Elton John urges Dolce and Gabbana boycott over 'synthetic' babies

LONDON - British pop legend Elton John called for a boycott of Dolce and Gabbana on Sunday 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.

"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.

"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.