Editor’s Note: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana presented their first Dolce & Gabbana collection in 1985. To mark their 40th year in fashion, and as part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing efforts to document the history of fashion shows, we are closing out 2025 by adding two newly digitized shows from their ’90s heyday to the site. This 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 a coffee table book, Vogue named them part of “Fashion’s New Establishment” alongside Marc Jacobs, Helmut Lang, John Galliano, Tom Ford, Isaac Mizrahi, and Michael Kors. “In 10 years,” the magazine wrote, “the designers have gone from being soulful underdogs obsessed with Sicilian shrouds and lingerie to clever businessmen who know how to walk the fine line between trendiness and accessibility.”
They hit the sweet spot indeed for fall 1996 with cherry, lemon, and strawberry prints (Isabella Rossellini wore a dress from this series to the 1997 Golden Globes), which were mixed with florals and animal motifs (which are practically neutrals in the D&G universe).
Preceding the fruity dessert was the main course: innerwear as outerwear, but treated more romantically than in the past. Madonna, a friend of the house, was name-checked in the soundtrack lyrics, but this supportwear was worlds away from the pointed stridency of Madonna’s Blonde Ambition-era cone bras by Jean Paul Gaultier. Models wore flowers in their upswept hair, and rose prints might have been pulled from an old-timey wallpaper, while homey knits and textural tweed added a rustic touch, although lining a tweed coat with a silky print was a rather sophisticated move. With this collection, Dolce and Gabbana showed that a softer take on sex can sell, too.
