Letter from Milan

Our first men's show was a tribute to the Sicilian man and what men wanted to have in their wardrobe. We strongly believed then and we still do now that real elegance is the personal interpretation of fashion.
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Yesterday we began fittings for the menswear runway show on Saturday. We are at Via Santa Cecilia n. 7. This is where our first men's show was held, it was 1990, 20 years ago.

The backstage area was where our offices were located. At that time it was all white with a grey carpet and white pillars in the middle of the big open space. Now the architecture has slightly changed, we have added some velvet panels, the floor is wood, but the white walls, the big ceiling and windows still remain. They remind us how it all started.

We started designing menswear as we could not find clothes to wear ourselves. With our women's collection, we had already undergone a process of retrieving our roots and we had already started constructing what we had in mind as the Dolce & Gabbana style and signature a mix of Italian and Mediterranean tradition, sexy and tailored.

Our first men's show was a tribute to the Sicilian man and what men wanted to have in their wardrobe. It was a tribute to men's personal style. We strongly believed then and we still do now that real elegance is the personal interpretation of fashion.

We love doing the fittings for the shows. The fitting is when you match the model with the outfit and when you work on the running order. So many ideas come from a fitting and sometimes we decide to make changes at that moment. It is a very challenging step in the process, being one of the most important ones. It is a great moment as we share ideas and work closely with the team. This has hardly changed compared to when we started 20 years ago. Look out for the fashion show images to see who in the end we selected!

We are so happy and excited about this anniversary and so proud of this achievement.

Tomorrow we will have our show at 1pm and at 7 pm an event will be held at Palazzo Marino, Milan's City Hall in Piazza della Scala. We are honoured to have the event in this location and we are so grateful to the city of Milan, where we have been able to achieve so much. It will be our way to say thank you. On Sunday, Palazzo Marino will be open for viewing by the general public. The concept of the event is centered around the theme of "technology meets tradition".

We have finished three different books to celebrate the anniversary which will be released this year. The three books embody our aesthetic and our passion for fashion and for men. We love menswear and we love to see men that look good and feel comfortable.

Men's fashion has evolved -- when we started it was all about suits and shoulders and we have carried out thorough research as far as cuts, proportions, fits, and research in fabrics. This has been our challenge.

Sicilian, Sartorial, Tradition.

This is the essence of our anniversary.

See also our website, celebrating our 20 years.

Stay tuned for our next post!

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