Dolce & Gabbana Explain Why Men Favor Style Over Fashion

As they scrambled to whittle down dozens of outfits for Saturday's Dolce & Gabbana men's fashion show, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana paused earlier this week to debate a sandal made of rope. "This looks too fashion, too wild," Mr. Gabbana sneered at the shoe, its thick cord wrapped around a male model's ankle. Mr. Dolce grabbed a rope flip-flop. "That looks more adult," Mr. Gabbana said approvingly.

Domenico Dolce, right, and Stefano Gabbana adjust clothes on a model in their Milan headquarters for their men's fashion show, which will mark 20 years for the line.

Over the past 20 years, Messrs. Dolce and Gabbana have built one of the biggest and most successful men's businesses by navigating the fine line between style and fashion. "Women are into fashion, men are into style," said Mr. Dolce, in between fittings for the 20th anniversary runway collection. "Style is forever."

The difference between the two meant a striped linen jacket and a silk blouse didn't make the cut from the new collection, whose motto -- "Sensual, Sartorial, Sicilian" -- marks a return to the brand's roots. A nautical theme permeated the looks that made the cut, from the sailing rope Mr. Dolce stranded through belt loops to a rugged beige fisherman's sweater. Dolce & Gabbana's show kicks off Milan men's fashion week, which runs from June 19 to 22.

Dave Yoder for the Wall Street Journal.

Men have more style than ever to choose from. Luxury labels from France's Hermés to American icon Ralph Lauren are opening stores dedicated to men. Nearly all of the most prominent women's fashion houses -- Gucci, Prada, Dior, Chanel, Burberry -- dress men too. Online retailer Net-a-Porter announced earlier this month it is creating a men's site, Mr. Porter, with labels such as Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent and Balmain.

Yet with two decades of experience under its crocodile belt, precursor Dolce & Gabbana has well-established legitimacy in the booming men's segment. Half of the company's €1.2 billion in 2008 sales came from the men's collection, a balance that no other major fashion house has achieved.

"In the last 20 years, the biggest revolution has been in men's fashion collections, not women's," said Mr. Gabbana. "Now men have an outfit for work, another one for dancing, another one for going to the restaurant -- like women."

Though suits remain at its core, the label has appropriated the full range of the male wardrobe, from underwear and sportswear to pageboy caps and wingtips. "It's clothing for the weekend, the office, going out at night," said luxury-brand consultant Robert Burke. "That's been their secret because they are that customer."

In fact, with their contrasting personalities, Messrs. Dolce and Gabbana are very different customers. The tall Mr. Gabbana, 48 years old, extroverted and flashy with a large ruby stud in his ear, brings the brand its richly baroque element visible in velvet slippers and brocaded jackets. The short, bald Mr. Dolce, 52, likes muted colors -- gray, blue, black, beige -- detests prints, and refuses to wear tank tops: "I'm ashamed that I don't have big arm muscles."

Men are more interested in their looks than they let on -- a fact that the design duo understands, said Jim Moore, creative director at men's fashion magazine GQ. "Men are innately not fashion people," he said. "But there's an inner peacock and we know what looks good on us."

Yet men's fashion can at times seem more farcical even than outrageous women's trends. Three-legged trousers from designer Thom Browne and Jean-Paul Gaultier's "Monsieur" line of mascara and other makeup are far-removed from wardrobe classics such as the suit, chinos and jeans.

Dolce & Gabbana has occasionally misfired by veering too far from the classics. Oversized paisley prints and grungy flannel lacked Italian chic. A spate of body-belts in the late 90s, worn over shirts and trousers, cinched waists in a feminine way. Mr. Dolce said an early-90s hippie-inspired collection -- complete with flower power and peace signs -- strayed too far from the brand's look.

Twenty years ago, the designers were the rising stars of Italian women's fashion with their five-year old brand. Messrs. Dolce and Gabbana, who met while working in a Milan design workshop in the early 80s, dressed in cutting-edge Japanese labels Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto. (The designers were romantic as well as business partners they announced their split five years ago.) Italian men's attire -- classic suits from Brioni, Giorgio Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna -- was too staid for their urban lifestyle.

But the Japanese designers didn't fulfill all their wardrobe needs. "There were some things we couldn't find, like tighter white shirts and slimmer pants," said Mr. Gabbana, dressed in ripped jeans and a black vest.

Still, they started timidly in 1990 by tweaking the classics. Three-button suits and pageboy caps worn with a scarf recalled Mr. Dolce's upbringing as the son of a Sicilian tailor. Pleated pants were paired with white shirts or voluminous overcoats. "Not a collection tied to the trend of the moment, but all what a man would like to have in his wardrobe," the designers advocated in their show notes, citing Luchino Visconti's classic 1963 film "Il Gattopardo" as an inspiration.

They soon settled into a routine that continues to this day. Mr. Dolce pores over racks of trousers, shirts, vests and underwear, pairing and reshuffling outfits, while Mr. Gabbana sits back and comments. "He likes to sew, to alter the clothes," said Mr. Gabbana, as his partner sliced a crisp pair of white pants into shorts with five swift cuts.

Gradually, the designers branched out beyond the elements of a suit. White underwear revealed a new body-conscious trend among men. Then came jeans, long before they were acceptable office attire. By the mid-90s and the appearance of track pants and sneakers on Dolce & Gabbana's runway, heralding the casual turn men's fashion was taking, the brand had a full repertoire of apparel that spanned any occasion.

Yet Dolce & Gabbana never abandoned the suit. Mr. Dolce said he changes it each season, making it closer-cut under the arm, dropping the button to reveal more chest, shaving extra volume off the shoulders. For the 20th anniversary collection, they come hand-stitched in washed silk. "Once, the suit was worn as a uniform," he said, spare pins sticking out of his pocket. "Today you wear it because you feel good in it."