Fifties-era American bad-girl teen-kitsch at the diner: that was where Dean and Dan Caten headed for spring with their Dsquared<sup>2</sup> collection. Three of their pinup heroines, all ratted bouffants, stilettos, and eyeliner, set the show’s mood by roaring onto the set—furnished with classic cars and a gang of Dean and Brando look-alikes—on the backs of a trio of Harleys.
The Catens’ Killer Kittens were a roll call of trashy minxes, from biker chicks in babydoll leathers to Playboy Bunnies in overflowing corsetry to tiara-wearing beauty queens. Underpinning the collection was a commitment to cropping: cropped pants and jeans, slung low and cut provocatively in the back; cropped jackets; and cropped skirts and shorts snipped way, way up.
Judging by the vast crowd that surged into the hangar-like space on Milan’s outskirts to bear witness to the Dsquared<sup>2</sup> show, the Caten twins are the latest, greatest designers to hit the Italian scene. Sure, this collection didn’t add anything to what has been said for years by the Versaces, Dolce & Gabbana, and Roberto Cavalli; but then again, there’s no denying the buzz.
