Prior to launching their menswear line two decades ago, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were content to make pretty tight things for the ladies. (Actually, Dolce might have been a little tired of the rumors that he frequented priests’ outfitters for his preferred all-black garb.) “In some ways it was easier to start the men,” Gabbana tells the Telegraph, “[because] we already had the woman—so we were looking to dress the husband, boyfriend, fiance, father, brother.”

By the late 90s, the duo found their muse in footballer David Beckham, whom they essentially credit with making fancy duds cool for non-homos. “Before, [men’s fashion] was for social things, for gays, for eccentrics, for weirdos,” Gabbana explains. “David was the start, a hot, straight family man with kids.” No word if the boys reciprocated the favor by donning Beckham’s Adidas Originals collection.