People@Dolce & Gabbana interview

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

Having just opened a store in New York and re-launched their London boutique, we caught up with the powerhouse of a design duo, Dolce & Gabbana, to discover the impetus behind the brand’s recent face-lift and the philosophy behind their renewed aesthetic.

How do your redesigned stores reflect the way the Dolce & Gabbana brand has developed in recent times?
Stefano Gabbana:The boutique is the place where you can experience the collections and the Dolce & Gabbana world; which is in constant transformation and evolution. For this reason, it’s essential the boutiques also reflects the same evolution and growth.
Domenico Dolce: From a technical point of view, the concept of the stores has changed because, for instance, accessories have become staples of the collections, so we have created a dedicated space.

Do you think the design of a retail space is more important nowadays to the customer than it was in previous decades?
SG: The stores’ concept has always been very important. What has changed is the way customers live the shopping experience. If they choose a luxury brand, they don’t look only for high quality, innovation and attention to details, but they also want to enter a dream world and feel like superstars.

Why did you choose to work with Studio +Arch and Ferruccio Laviani?
DD: We decided to work with them because we feel in tune with both of them. They are able to interpret our ideas and to merge our aesthetical needs to the functionality of a boutique.

How does the design process operate between yourselves, an architect and an interior designer to get a consistent interior and exterior design?
DD: We provide them with the concept, which is then studied and developed in a continuous dialogue which helps them to interpret our desires.
SG: Our aim is to achieve perfect solutions that match our vision to its actual feasibility.

Aside from your own stores, what are your favourite retail concept stores around the world and why?
SG: We think that the concept store was a wonderful idea of the past; the future is the mono-brand store that allows the consumer to dip in to a designer’s mind.

Do you think the way customers buy clothes and understand the concept of fashion retail as a whole has changed since you first launched your label?
SG: Definitely, the last few years have witnessed a change in the buying processes. Customers have become more conscious of their desires and are very demanding about what a boutique or a product must have in order to satisfy them.

Sum up the Dolce & Gabbana brand concept in three words.
DD: Refined, sensual and luxurious.

Your brand is spreading into a wider range of lifestyle experiences beyond fashion design. Do you ever feel concerned the more projects you take on there may be a danger of diluting rather than strengthening the core brand principles?
SG: We are designers but we also like to explore other worlds that we love.
DD: It doesn’t delude the message we would like to convey to our customers. Moreover, the restaurant, the books and the mobile are all projects that help to strengthen and enrich our brand with new and different details.

What’s next on the Dolce & Gabbana agenda?
DD: The objective of the company is to keep growing in a rational way, coherent to the principles that have guided us since the beginning. Men’s fashion has still an interesting growth potential, as well as accessories.
SG: From a territorial point of view, the next step would be to consolidate our presence in the markets where we are already present and, at the same time, we would like to explore new markets.

What excites and terrifies you on a daily basis?
DD: We love things that inspire us such as culture, cinema, music and anything that gives us new ideas.
SG: We are always afraid of not having enough time to dedicate those we love even if we do our best to spend some time with our families and friends.

@Source: 13 December 2007 http://www.wallpaper.com/fashion/dolce--gabbana-interview/1995