BRITISH POP LEGEND Sir Elton John is calling for a boycott of Dolce and Gabbana after one of the designers behind the Italian fashion label condemned IVF babies as “synthetic”.

The 67-year-old singer-songwriter, who has two young sons with husband David Furnish born via a surrogacy arrangement, attacked Domenico Dolce for his “archaic thinking”.

“How dare you refer to my beautiful children as ‘synthetic’,” John said in a posting on Instagram.

Elton John with his son Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John. Stephen Pond / EMPICS Sport Stephen Pond / EMPICS Sport / EMPICS Sport

“And shame on you for wagging your judgemental little fingers at IVF — a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children.

Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again. #BoycottDolceGabbana.

He was responding to an interview that Dolce, a practising Catholic who for many years was in a gay relationship with his business partner Stefano Gabbana, gave to Italy’s Panorama magazine, which has prompted several calls for a boycott of the brand.

“You are born and you have a father and a mother,” the designer said, according to the magazine’s online edition.

Or at least that’s the way it should be, and that’s why I’m not convinced by children from chemistry, synthetic babies, uteruses for rent, semen chosen from a catalogue.

John married his long-term partner Furnish in December in a star-studded ceremony attended by their two sons, four-year-old Zachary and two-year-old Elijah.

Associated Press reports that Gabbana said in a statement yesterday that “it was never our intention to judge other people’s choices. We do believe in freedom and love.”

Stefano Gabbana (left) and Domenico Dolce. Sean Dempsey / PA Wire/Press Association Images Sean Dempsey / PA Wire/Press Association Images / PA Wire/Press Association Images

Dolce says he was expressing his view about family based on his experience growing up in a traditional Sicilian family “made up of a mother, a father and children. I am very well aware of the fact that there are other types of families and they are as legitimate as the one I’ve known”.

Dolce said he was expressing his personal views “without judging other people’s choices.”

- © AFP, 2015. Additional reporting by Nicky Ryan. Published at 8.34am

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