Toniolo (Dolce and Gabbana beauty): «Italianness is a key factor in our beauty»

The sound of the waves crashing against the Faraglioni of Capri, the warmth of the sun at dawn, the citrus scent carried by the breeze, the salty taste of sea water and the breathtaking view of the infinite horizon. It is the campaign - with the two new protagonists, the top model Vittoria Ceretti and the actor Theo James - of the Light Blue fragrances by Dolce&Gabbana that celebrates the 25th anniversary of the line, but also the success of a project, that of bringing the cosmetics business in-house, which Gianluca Toniolo, CEO of Dolce&Gabbana Beauty, defines as "a successful bet".

It all started three years ago, in 2022, when, after the license with the Shiseido group expired, the Dolce&Gabbana Beauty company was established: what point have you reached?

Actually, there are two years, because we became operational on June 1, 2023 and in this period we more than doubled our turnover with positive margins. But before talking about numbers, I would like to explain how we achieved these results. We were the first fashion brand to decide to directly manage the beauty segment and we did it according to a very specific principle: to enhance Italianness.

How did you put this principle into practice?

First of all by relying on 100% Italian production partners such as Icr and Cosmint for the thirty million bottles of our fragrances; but also on Intercos, Chromavis, Ancorotti and Artcosmetics for make up, which we relaunched last year. All Made in Italy excellences in the cosmetics industry. Furthermore, Italianness is the distinctive feature of all our launches, starting with Devotion, the first launch of the new Dolce&Gabbana Beauty, which from October 2023 to today has achieved a wholesale turnover of 180 million. Then there was Light Blue, which underwent a complete relaunch, but still remained on the island of Capri (the Light Blue and Light Blue pour homme eau de toilettes were perfected by master perfumers Olivier Cresp and Alberto Morillas, the packaging was redesigned with enamel caps inspired by the traditional Capri majolica tiles and two new creations were added to the family, the Light Blue Capri In Love and Light Blue Capri In Love pour homme eau de parfum, which celebrate the island's heritage, ed.).