Dolce & Gabbana co-founder Stefano Gabbana has left the fashion house.

Stefano Gabbana, one of the founders of the legendary fashion house Dolce & Gabbana, has stepped down as the brand's chairman. The 63-year-old designer is considering options for disposing of his stake in the company (approximately 40%), Bloomberg reports.

Stefano Gabbana's place at the brand will be taken by Alfonso Dolce, brother of the brand's co-founder, Domenico Dolce, and the company's current CEO. According to a source, Gabbana left his post back in December, and Madonna attended his recent, and likely final, fashion show.

Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana founded the Dolce & Gabbana fashion house in 1985. Today, they are among the richest people in Italy, and the brand has become iconic. Madonna has long been the brand's primary muse, and Monica Bellucci and her daughter Deva Cassel, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lopez, Emilia Clarke, and others have also served as its faces. The fashion house produces numerous lines: luxury clothing and accessories Dolce & Gabbana, the casual and more affordable D&G line, as well as children's clothing, decorative goods and tableware, jewelry, cosmetics, and perfumes.

Dolce & Gabbana is also associated with numerous reputational scandals involving racism, stereotypes, and insults. One of the most notorious was the 2018 scandal in China. Back then, the fashion house released an ad mocking the use of chopsticks to eat Italian food, which was deemed racist by Chinese residents. This led to the cancellation of the Shanghai show and a boycott of the fashion house, forcing the designer to issue a public apology.

Earlier this year, the brand found itself in controversy again. It was criticized for the lack of racial diversity at its men's collection show. The runway featured exclusively "Italian"-looking models with brown hair and fair skin—not a single dark-skinned, Asian, or blonde model was present. The brand dubbed the show "Portrait of a Man," and the situation sparked a heated debate on social media.

A year ago, Donatella, sister of founder Gianni Versace, left another renowned Italian fashion house, Versace. She ran the company for 28 years after his death. The brand was soon acquired by Miuccia Prada's Prada Group, and Peter Mullier recently became its creative director.

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