Elton appeared to make a peace offering to Dolce and Gabbana on stage in Las Vegas on March 18, 2015, when he declared his love for them mid-way through.

But was he joking? Or was this sincere? The singer was listing a series of inspirational people who have changed the world, from Princess Diana to Nelson Mandela, before saying Dolce and Gabbana for Italy. It caused the crowd to burst into laughter, and after a pause, he added: "Listen, the band have been wearing Dolce & Gabbana, I love Dolce & Gabbana clothes."

This was either serious sarcasm or he was offering an olive branch after all. Elton - whose two sons Zachary, five, and Elijah, two, with husband David Furnish were conceived through IVF treatment - vowed to boycott the designers after they called IVF babies "synthetic" in a recent interview.

Since then, Stefano Gabbana has slammed Sir Elton as a "fascist" and "ignorant" after the singer encouraged people to boycott their brand. The 52-year-old designer - who runs fashion house Dolce and Gabbana with business partner Domenico Dolce - admitted he "didn't expect" such a backlash after the pair branded kids conceived through fertility treatment "synthetic" and admitted they "opposed gay adoptions".

Stefano also hit out at Elton for "attacking" the pair, who were in a relationship for 25 years until 2005, for having a "different opinion" to him. Speaking in Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, he said: "I didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect this, coming from someone whom I considered, and I stress 'considered,' an intelligent person like Elton John. I mean, you preach understanding, tolerance and then you attack others? Only because someone has a different opinion? Is this a democratic or enlightened way of thinking? This is ignorance, because he ignores the fact that others might have a different opinion and that theirs is as worthy of respect as his."

"It's an authoritarian way of seeing the world - agree with me or, if you don’t, I'll attack you. I even posted the word 'Fascist!' on his Instagram." Stefano also claimed he and Domenico had words "put into their mouths" and insisted it was "preposterous" that people have vowed to boycott their brand because of the comments.

He added: "It would be ridiculous. Either you like somebody’s songs or you don’t. When you go to the greengrocer’s, you don’t make sure that he agrees with your views on IVF. You just want to know if he has fresh products. This whole campaign came up online. It was created by a group of gay activists who put into our mouths words we never said. It became bigger and bigger. We are not boycotting and we will not boycott anyone. It’s like people who go to a football game to insult their opponents. That doesn’t make any sense. That’s preposterous."

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