Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabanna have been sentenced to jail for one year and eight months for tax evasion. Though the sentence is suspended pending an appeal. Twenty months is like an eternity in the fashion industry, so what should they do to keep themselves relevant while behind bars? Personally, I think the fashion house has been given an amazing opportunity to increase its target audience. At a time when high end luxury brands are struggling to be relevant to the masses, D&G can blaze the trail to a new way of looking at couture.
“Street cred” is hard to come by for traditionally couture brands, unless the founders of your fashion house are heading to the slammer. Instant “street cred” right there! BOOM! I can see the headlines now, as if Italians aren’t fashionable as it is, now the prison population in Italy will have access to high end couture our American prisoners can only dream about. Don’t forget D&G originally introduced us to the gangster boss pinstripe suits, so prison jumpsuits seem like the obvious right thing to do here. I don’t know about you, but I think this could be an amazing opportunity for them to conduct relevant market research, and give us rebels without a cause access to a world few of us will ever be a part of! Can’t wait to Milan Fashion week 2014!!
