Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana SpA is a high-end designer company owned by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. Dolce & Gabbana are very popular for their designs in the Hollywood industry; they have designed clothes for Madonna, Monica Bellucci, Isabella Rossellini, Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Jolie, amongst others. The company is based in Milan. The private life of Gabbana and Dolce's affairs became public in 2004, when they officially announced their separation. The company will still stay the same, and they will continue to design together. Its first store in the United States opened in March 1995 in the upscale shopping mecca "the Galleria" in Houston's fashion district. Since then, a boom in interest in their clothes has called for openings of their boutiques in other major cosmopolitan cities all over the world. Their boutiques have become a symbol of high fashion and couture. Dolce & Gabbana is organized into two central brands. 'D&G' and 'Dolce & Gabbana' D&G generally forms the groups more casual lines with cheaper prices. Dolce & Gabbana centralizes on haute couture and expensive price tags. Within each brand is 'Beachwear' and separately 'Dolce & Gabbana underwear'. History Dolce was born on September 13, 1958, in Polizzi Generosa, Italy, and Gabbana was born on November 14, 1962, in Venice, Italy. As students, Gabbana studied graphic design, but Dolce received a fashion education, studying in Venice and working in the small clothing factory his family owned. In 1980, the duo met when they worked at the same atelier in Venice. They began to do freelance design in 1982, when they began doing business together. When their first collection was shown in 1986, it received acclaim from around the globe. Four years later, they revealed their premiere menswear collection and opened a women's boutique in Milan. Also in 1990, they started designing for the Complice line for the Genny Group in Milan. Recently, the fashion house published a book chronicling 10 years of Dolce & Gabbana history. Dolce & Gabbana are on the same line of couture houses of Armani, Versace, Gucci, Prada and Moschino. Dolce and Gabbana announced on the 20th February 2005 that they would split up after 19 years. Stefano Gabbana said that "This is a love split, not a business split,". Moreover he said "Domenico and I are still very good friends and, as for the working relationship, we are still very much together. Business, in fact, has never been better." Dolce & Gabbana Website (e)(i)