Show Me The Receipts: Examining Dolce & Gabbana’s history of LGBTQ-related statements 

Since launching their luxury fashion house in Milan in 1985, Italian fashion titans Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have dominated their industry, and at present are firmly on our cultural radar after reuniting with Madonna for their 2026 The One fragrance campaign and the visual companion film to Madge’s latest album Confessions II.

But some hair-raising LGBTQ+-related public statements in 2015 and more besides might make you think twice about lionising their sleek silhouettes.

1982 ✓

Shortly after meeting in a nightclub and working together at another designer’s studio in the late 70s, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana become flatmates in Milan and eventually a romantic couple. They form a creative partnership in 1982 and from then on are essentially in the glass closet: publicly out in fashion circles, and visible to anyone with basic gaydar, but not officially to the public. Remember, this was an era before even Sir Ian McKellen and George Michael were out publicly (they took the plunge in 1988 and 1998, respectively), so D&G’s semi-visibility as gay men must have been a balm to some suffering in the shadows.

1999 ✓

The pair speak publicly about their sexualities for the first time. “We made our first interview saying we are gay in 1999. It was a question, can you imagine, so late?” Gabbana recalled to Vogue in 2015. “We lived together, and we talked about love, not sex or being gay. And it was headline TV news in Italy. But for us, it was normal!” They publicly announced their split in 2005 but have continued to work amicably together ever since.

2006 ×

Proving the remarks made nine years later didn’t come out of nowhere, Gabbana tells an Italian magazine that he had approached a woman to be the mother of his baby before changing his mind, adding: “I am opposed to the idea of a child growing up with two gay parents. A child needs a mother and a father. I could not imagine my childhood without my mother. I also believe that it is cruel to take a baby away from its mother.”

September 2013 ×

Dolce tells the Telegraph: “I don’t believe in gay marriage.” Mic drop.

March 2015 ×

They may have avoided lighting a firestorm with those comments in 2006 and 2013, but tides had changed by 2015. In an interview with Italian magazine Panorama, the men make remarks so heinous that they still follow them around a decade later. In a cover story called “Long Live the [Traditional] Family,” Dolce said: “I’m not convinced with what I call chemical children, a rented uterus, semen selected from a catalogue.” He added: “You are born and you have a father and a mother. Or at least it should be like this, that’s why I am not convinced by chemical children, synthetic babies, wombs for rent.”

Gabbana added: “Family isn’t a fleeting trend; in it, there’s a sense of belonging. Life has a natural trajectory; there are things that should not be altered.”

They are also widely quoted as saying: “We oppose gay adoptions. The only family is the traditional one.”

March 2015 ×

Elton John – who, along with husband David Furnish, is a father to Zachary, now 15, and Elijah, 13, both born via the same surrogate – leads international outcry over the comments, and goes for the jugular on Instagram, writing: “How dare you refer to my beautiful children as ‘synthetic’. And shame on you for wagging your judgemental little fingers at IVF – a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children. Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again. #BoycottDolceGabbana.”

A rattled Gabbana posts 40 Instagram images in response, including a picture of a woman and a child with the words: “#dgmamma #dgfamily” and co-opting the viral slogan used after the Charlie Hebdo attacks and declaring “Je Suis D&G”. He also calls John a “fascist” and uses the hashtag “#boycotteltonjohn”. He also writes “racist dictators”, and “freedom to speak”.

Despite Madonna collaborating with the pair since the beginning of her career – they designed costumes for 1993’s The Girlie Show – she condemns the comments on Instagram. She writes: “All babies contain a soul however they come to this earth and their families. There is nothing synthetic about a soul!! So how can we dismiss IVF and surrogacy? Every soul comes to us to teach us a lesson. God has his hand in everything, even technology! We are arrogant to think Man does anything on his own. As above so below! Think before you speak!”

18 March 2015 ×

The pair address the controversy on CNN. Dolce defends himself, saying: “I believe in the traditional family. It is impossible to change my culture for something different. It’s me… I respect all the world, all the culture.” He adds: “Every people [sic] [has] freedom for choosing what they want. This for me is democracy. I respect you because you choose what you want. I respect me because I choose what I want… This [is] just my point of private view.”

Gabbana, when asked if he supported having children through IVF, replied: “Yeah, I don’t have anything bad, because the beauty of the world is freedom. We are gay. We love gay couple. We love gay adoption. We love everything. It’s just an express[ion] of my private point of view.”

August 2015 ?

In an interview with Vogue, Dolce apologises. “I’ve done some soul-searching. I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I’ve realised that my words were inappropriate, and I apologise. They are just kids. You don’t need labels, baby labels.” 

He adds: “I think everybody chooses for themselves. I don’t know everything about IVF, but I love it when people are happy. It’s like medicine. Science has been put on the table to help people.” An apology five months later is hard to swallow.

Gabbana shares personal insights that hint at the reality of his and Dolce’s lives in one of Europe’s most Catholic and culturally conservative countries. “When they ask if I wanted to be a parent, I say yes, of course, why not? But it’s not possible in Italy. … I had thought of going to California and having a baby, but I couldn’t bring the baby back to Italy, because you need the mother’s passport. I asked about adoption in Italy. It’s very hard for a straight couple here – imagine if you are gay!” Do we feel empathy? Yes. Forgiveness? It’s complicated.

February 2016 ✓

As political debate around LGBTQ+ parenting reaches fever pitch in Italy, Gabbana posts “photos of handbags and T-shirts adorned with childlike drawings of family groups of two men or two women with children of various ages”, according to Reuters.

For context: surrogacy is illegal in Italy. Civil unions have been legal there since 2016, but same-sex marriage still isn’t. Same-sex couples are effectively blocked from joint adoption, and in December 2025, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government criminalised Italian citizens who seek surrogacy abroad. There have been cases of authorities removing non-biological parents from children’s birth certificates. 

January 2017 ×

Gabbana takes to Instagram to praise First Lady Melania Trump for wearing one of his dresses (“#DGWoman BEAUTIFUL”). When one person comments: “Sad when a gay designer doesn’t care about other groups being repressed, how much more money do u need?!?” Gabbana replies: “Dont call me gay please!! Im a man!!! Who I love, it’s my private life!!!” He must have been in his DL era.

2025 ?

Dolce & Gabbana are back in favour with the A list, as Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci attend their Milan show while filming The Devil Wears Prada 2, and the following year, Madonna sits on the front row alongside Anna Wintour. 

VERDICT 

We usually follow the evidently forgiving Madonna wherever she goes but we’re really not sure about this one. We’re also surprised D&G survived a 2018 ad campaign widely condemned as racist, featuring a Chinese model struggling to eat Italian food such as cannoli and pizza with chopsticks. You couldn’t make it up!