Designer of the Day

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana launched their diffusion line D&G in 1994 and opened a flagship store in Milan the following year. Though the collection appears less formal than the Dolce & Gabbana line, it indulges the same penchant for animal print and sexy silhouettes as the original. However, one thing this line is known for are their advertisements—aggressively sexy, provocative, and borderline obscene. In 2007, the Advertising Standards Agency censored a campaign that featured models with gunshot wounds and knives, and the same year Italian and Spanish publications banned the spring/summer campaign featuring a female model pinned down by a shirtless man with other models looking on insinuated gang rape. However, it is the overt sexuality of the brand attracts its customers, as the designer duo counts young Hollywood starlets among its fans, and D&G accounts for more than 40 percent of the label’s wholesale sales.