Even though only one of them is Sicilian, they loved my island so much who, a day, decided to dedicate many of their products to Sicily. That’s why many people say that they are the most bright example of Sicilian style in the world. I am discussing about Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana(see the image), the two famous and established Italian fashion designers. Between them, the Sicilian is Domenico Dolce, who was born in Polizzi Generosa, a town in the province of Palermo, while Stefano Gabbana was born in Milan. They founded their high couture brand in the early 1980s in the North of Italy, namely Legnano, in the province of Milan, but their souls and hearts always pounded for Sicily.

You must know that when they launched their brand and produced the first clothes and bags, in a perfect and seductive made in Italy style, only a few customers bought their products. The fortunate turn arrived when, Dolce and Gabbana decided to give a new style to their clothes and bags, inspired by the Sicilian roots of Domenico Dolce. In 1992 the advertising campaign of their collection was shot by photographer Ferdinando Scianna in a place in Sicily, with black and white images inspired by the Italian cinema of the 1940s. In the following years, they always used the Italian cinema for their advertising short movies , such as the movie set of Luchino Visconti for the movie The Gattopardo.

An unforgettable advertising short movie (made to publicize their first perfume) was shot by the Sicilian movie director Giuseppe Tornatore (born in Bagheria) with music by Ennio Morricone and with Monica Bellucci as the main character. The short movie (30 seconds) starts with a man who bangs an octopus against the edge of the stone during the high tide. He stands up and looks around himself, where several women are doing their daily house works. One of them, Monica Bellucci wears a bathing suit in a 1950 style, behind a white bed sheet kept by two women. After changing her bathing suit, she throws her bra over a cactus and walks toward the Ocean. Later, Monica Bellucci lays down on a bed ( see the image) and the man looks at her out of the window with her bra on his nose. The movie ends with the image of the perfume bottles by Dolce and Gabbana against a black background. It was born the perfume Dolce and Gabbana Sicily, publicized also in the following years with another surrealist movie about a Sicilian funeral and always shot by Giuseppe Tornatore. In this funeral, women are in black lace clothes, the real Sicilian style. And what is this style?

The Sicilian style

The Sicilian style is a stunning mix of fashion and high quality fabric made in Sicily I am still thinking about the Sicilian lace, a precious fabric handcrafted and sewed one to one, thanks to the embroidered wires that give the same fabric a particular texture. Many women wore Sicilian lace dresses for their wedding in several areas of the world. The Sicilian fabric also was the first important decoration used in the wedding dresses by Sicilian women in the early decades of the past century. Black or white, wedding and evening dresses by Dolce and Gabbana are one of the many proofs of their creative Sicilians style. These products are also included in the category of the luxury collection. The collection of wedding dresses was abandoned in 1999. Nowadays, inside this collection, you can only find Sicilian lace evening dresses, in black (see the image) or purple fabric. However, these are only unique and esclusive pieces.

As I said some paragraphs above, since the two Italian fashion designers inspired their products to Sicily, they collected a long chain of international endorsements, starting from their first famous customer Madonna, who in 1991 decided to wear one of their jackets for the Festival of Cannes. Since that day, the success of Dolce and Gabbana has been unstoppable. Over the years, however, Dolce and Gabbana focused the production of their brand on sunglasses, perfumes, bags and dresses always inspired by Sicily. The latest success of the two Italian designers has been reached during the recent G7 summit in Taormina, where the American first lady Melania Trump, for her visit to Catania wore an embroidered flower jacket 3D by Dolce & Gabbana perfectly inspired by a Sicilian style. Each of these products has been always a stunning dedication to Sicily to its scent and landscape. I am thinking, above all, about the latest perfume by these Italian fashion designers, namely light blue.

Light Blue perfume

Light Blue is the name of the latest perfume by Dolce and Gabbana. Since every perfume by these two Italian fashion designers is always inspired by Italy and Sicily, Light Blue is equally inspired by the sensuality of the Mediterranean sea. It is available in the version for women and for men. Light Blue for women is the height of the life joy. It contains all the essence of the sunny Sicilian days. That is a fresh and flower fragrance with fruit nuances that remind the sensuality of the Mediterranean sea. Light Blue for men is a spiced and fresh fragrance for modern men who love taking care about themselves. This perfume is available in the light and intense version. The bottle of Light Blue in the light version has a satin white background , while the one intense has an azure background. The price of Light Blue is 35 euros for 25 ml of light version and 38 for 25 ml of intense version. If you want the bottle of 100 ml, the price is 65 euros for the light version and 105 of the intense version. The latest advertising movie to publicize light blue was shot in the fabulous, charming and picturesque island of Pantelleria, a place of Dolce and Gabbana have the home to spend their summer vacations. A useful note: in Pantelleria, the typical homes are called Dammusi. I discussed about them in the post I wrote about this beautiful Sicilian island.

Sicilian bags

Dolce and Gabbana designed also fabulous bags always inspired by their memories about Sicily. These are bags in original Italian and Sicilian leather and entirely handcrafted. They are medium size and have many kinds of colours to be matched for every season. Obviously, my favourite is Sicily bag. This particular bag has a shape which is like the one of the traditional Sicilian bags, namely trapezoidal ( see the image). These bags were much used in the 1950s and are being much used nowadays, as well, rather, they are a real trend in Italy and Sicily. They are made of leather and sometimes, decorated with wood. They are very charming if matched with coloured and flower dresses, a little like the style of Melania Trump. Sicily bags by Dolce and Gabbana have a price of 1150 euros for the ones in leather and nearly 6,000 euros for those with decorated wood. To confirm the trend of Sicily bags, just think that one of these has been bought by a beautiful girl appointed as Miss Sicily. In the collection of Sicily bags, there are also cheaper options, such as the shopper bag always made by Dolce and Gabbana. This bag has a price of 250 euros and is in printed brocade. Its lines, shapes and design are always inspired by Sicily.

Cheap Sicily Bags

The aforementioned Sicily bags by Dolce and Gabbana are very expensive and many ladies can’t afford a similar expense. Many of them asked me to find cheap Sicily bags which have the same style of the bags by Dolce and Gabbana.Obviously, I succeeded to find these cheap Sicily bags, but they are not counterfeit bags, but original and handcrafted bags with a Sicilian style made by another talented Sicilian designer. She is Daniela Bechi and lives in Catania. She crafts beautiful handcrafted and hand painted Sicily bags (see the image). Her creations are cheaper than the ones by Dolce and Gabbana and you can buy them with less than 100 euros straight on her online shop.

Sunglasses

In my list of products by Dolce and Gabbana inspired by Sicily, you don’t miss sunglasses. I always advise to buy high quality sunglasses because, especially if you visit Sicily during sunny days, the sun can be very dangerous for your eyes. High quality sunglasses like the ones by Dolce and Gabbana merges style, fashion and eye protection in a unique product. Made with the highest quality standards, these sunglasses prevent Uva and Uvb rays to reach and damage your eyes, while the whole design make them perfectly suitable to your personal preferences and style. The sunglasses by Dolce and Gabbana include models for women and for men. The price of this kind of products goes from 95 to 400 euros. They also created a special collection of woman sunglasses dedicated to the Sicilian carretto ( Sicilian handcart).  I suppose that these two creative Sicilian and Italian fashion designers are thinking to other products in a perfect Sicilian style. I can also say thanks to Dolce and Gabbana for choosing my loved Sicily to create their fashion products. And you? What do you think about the Sicilian style of these products? Let me know with a comment.

Source of the image for women’s sunglass: Dolce and Gabbana official website

Rosalba Mancuso

Rosalba Mancuso is a freelance journalist born in Sicily. Passionate about her loved island and with extensive writing experience, Rosalba worked as a contributor for the main Sicily’s newspapers and as a bilingual Italian – English writer. Thanks to her skills, she also founded four websites in English. On Sicilyonweb, Rosalba tells every corner of her beloved Sicily. Furthermore, she writes this blog thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you book your travel or buy products through the affiliate widgets or links you find in her posts.