What does it mean to be successful? Italian luxury label Dolce & Gabbana attempts to define the victory you crave by invoking a very big idea, that of a king, which is the center of its men’s fragrance, K by Dolce & Gabbana.
At first glance, this may be confusing for how can you, the average Joe, become a king, a ruler whose power stems from the divine? The brand, of course, is but tapping into a vision and wisely rewrites the benchmarks for success in the context of the present. It tweaks the idea of a monarch into the king of everyday life, and that—winning the day—is something you can do.
How Mariano Di Vaio Found Success
Another great idea? The brand anoints the right man to represent its ideals, Mariano Di Vaio. Apart from having that hyper-masculine look the brand subscribes to, as well as possessing a compelling face that stops you from clicking away, the 31-year-old model, actor, and entrepreneur has also achieved great success in the arena of what matters now: social media.
In 2012, Di Vaio launched his blog, mdvstyle.com, and, reports the brand, “became one of the first male fashion influencers to find success on a global scale.” In fact, in 2018, Forbes named him as Italy’s leading male influencer in retail and e-commerce.
Di Vaio's triumphs later spun into a complete clothing line of suits, shirts, shoes, and accessories, all made in his home country of Italy, and also a new headquarters for his company, MDV Group, which he established last year in Umbria. Currently, he has 6.2 million followers on Instagram. In short, Di Vaio is currently winning at life.
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How Di Vaio Puts Family Above Everything Else
All that is in service of what is truly important: his family. “I’m a father to three young boys and my family is everything to me,” he says. “However busy I am, I always make it my priority to spend lots of time with my wife and boys and, if I can’t be with them because I’m traveling, I FaceTime them everywhere I go.”
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Di Vaio, who lives in Perugia with his wife Eleonora and three fair-haired sons, Nathan Leone, Leonardo Liam, and Filiberto Noah, qualifies a perfect day as this: First, it is sunny and, more important, spent wholly with the family, whether it’s a round of golf or a big lunch or just palling around with his boys. For him, days are beautiful when he knows “that everyone I love is fine.”
So intrinsic is his family with his identity that Di Vaio finds them important to his work in social media, a medium where genuine communication is needed for success.
“For this reason, I involve my family in my business and, whenever possible, I ask them to travel with me,” he says. “…even if this is not the simplest way to approach my job, it's worth it because my kids will grow up with an attentive father.” Unlike other style stars on the ’gram, his feed is filled with many family snapshots from around the world, reflecting how in love he is with his wife and kids.
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How You Can Become King of Your Everyday Life
That’s one simple way to becoming the ruler of your life. You don’t need to set the world on fire. You only need to focus on what is right in front of you, the people you love, and concentrate on what’s happening right now. “I have a great family, I’m surrounded by friends, and I have a strong influence on my generation and the younger generation, too,” says Di Vaio of the brand’s proposition.
And as for the newest iteration of K, which is now a more potent perfume, Di Vaio considers it as a king’s companion. “You know, many fragrances just smell good, but this one is inspirational—it really does make me feel like a king,” he says.
He adds: “It has the power to evoke your deepest emotions and to bring out who you really are deep inside. When you wear it, you feel like you can be authentically you. You can be true to yourself and your intimate feelings.”
Di Vaio describes the wearers of K as confident, elegant, and sexy. “But when you strip everything away, the essence of his character is his intense love for his family. That is what lies at the depths of his being,” he adds.
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As the face of K tells it, the perfume edition is more intense, opening with zesty and fresh citrus, developing “a kind of a heat” from pimento essence and a “lovely lingering creaminess” from fig milk, and finally settling into patchouli, vetiver, and nagarmotha wood.
Di Vaio, the king of his life, advises using the sensual concoction for a night out with your wife. Which he does. That’s another perfect way of winning the day.
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