“Animal Magnetism,” by Hamish Bowles, first appeared in the May 2000 issue of Vogue. For more great stories from Vogue’s archive, sign up for our Nostalgia newsletter here. As their glamorous new Milan penthouse shows, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are as skilled at mixing styles at home as they are on the runway.

IN THE SWIM
The designers’ signature leopard print even appears by the pool. The three-story penthouse sits high above the Milan skyline, with landscaped terraces. The pool is made of volcanic-rock tiles from Stromboli.

For their show that season, the sweeping chords of Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana (“sweet and strong and romantic”) opened the runway, as they had for thirteen years, before shifting symbolically into pounding, high-voltage disco. In the designers’ new home, centuries also collide, and gilded eighteenth- and nineteenth-century furniture sits comfortably beneath Basquiat and Warhol works.

HOME AND AWAY
For their fall runway set, the designers used a 1926 Tamara de Lempicka portrait, which hangs in the entrance gallery with an Art Deco chaise and a chinoiserie screen.

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The visual mix starts with the couple themselves. Tall, lithe, and urbane, Stefano Gabbana, 37, looks like a figure out of Lampedusa (the grand, aristocratic Sicilian author whose masterpiece The Leopard is a touchstone for them both), while cheerful Domenico Dolce, 41, could have stepped out of a bawdy Boccaccio tale. Cathy Horyn, fashion critic for the New York Times, once playfully called them “fashion’s Laurel and Hardy.” They are also stars of Milan’s fashion-obsessed nightclub scene—they even own Post Garage, a disco glamorously decorated like a New Age El Morocco in the animal prints they can never get enough of, whether at work or at home. This home is no exception—it is a riot of zebra and leopard prints; there is even a shag carpet that turns out to be sheared Persian lamb.

MODERN OASIS
The deck, virtually the only minimal space in the house.
A shady spot on the terrace.

Their new apartment came after a two-and-a-half-year search through central Milan, followed by a renovation that took almost as long. “You instinctively know when you feel good in a place. You feel a connection,” Gabbana says of the couple’s seemingly endless search. “I don’t think the real estate agent thought we were serious,” he recalls. “But finally we came here and felt that connection.” Ironically, that special place was diagonally across from their corporate headquarters, a magnificent eighteenth-century palazzo outfitted with the kind of extravagance Italy expects of its fashion czars (especially those who control an empire estimated at more than $300 million). In their offices, the sweeping staircase is hung with padded crimson velvet, and a colorful Venetian glass chandelier refracts rainbow light in a dining room lined and curtained in dazzling Cruella De Vil zebra stripes. A huge marquee set up in the garden serves as the setting for their exuberant fashion shows.

BELLISSIMO
A dining spot on the upper terrace.

Even so, the new apartment presented a challenge. “It was very seventies—orange peel walls, brown carpet on the floor,” Gabbana says. Two months after they bought the apartment, half of the fifth floor of a substantial building, they realized it was too small. So they negotiated with the owners of the penthouse upstairs and acquired that as well. Then they were offered the rest of the fifth floor, too. “So we ended up with three apartments—it was like a patchwork!”

DARK VICTORY
Hand-painted silk walls and a chaise by Ron Arad in the guest room.
Patent leather and zebra skin in the master dressing room.

With this vast space, they could seriously indulge themselves. “Basically, we wanted a feeling of life,” Gabbana says of their approach. “I don’t know if we have good taste or bad taste—but we have ataste! We didn’t want an apartment that looked like an architect’s work, but something that reflected our lives—past, present, and future. We had collected things on our travels around the world, and we wanted a place where we could bring everything together.” Sicilian ceramics in the kitchen.
Baroque mirrors in the library.
The upstairs living room.
“For me, the kitchen is the heart of the house,” says Dolce. “It’s a very Italian thing,” agrees Gabbana. “For me too, the kitchen is where everything happened in my childhood—where I did my homework, played with friends, and talked through problems with my family. That’s the feeling we wanted to capture.” On each level, the rooms are designed to flow through the two kitchens and dining rooms, rather than around them. Dolce, who studied architecture for a while in Palermo before getting into fashion, worked with architect Claudio Nardi on the structure, while Rodolpho Dordoni helped the pair find antiques and artworks—thirties and contemporary pieces, as well as the “baroque Sicilian” look they love. A plate of Sicilian marzipan.
In fact, Dolce is hands-on with the design of all the properties in their ever-growing portfolio, which now includes a seaside villa in Roquebrune on the French Riviera (a short drive from Milan) and a house on Stromboli, the volcanic island off Sicily made famous by director Roberto Rossellini’s powerful 1949 film. These houses reflect their two aesthetics. Roquebrune, where “everything is black and white, and linear,” bears Dolce’s signature. Stromboli reflects Gabbana’s spirited taste, which, as he describes it, is “more chaotic, more ‘Italian folk.’ It’s really, really, really colorful. A mix of cheap and chic, the worst and the most beautiful things mixed together!” The first-floor enfilade.
In the Milan apartment, these two aesthetics blend as powerfully as they do in the duo’s fashion work. Dolce’s cool, pared-down architectural sense—with its airy views and large open spaces inside and out (perfect for their energetic Labradors, Lola and her son, Dali)—is filled with the eclectic treasures Gabbana has gathered over the years. “I like to step into the past—but then to put that together with the Warhols,” says Gabbana, who has quite a collection of his works. Labradors Lola and Dali in the dining alcove.
Despite the apartment’s cool urbanity, there is something indefinably Sicilian about it too—and little to suggest that it is right in the middle of Milan. “Sicilian style for me is about a passion for life,” says Gabbana. “It’s about one color—black—that then absorbs all the other strong colors. Domenico has that passion for life inside him. He was born in a small mountain village in the middle of Sicily.” The more intimate spaces in the apartment are paneled in the same heavy black raw silk that was once used for a Dolce & Gabbana opera coat; even the windows are curtained in billowing drifts of black silk chiffon. Outside, the terraces have been landscaped with an exotic but rustic mix of palm trees, roses, geraniums, and plenty of herbs, which are picked fresh for the earthy Sicilian dishes Dolce loves to prepare for the close-knit circle of friends they entertain for dinner nearly every night. A Baroque painting in the entrance.
The pool on the roof is an optimistic addition given Milan’s often gray climate. “We wanted it to feel like a beach in Stromboli,” explains Gabbana, so they had it laid with tiny black volcanic pebbles from the island. The terraces surrounding it have been landscaped by Giorgio Fornari, the visual mastermind who also creates the elaborate and evocative sets for the designers’ fashion shows. “For Domenico and me, he is like an artist with a beautiful point of view,” says Gabbana. “And he understands us very well.” This season, they wanted toTo give the public a closer look at their private world, they recreated the spirit of their new apartment in the set of their fashion show. They even brought in furniture and paintings, like the striking 1926 Tamara de Lempicka portrait in the entrance hall that Gabbana gave to Dolce as a Christmas present three years ago. For both of them, this portrait and the spirit of the fabulous de Lempicka (“a ‘future woman’—very independent, very glamorous, very disciplined, and not too sweet”) became the starting point for their fall collection. “Our job is our life, our life our job,” says Gabbana. “And we love our house like we love our clothes.”

Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs From the Archives A Look Inside Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolces Glamorous Milan Apartment

1 Whose apartment is this article about
Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce the founders and designers behind the luxury fashion house Dolce Gabbana

2 Where is the apartment located
In Milan Italy

3 Why is this apartment considered glamorous
Its packed with bold maximalist style rich fabrics animal prints gold accents leopard motifs and ornate details that reflect the designers overthetop aesthetic

4 What does From the Archives mean in the title
It means the article is pulled from an earlier issue or past coverage a look back at a previously published feature

5 Is this their current home
Not necessarily Since its from the archives the photos and details reflect the apartment at the time the piece was originally published

6 What design style is the apartment known for
Maximalism More is more think baroque touches bold patterns and luxurious textures layered together

7 What is maximalism in simple terms
A design approach that embraces abundance lots of color pattern texture and objects instead of a clean minimal look

8 Whats the difference between maximalism and minimalism
Minimalism uses few elements and lots of empty space Maximalism fills the space with layers of color pattern and décor

9 What are some standout features of the apartment
Leopardprint upholstery gilded mirrors crystal chandeliers rich velvet and silk fabrics and rooms styled like a theatrical set

10 Why would someone want to see inside a fashion designers home
A home reveals personal taste and creativity For designers it often shows the same vision that shapes their collections just in living form

11 What can I learn from this apartment if Im into interior design
How to mix patterns layer textures and use bold statement pieces without the space feeling chaotic

12 Can I recreate this look on a budget
Yes in small doses Start with one statement piece a leopardprint throw a goldframed mirror or a velvet cushion and build slowly