Dolce & Gabbana Taps Steven Meisel for Fall 2026 Campaign
Dolce & Gabbana has commissioned Steven Meisel to shoot its fall 2026 advertising campaign, extending a creative partnership that stretches back nearly four decades, according to WWD (WWD).
Meisel first photographed a Dolce & Gabbana campaign for the fall 1989 season. Since then, the American photographer has helped shape the visual identity of the Italian house's advertising, working across men's and women's collections season after season. The fall 2026 assignment is the latest in an unbroken run of recent campaigns: Meisel also shot the brand's Spring/Summer 2026, Fall/Winter 2025, Spring/Summer 2025 and Fall/Winter 2024–25 advertising — the last of which featured Miley Cyrus and model Leon Dame in black-and-white, per the brand's newsroom (Dolce & Gabbana Newsroom).
For the women's side of the fall 2026 campaign, Meisel focused on the design codes Dolce & Gabbana has built its image around: Sicilian-inspired themes, tailoring, religious symbols and lace detailing. Black dominates the imagery, set off against burgundy accessories (WWD).
The men's campaign takes a different but complementary direction, foregrounding sartorial looks — tailored clothing, in plain terms — alongside knitwear and denim. Dolce & Gabbana describes the men's and women's campaigns as autonomous yet in dialogue with each other, pairing femininity and masculinity across the two sets of images (WWD).
The Spring/Summer 2026 campaign, Meisel's most recent prior work for the house, was directed by him with styling by Karl Templer and hair by Guido Palau, and the brand's newsroom characterised its mood as one of "authentic elegance" built on contrasts (Dolce & Gabbana, via Facebook; Dolce & Gabbana Newsroom).
In the fashion industry, a campaign — the seasonal advertising imagery a house releases alongside its collection — is where the clothes meet the public. Runway shows are for buyers and press; campaigns are what fill magazine pages, billboards and social feeds. A photographer like Meisel, who has worked with the house since its early years, effectively co-authors how consumers read the brand.
What makes this particular pairing notable is its longevity. Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have changed creative directions, star collaborators and marketing strategies over 37 years, but Meisel has remained behind the camera for campaign after campaign. Few houses in luxury fashion maintain a single photographer relationship of that duration.
Fall 2026 collections are shown during the main fashion weeks in February and March — the Milan leg of the schedule is where Dolce & Gabbana presents. The campaign images typically follow the runway presentation by several months, timed to appear in publications and on brand channels ahead of the season's arrival in stores.
