Editor’s Note: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana presented their first Dolce & Gabbana collection in 1985. To mark our 40th year in fashion, and as part of our ongoing efforts to document the history of Vogue runway fashion shows, we’re closing out 2025 by adding two new digitized shows from our ’90s days. The Fall 1996 collection was presented in Milan on March 6, 1996.
Months before Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana celebrated their 10th anniversary with a delicious fall collection and coffee table book, Vogue He was considered part of the “new fashion establishment” alongside Marc Jacobs, Helmut Lang, John Galliano, Tom Ford, Isaac Mizrahi, and Michael Kors. “In 10 years,” the magazine wrote, “designers obsessed with Sicilian shrouds and lingerie are a craze for shrewd businessmen who know how to walk the fine line between trendy and accessible.” “
They really hit the sweet spot for Fall 1996, with cherry, lemon and strawberry prints (wearing Isabella Rossellini from the series to the 1997 Golden Globes), mixed with floral and animal motifs (which are practically neutral in the D&G universe).
The main course was preceded by a fruit dessert: inner wear similar to outer wear, but treated more romantically than in the past. Madonna, a friend of the house, was named in the soundtrack’s lyrics, but this supporter was far from the strict Madonna signified. Blonde DesireIra Shank bra by JEAN Paul Gaultier. Models wore flowers in their updos, and rose prints might have been pulled from old-timey wallpaper, while homespun knits and textural tweeds added a rustic touch, although lining a tweed coat with a silk print was a sophisticated move. With this collection, Dolce & Gabbana showed that even a sexist can sell.
