Dolce and Gabbana

My final chosen brand for this unit is Dolce and Gabbana. I've chosen to research this brand because of the seer beauty of the range. I was inspired by an advert for their 'Passion Eyes' mascara, featuring Scarlet Johansson against a beautiful background of the Sicilian coast. As we are focussing on Spring/Summer for this unit, I feel very inspired by this image that represents the luxurious heritage of the brand.

"The Dolce & Gabbana makeup line is a modern classic range of must-have products for eyes, lips, face and nails. The collection is inspired by the Dolce & Gabbana woman who is always looking for the perfect look each day."

Italian design duo Dolce and Gabbana launched their makeup line in 2009.The line is a collection of products for the "modern woman". Backed by a list of celebrity faces, such as Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Frieda Pinto and Claudia Schiffer, the line has become a huge success for the brand. 

The brand, owned by Procter and Gamble (P&G) is the first high end brand for the company, and a huge step up from its drugstore brands such as Max Factor and Cover girl. 

It is a brand of luxury products and it absolutely exudes luxury and exclusivity, despite Stefano Gabbana saying in an interview that the line is "for the rich and not rich, young and old". By the same token, the designers also said that the brand would be sold in "very selected top luxury department stores, such as Saks in New York and Harrods in London.

The line is a way for the fashion house to reach a much broader audience. A £25 lipstick is much more accessible to most people than a £1500 dress. In times of economic struggle or recession, lipstick and cosmetic sales go up. Women find it much easier to recycle outfits with a quick change of lipstick. 

The brand is massively influenced by the roots of the designers in Sicily, and this translates right through to the makeup. Both designers have a passion for red lips, but only added orange hues after makeup artist Pat McGrath (who is also the Creative Director for P&G) insisted they add other tones to the collection, to suit different tastes and skin tones. The designers said they would only tolerate it if it was the colour of oranges from Sicily. 

Since launching in 2009, the brand has managed to maintain their luxurious label, and have launched boundary pushing products. The brand made headlines when they launched their limited edition Sicilian Jewels collection. 

This was a holiday collection of 4 lipsticks and matching nail colours; one of which being a pure emerald green. Although shocking initially, as with any new trend people got used to it, and hugely respected makeup artist Pat McGrath was involved with many campaigns of showing people how to make the lipstick wearable. In their Summer 2015 makeup collection, the brand included a pale blue lipstick in the collection.