“It does not seem likely that many people could have envisioned a way to turn distressed jeans or sluttish corsets or pointy-toed shoes or slick suits or football jerseys into an irresistible global export. Yet Mr. Dolce and Mr. Gabbana did.”

“Dolce & Gabbana is as synonymous with Sicily as old ladies in veils and young Romeos on scooters. Since founding the label in 1985, the designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have mined the island for inspiration with the zeal of latter-day Viscontis.”

“To a certain extent, [Dolce & Gabbana's] image—the Sicilian crazy quilt of leopard prints and initials sculpted in rhinestones—is a façade, a wild and glorious (not to mention sometimes tacky) cover-up. And that may be their secret: clothes you can wear to the office in a glitzy capelet of Hollywood glamour.”

“We all know, though, that nothing and nobody can put a lid on such things as seduction, attraction, and appeal. They find a way out of any black dress, out of any buttoned-up blouse, out of any severe social morals, and Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana communicated these escapes to freedom with their clothes.”