40 inspiration ῀

Opposite, from top: Luchino Visconti’s Ossessione (1943),

starring Clara Calamai and Massimo Girotti;

Visconti’s La Terra Trema (The Earth Tembles, 1948),

with Antonio Arcidiacono This page, clockwise from top left:

The Dolce & Gabbana A/W11 ad campaign; the

actor Alessandro Gassman photographed for GQ Italy, in

July 2000, in a simple tank top; model Adam Senn wearing the

iconic coppola (flat cap); catwalk images from the

A/W11 collection

AL

AM

y, S

TeVe

n K

LeIn

, GIA

n P

Ao

Lo B

Ar

BIe

rI/

20 y

Ea

rs

Of

DO

LcE

& G

ab

ba

na

fOr

ME

n

DOMENICO DOLCE and STEFANO GABBANA launched their first menswear collection in Milan in 1990. Since then they have been at the forefront of men’s fashion design, specialising in a male wardrobe that has always referenced the spirit of Sicily. The book charting their first 20 years in menswear, Dolce&Gabbana Icons: 1990-2010, is published by Mondadori Electa, £175

Domenico Dolce: When we presented our first menswear collection the press labelled it the ‘Sicilian peasant look’ on account of the coppole (flat caps), the boots and the rough rural jackets and waistcoats. At first I thought the reading of what we had done was a little one-sided, as there has always been a parallel aristocratic style at play in our work – the velvet and the dress shirts and dinner jackets – but then I realised that people were responding to how different this look was at that time. It was 1990, and they were used to the styles of the Eighties – smooth fabrics and double-breasted suits. Our jackets and waistcoats were from a different tradition – they were reminiscent of Luchino Visconti’s Sicilian epic, Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), and not the film Wall Street.Stefano Gabbana: We didn’t set out to start a revolution, it was just that we came from a different point of view. We are romantics. We love Italian cinema, especially Visconti: Ossessione, Rocco e i suoi fratelli, Senso. This was the real starting point for the men of Dolce & Gabbana – they are the men of Luchino Visconti.DD: The Neorealists created a look to their films that appealed to us: they were set in real situations, often using non-professional actors. They were about everyday life in Italy, often rural life. We were inspired by this, and it reminded me, in particular,

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, the duo behind Dolce & Gabbana, on how a film movement inspired their first menswear collection, and revolutionised fashion

Keeping it Neoreal

of my youth growing up in Sicily and working with my father, who was a tailor in the town of Polizzi Generosa.SG: Sicily is the heart and soul of our design, the ghost that haunts everything we do for men, and it is also the setting of films by great Neorealist directors: like Rossellini’s Paisà and Visconti’s La Terra Trema, Il Gattopardo and Ossessione.DD: When I think of Dolce & Gabbana menswear, three words come to mind: ‘Sicily’, ‘tailoring’ and ‘sensuality’.

In those three words you have the essence of our vision, like a motto. SG: Whether it is menswear or women’s wear , we always want people to feel attractive in our clothes.DD: The Neorealists understood this as part of the Italian psyche. It’s also in our philosophy of bella figura, which demands that we look our best regardless of the circumstances in our lives. And you can see it in the embodiment of bella figura: the ritual of the early-evening

passeggiata, the social parade in our towns where people show off their finest outfits.SG: Many of the Neorealists initially presented images of people in the aftermath of the Second World War. And Italian fashion was, in some ways, brought to the rest of the world by the success of these films, as Hollywood stars would travel to the Cinecittà film studio in Rome, where they saw the way we made tailored clothes. These had a less rigid and military appearance than the British look, which was the main influence at that time.DD: There is something proudly Latin about our suiting: it’s designed to make men look confident and sexy.SG: There was a very strong tradition of tailoring in southern Italy. We saw this in the work of the Neorealists, and the more rugged looks of farmers and fishermen.DD: Like chunky, protective knitwear that can double as outerwear, and the simple tank top – the vest.SG: This is a classic look, one that is very Sicilian, and extremely familiar from Neorealist masterpieces.DD: But maybe that is what Neorealism has really given us – a love of good, honest menswear. Like the white shirt, for example: it’s like a symbol of Sicily, with a plain dignity

about it. It is worn by everyone; there is no artifice.SG: These are what you see on screen in those amazing Italian films from that post-war era. DD: And the fabrics like pinstripes and velvet. These were what my father used, and I start every menswear collection with those two

fabrics. It is in my blood.SG: When we started menswear, we looked to our history, not to what was going on in the fashion world. In fact, I remember that we were drawn to menswear simply because we couldn’t find clothes we wanted to wear, that had that Italian style. And it was there in the work of De Sica, Rossellini, Fellini and, perhaps most of all, Visconti. Q