Dolce and Stefano Gabbana say they can't work without each other.

The design duo have worked together for the past 30 years - 23 years of those as a couple until they split in 2005 - and they admit they can't see a future without their Dolce & Gabbana label.

Stefano told the Financial Times newspaper: "The worst time for us was when we broke up but kept working together. We thought about splitting up, but no. And the truth is, everything is exactly the same. But no sex! I can't work without Domenico. Maybe one day there will be a Dolce collection and a Gabbana collection."

However, Domenico said: "No. Never. This is my destiny."

The Italian sartorialists say they have high hopes for their label and joked they wanted Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld to take over.

Stefano said: "We want to be a maison, like Chanel. But maybe we need to die first."

Domenico added: "And then Karl [Lagerfeld] could come in and do the collections!"