Italian fashion icons and designing duo Dolce and Gabbana got some unflattering news this week: They both were charged with tax evasion.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have spent 28 years creating the brand of Dolce and Gabbana with clothing, handbags and all kinds of D&G accessories. An Italian appeals court gave the pair, Dolce, 55, and Gabbana, 51, an 18-month jail sentence, stemming from their 2013 tax case. They also received fines of up to 10 million euros. This is a reduction from the previous lower-court ruling, which gave the pair 20-month sentences, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Italian courts upheld their conviction, which was handed down last June for allegedly avoiding taxes on approximately 1 billion euros in the 2004 sale of their Dolce & Gabbana and D&G brands to a holding company in Luxembourg. It was later revealed that Dolce and Gabbana had actually owned the Luxembourg-based Gado company.

It was after the sale to the Luxembourg company that Italian tax authorities started asking questions about the pair's finances. In addition to these tax evasion charges, they have been accused of hiding hundreds of millions of euros. Even Dolce and Gabbana's accountant, Luciano Patellito, was charged, but he received a suspended sentence of one year and six months in prison, E! News reported.

The original criminal charges followed a 343.4 million euro ($439.70 million) fine ordered payable as restitution last spring. During the trial, the Milan tax court had ruled in favor of Italy's tax authority, which found that Dolce and Gabbana had engaged in a "conduct of abuse with the only goal of obtaining a fiscal advantage," Forbes reported.

Dolce and Gabbana are not alone. There have been other designers who were scrutinized over their financial transactions. Roberto Cavalli was eventually cleared of all charges; Valentino was fined; taxing authorities reportedly targeted Miuccia Prada and her husband, Prada Chief Executive Patrizio Bertelli, on charges of tax evasion.

Michael Musto, author and writer, raised a vital point in his open letter to Dolce and Gabbana in SCENE,.

"You've brought lots of joy to those who can afford it, and you've elevated the aesthetic environment of our entire planet by making things sleek, patterned, sexy and eyeball-grabbing. But why did you have to cut corners with your finances? You make a fortune," he wrote.

That is the $10 million question.

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