LONDON -- When Dolce & Gabbana was in the headlines last year, it wasn't good news.
Domenico Dolce had made inflammatory comments opposing gay adoption and in vitro fertilisation, which prompted celebrities like Elton John to boycott the fashion house.
Now, in quite a turn of events, D&G has launched a capsule collection celebrating families with same-sex parents.
Designer Stefano Gabbana shared several photos on Instagram featuring a new collection of handbags and T-shirts that bear motifs of two men with three children, and two women holding two children.
#dgfamily A photo posted by stefanogabbana (@stefanogabbana) on Jan 28, 2016 at 7:03am PST
The move comes during a time of heated opposition as the Italian government considers a bill to allow gay men and women the right to adopt their partner's biological children.
#dgfamily ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ A photo posted by stefanogabbana (@stefanogabbana) on Jan 28, 2016 at 8:35am PST
Critics have branded the collection "too little, too late," given Dolce's previous comments.
"I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Rented uterus, semen chosen from a catalog," he told Italian magazine Panorama in 2015. In the same interview, Gabbana added: "The family is not a fad. In it there is a supernatural sense of belonging."
"Nobody will forget your statement of "synthetic children" with that synthetic bag of yours," read one of the comments on Gabbana's Instagram post.
"Ridiculously trying to fix what you said about homo-parental families," another comment read.
In politics we call this FlipFlopping. But to make money out of it... Hmm. Shrewd dolce Gabbana pic.twitter.com/jJngU3MD8E— bryanboy (@bryanboy) February 1, 2016
@AttitudeMag @dolcegabbana Too little too late I’d say.— Andrew (@andrewfaith) January 31, 2016
@AttitudeMag @dolcegabbana the synthetics children? Do not forget— M (@IlFidaDiLapo) January 31, 2016