Dolce and Gabbana rely on young assistants to help them stay current.
The Italian design duo of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana presented their first women’s collection in 1985 and revealed they hire young people because the "ignorance of youth" is helpful when they are creating new designs.
Stefano said: "We have been young, and we are mature men now, but we remember, we know what it means not to have support. So we appreciate, help and enhance young people. We have young assistants in their 20s, we toss them in the midst and they help show a different point of view. It’s the ingenuity or ignorance of youth that should be heeded in every field because it helps you see things in a different light. We always ask young people for their opinion. It’s very important."
Dolce, 53, and 49-year-old Stefano are often referred to as "boys" rather than men and they believe it is because they are not afraid to take risks.
Stefano added to WWD: "We know we are no longer boys, we are men. Maybe it’s because no other big designer emerged after us, or maybe because, as you were saying, we take risks, which is associated with youth. It’s not arrogance, but we’ve never been afraid to dare, because if we are sure, we just go for it. It’s an attitude. We are free in our decision making, and we are sort of brave in that sense."