers will most certainly lodge an appeal.
It is definitively sad news for the
fashionistas of this wold. So to help soothe the sadness of your closets, here is a quick retrospective at this household name: Dolce & Gabbana
It all started in 1985 when Domenico Dolce and Stephano Gabbana presented their first women collection in Milan. The two met in 1980 and worked for the same fashion house. In 1982 they established a designer consulting studio and in time it grew to become “Dolce & Gabbana”. They produced their next collection in 1986 and opened their first store that same year.
Their fourth collection was the first to make a significant impact on the Italian fashion market. In 1989 they started designing a lingerie line and a beachwear line. Then came their first men's collection in 1990. By 1991 their men's collection was awarded the Woolmark Award for the most innovative men's collection of the year.
They released their first fragrance for women in 1992, called "Dolce & Gabbana Pour Femme", which was awarded the Perfume Academy's 1993 award for best feminine fragrance of the year. In 1994, the company launched its second main line D&G, a line aimed at younger individuals. In 1996 the D&G runway show only appeared only on the Internet and not the runway, in an experimental move towards new media. Their first male fragrance, "Dolce & Gabbana pour Homme", was the recipient of the best masculine fragrance of the year award from the same Academy in 1995.
In the 2000s Dolce & Gabbana took a great deal of inspiration from the sport of football as well and went off designing on and off field attire for several teams. From that union, in 2003 the men's line took its main inspiration from the world's great football stars. In 2012 D&G was merged with Dolce &Gabbana in order to strengthen the main line.
The final independent D&G collection occurred in the Spring/Summer 2012 collection shown in September of 2011. In July 2013, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana staged their third couture show in Venetian palazzi overlooking the Grand Canal in front of a hand-picked audience of clients and their husbands.
