Stefano Calls Elton "Ignorant"

Stefano Gabbana  has defended design partner Domenico Dolce over comments he made about IVF - and has attacked Elton John for wading in on the matter. The singer criticised Dolce and Gabbana for expressing their beliefs that the "traditional" family - of a mother, father and children - is how it "should be", saying that he found their beliefs "out of step with the times".

"Dolce has his own ideas. These attacks are fascist," Gabbana told Italian newspaper  Corriere della Sera yesterday. "I wasn't expecting it from a person like Elton John whom I considered - I underline considered - intelligent. You preach understanding, you preach tolerance and then you attack? Just because someone thinks differently to you? Is that supposed to be a democratic way of thinking? Enlightened? He's ignorant, in the sense that he denies ways of seeing things that may not be his but are just as deserving of respect."

Gabbana responded to the attack initially yesterday, with a measured statement asserting that, "it was never our intention to judge other people's choices. We do believe in freedom and love."

Several other designers - including Victoria Beckham, who  sent her love to all the ´beautiful IVF babies.´ and Balmian's Olivier Rousteing, who told us of Dolce "Sometimes it is better, when you have these kinds of thoughts, just not to talk at all" - have waded in on the debate, and so far all high-profile support has been for Elton John rather than for Dolce and Gabbana.

Model Josephine Skriver, who walked in the brand's final D&G show in 2011 and has also appeared in catwalk shows for the main line, added her voice to the debate yesterday, posting a picture of herself as a child on Instagram along with the caption: "I am a child born of love and nothing else.#IAmNotSynthetic #IVF." Skriver, who calls herself a ´rainbow baby´ was born to a mother and father who were both gay and who met with the intention of having a baby.