Madonna, Stefano Gabbana, and Domenico Dolce have lived a 40-year-long love story that’s articulated itself on runways and continent-hopping tours. How do you even begin to capture that kind of iconography? In a perfume bottle, of course.
“Domenico and Stefano are like brothers to me. We have such a long history together,” Madonna shares with Vogue exclusively about some exciting news: She is now the face of Dolce Gabbana’s The One Fragrance. “I remember I had just given birth to Lola, [and] the first time I put on one of their dresses: my waist was snatched, my boobs were out, and I felt confident.”
For Madonna, their work celebrates the sexiness, confidence, and fearlessness with which she lives her own life. And while the singer has been the face of many a D&G fashion moments—including an entire fashion season dedicated to her likeness—this is the first time the trio has collaborated when it comes to fragrance.
“The three of us are attracted to the idea of pushing boundaries and challenging social norms,” she continues. That’s played out across numerous collaborations over the last few decades, with pop culture-defining shoots lensed by Steven Klein and tours that followed costumed by the house.
Despite that longstanding relationship, the embers of first love still flicker for Gabbana: “I get butterflies in my stomach when I see her!” he says. What does that kind of history, romance, and connection smell like, you might be asking?
Well, it made total sense for both Dolce and Gabbana, then, for the one and only Madonna to become the face of their fragrance, The One: an intense amber and floral scent that joins the D&G family of fragrances. (This is a house that knows exactly how to make instantly recognizable and transportive parfums, having reimagined and relaunched the zesty and Mediterranean-aired Light Blue last year.)
“Doing this campaign felt like a natural extension of our personal and professional relationship,” Madonna adds.
Gabbana recalls his first fashion show, aged just 20 in 1984, when Madonna was only a far-off reference. She was touring in Italy with Blonde Ambition, and Dolce and Gabbana hopped in their car to see her perform in Turin. This time, she was wearing that Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra.
“I said to Domenico: ‘You think one day this girl would wear something by us?’” Gabbana recalls. A few months on, he saw her on the front page of a newspaper, partying in Paris, wearing a jersey skirt and net D&G shirt: “I collapsed.” From there, they got close: Madonna wore a stoned D&G guêpière for the In Bed With Madonna documentary premiere, and they designed more than 1,500 costumes for her and her dancers for the 1993 Girlie Show tour. “People began to know Dolce Gabbana because of Madonna,” he shares.
The One campaign film—shot by Mert Alas—references the Italian icon, Venetian pop star Patty Pravo, with Madonna covering her sensual, smoky 1968 song “La Bambola” and singing totally in Italian. Madonna decided upon it herself, a striking anthem about a woman’s frustration with being treated as if she’s disposable by a lover, demanding respect and rejecting objectification. That’s reflected in the cinematic visuals, where a commanding Madonna reclines on a bed with actor Alberto Guerra on a stormy Italian night. “She has the control,” says Gabbana. “She is a genius. A perfect face for the fragrance.”
While Madonna says she isn’t a big fan of following trends—of course, she sets them—the beauty and complexity of Italian women has always transfixed her. “I feel Italian women’s beauty comes through their confidence, independence, and effortless style,” she says.
“It’s so fun and sexy, and makes me want to know what everyone smells like,” Gabbana says cheekily of the campaign. “Yes, it’s a fragrance, but this is a real part of the history of Dolce Gabbana and Madonna.”
