Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have spent over 40 years creating an Italian lifestyle brand that leans into its founders’ ties to Sicily, offering a designer clothing line for men and women, a diffusion line for teens and kids, best-selling fragrances, a complete line of home goods and food and beverage offerings, and even an ‘Alta Moda’ collection.

Except for a five-year partnership with Shiseido, the beauty category has eluded the brand until now. Under the leadership of beauty CEO Gianluca Toniolo, Dolce & Gabbana is entering a space that has seen rapid and exponential growth in the last decade. To celebrate, the brand threw a swanky affair in lower Manhattan in partnership with exclusive launch retailer Saks.

FashionNetwork.com spoke to Toniolo about the ambitious growth plan for the category.

Held at fashion’s favorite hub, Spring Studios, and co-hosted with Kate Oldham, senior vice president of Saks Fifth Avenue, the brand transformed a massive studio into the world of Dolce & Gabbana by setting up makeup stations, interactive product walls, seating areas covered in brand signature leopard and recreating part of the makeup line’s debut advertising campaign, ‘Il Pranzo’ or ‘The Lunch.’

Shot by Steven Klein and starring Irina Shayk and Jerry Hall, the sultry film takes place in a Sicilian villa and mocks its old Italian mobster roots via a lunch where Shayk and Hall, in perfected makeup, have a pretend showdown. According to Toniolo, the project, which culminated in the release of 80 makeup SKUs and the campaign, is partly due to its quick and nimble nature.

Guests such as Alton Mason posed for social media ops along with the three Dolce & Gabbana beauty ambassadors: American beauty guru YouTuber Jake Warden, London-based makeup artist Naoko Scintu, and Netherlands-based makeup artist, beauty editor, and entrepreneurial content creator Celine Bernaerts who mingled with attendees.

Other guests had professional on-the-spot gloss-ups with the new makeup, interacted with a digital, and listened to the sounds of DJ Anastasia Bondarenko while sipping custom cocktails and nibbling on Italian-themed bites. One guest, a professional makeup artist, was impressed with what they saw, pointing out some quality features such as the eyeliners didn’t smudge and the face powder being free of harmful ingredients and had a ‘baked’ formula that keep skin shiny.Toniolo explained how the new division materialized.

“Before the makeup was not developed, it was licensed, and the brand didn’t control the merchandising, the number of SKUs, the returns, so we took it in-house to develop and elevate the positioning properly,” he told FashionNetwork.com.

Toniolo is the first CEO to lead the separate beauty division, which includes fragrances, makeup, and skincare, coming in 2025. The division now employs 300 staff and boasts six subsidiaries: Miami for the U.S. and Latin American markets, Dubai for the Middle Eastern market, Singapore for the Asian market, and Italy, France, and Spain as a joint venture.

The CEO was quick to point out that the line, which included 80 SKUs ranging from hyaluronic acid-infused face primers and pressed powders, dynamic eyeliners in jewel tones, a D&G logo palette featuring bold eye and cheeks colors, lip gloss, and a luminating face powder in a compact is made entirely in Italy.

“We aren’t partnering with an existing makeup company like before; we make all the formulations ourselves in our fragrance labs using ingredients found in Italy. Not another Italian fashion brand makes their own beauty products,” he noted.

Toniolo said that by year’s end, another 100 SKUs, including SPF foundations and lipsticks, will be introduced to complete the line. The first U.S. retail partnership will be Saks, with stores like Sephora and Alta Beauty eventually stocking the line.

The Everlift Luminizer features the Devotion aka Holy Heart motif borrowed from hardware in the brand’s accessories since 2015.

“It’s one of our unique points of difference from the others. It’s a unifying element in the DNA. It is recognizable to the customers who know our codes,” Toniolo explained, adding, “We are a fully Italian brand, and the founders manage the creativity across the brand, unlike other brands with multiple visions.”

“Our model and attitude is moving fast and nimble decisions made by Stefano Domenico and myself. That is how we have been able to set up a company and launch the new fragrances beauty and soon-to-come skincare brand; now you know our secrets,” he added before returning to the guests.