Raunchy Hot! DsQuared2 SS24

June 17, 2023June 17, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Nobody serves raunchy hotness (and sex) in Milano like DsQuared2‘s Caten twins. The backdrop scenario from yesterday’s spring-summer 2024 fashion show: a penthouse overlooking Miami Beach where porn star Rocco Siffredi was (pretending to) film (what else?!) a porn movie starring Julia Fox enjoying herself (euphemistically speaking) with an unidentified partner on a four poster bed hidden from view (barely) by a screen. Guests attending the show were treated to the aforementioned vignette serving as the catwalk’s backdrop, with an aside of moaning by Donna Summer’s “Love To Love You Baby.” Everyone familiar with Dean and Dan Caten knows their irrepressible naughty, funny streak. But here they surpassed themselves. “It’s steamy. Sexual versus proper. WASP-y country club versus raunchy. Privileged upper crust trying out adult entertainment,” they chanted in unison. “Elites meet snob. Snob meets knob.” The collection was a barely-there rendition of the Catens’ 2000s mash-ups, reduced to a minimum of body coverage. Yet the humor made the bawdiness of the show outrageously entertaining. After an endless parade of preppy-golf-tennis wear hybridizations with plenty of exposed underwear (for guys) and a series of almost-in-a-state-of-undress minidresses, one skimpier than the other (for girls), out came Fox, clad in a virginal white lace babydoll, all frills and ruches (an homage to ’90s porn star Cicciolina perhaps?) But the cherry on the over-the-top cake was the finale, with Rocco Siffredi taking to the catwalk and opening his blue blazer to reveal a red T-shirt emblazoned with the acronym V.I.P. – Very Important Penis. I’m here for sex and fun having a big return to fashion, and DsQuared2 leads the game.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Teenage Madness. DsQuared2 AW23

January 14, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

I just love it when DsQuared2 goes naughty, sleazy, hot and unapologetically DsQuared2. While other brands are trying to desperately capture the Y2k style, Dean and Dan Caten don’t have tii force it – they simply have it in their blood. And with styling help of Haley Wollens, they delivered a great show on the first day of men’s Milan Fashion Week. “Teenage madness!” shrieked the Caten twins in unison backstage before the show. “We’re looking back to look forward, thinking of what we’ve done in the past, and the energy of the Dsquared2 rebels,” they said. “We’re celebrating what we were already pushing a long time ago – being yourself, being individual, and the freedom of feeling comfortable in your own skin. No judgment.” The Dsquared2 posse of teenagers flaunted a string of characters straight from the Catens’ dorm room years: the geek, the goth, the starlet, the emo, the femme, all in their own broken-up/put-back-together-again finery. The dorm room in question was actually meticulously reproduced as the catwalk’s backdrop, furnished with all the cool paraphernalia which has populated the teenage years of every generation, from X to Y to Z and everything in between. Describing the zillion combinations the twins were able to concoct would, in fact, be madness. To very partially summarize, Western fringed jackets, Canadian outerwear, crystal-studded destroyed denim, cowboy leather jockstraps, ultra-low slung cargos, exposed boxers, teddy bear bombers, lace panties and see-through camisoles were put into their fashion percolator, spit out and re-assembled into beautifully body-revealing crazy ensembles. “Playing with girl things, playing with boy things, nothing is hotter than a hot guy in girly panties!” they enthused. “So we kind of went there. Openness! Playfulness! Courage! And no judgment.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Men’s – Surf-Board. DsQuared2 SS23

June 19, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Then ride it with my surfboard, surfboard, surfboard

Graining on that wood, graining-graining on that wood.

For spring-summer 2023, DsQuared2 went surf-boy-mode. Dean and Dan Caten’s layering extravaganza inspired by surf culture and 1970s Jamaica is just what a stinking-hot summer wardrobe needs and wants. The Catens worked with the Bob Marley Foundation, which granted them permission to reproduce a portrait of the reggae genius on T-shirts, beach totes, and bags. “We liked the vibe of that time, and the freedom and rebellion he represented,” they said backstage. “Peace and love, and the joy of music.” From the Jamaican flag they extracted bursts of color punctuating the sporty pieces they excel at, while cool formal options were styled imaginatively in well orchestrated chaos, as in the collection’s hero ensemble: a sloped-shoulder evening tux or checked blazer worn with a low-slung tie-dye sarong, or over multicolor printed beach pants. Each passing season, the Catens’s layering reaches new heights – with Vanessa Reid’s masterful styling help. It’s a fun formula that they’re able to articulate with gusto, keeping it rather fresh and entertaining. Another collaboration, this one with Honda, energized biker jackets and various patched leather pieces with a ’70s flavor. They added a tougher spin to the mellow, quirky surfer look of slouchy striped knits, humongous bermudas in printed nylon, and patchworked flares with appliqué marijuana leaves.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Spiritual Wanderer. DsQuared2 AW22

March 1, 2022March 1, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

The Dsquared2 spiritual wanderer is a peace and love messenger. “Times are calling for something coming from the heart,” Dean and Dan Caten said. “Let’s come together in harmony and unity, protecting freedom. Peace, love and freedom, that’s the only message.” The Catens have perfected the maximalist mashup, with layering elevated to an art form. Describing every look of the autumn-winter 2022 collection would take ages, as their mastery of fashion combination is not only inventive but meticulous. “Every outfit hides a memory, a talisman, an amulet found during a journey,” they said. Charms, dangling bell chains chiming at every step, and healing crystal necklaces were part of a hippy wanderlust wardrobe grounded in great oversized outerwear, puffy, outdoorsy, inventively engineered and hybridized. There’s lots of method in the Catens’ apparent madness. Knitwear was one of the collection’s standouts, chunky, enveloping, mostly proposed in striped folksy patterns. It was worn over flowy short apron dresses layered over tartan kilts or cargo pants, or over ultra-washed, extra-fluid denim pants. Blanket coats and ponchos, fake fur coats, and an array of tops, printed dresses of various lengths and unspecified layering pieces were mixed together with creative abandon. It made for a fun, lively outing, a welcome jolt of energy and optimism.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – 25 Years. Dsquared2 AW20

January 12, 2020 | Design & Culture by Ed

While I can’t recall Dsquared2 catching my attention in the last few years, Dean and Dan Caten‘s men’s autumn-winter 2020 show – simultaneously being their 25th anniversary show – was something the label needed: sharp, naughty and distinctly Dsquared2. The collection paid homage to the label’s past – think whild, shouty, at times crappy 2000s fashion. Probably the oversize knit blanket coat was a nod to Naomi Campbell’s first look at their notoriously great autumn-winter 2003 airplane show. There was Western-inspired style they conceived for Madonna’s “Don’t Tell Me” video. The collection was also all about sultry pioneer vintage. The silhouette was narrow at the bottom (tight kicked pants and jeans for boys, bare legs for girls topped by under-butt skirts) and volumized above (big shearling jackets, fake-fur fringed herringbone overcoats, a great waxed horseman’s long coat). Also, when was the last time ripped denim and plaid shirts looked so hot? One might wonder if the beginnings of 2020s should look back at 2000s fashion in such a literal way. But it’s Dsquared2, it’s a glossy, loud, non-stop after-party.