Vogue on Dolce & Gabbana

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are the most successful design partnership in fashion history. Since they burst on to the scene in Milan in the eighties, their multi-million-dollar empire has become one of the dominating forces in Italian - and world - fashion. Every year, the opulent and dramatic presentations of their successful 21st-century haute couture line Alta Moda are rapturously received by the fashion press. Their

theatrical style is inspired by the Sicily of Visconti's 1963 film The Leopard, by Catholic imagery, and by the Italian screen sirens like Sophia Loren and Monica Bellucci, who wear the designs captured here by Vogue's stable of photographerst. The Dolce and Gabbana woman - characterized, according to Vogue, as having 'a life that reaches beyond, complete with fantasy, turmoil and always a story'- is sensual but proper.

Luke Leitch was Deputy Fashion Editor at The Times and The Daily Telegraph, and now writes for Vogue, Elle, Esquire, The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Ben Evans is a fashion writer and Art Coordinator at Vogue.