If you want to reflect on the way that fashion shows seem like a world of weird to the rest of the universe, a Dsquared² show isn't a bad place to start. Dean and Dan Caten blow a perfect fashion bubble, an immaculately detailed re-creation of whatever temporal fancy has gripped them for the season. That's because they are consummate Ziegfeld-scaled showfolk, geniuses at realizing every single detail of their fever dream. Today was all about an ideal tiki lounge, staffed with the kind of gorgeous showgirl talent pool into which Sinatra and Co. would dip their wicks with the chauvinist entitlement of Vegas gods. Ava Gardner even made an appearance, reincarnated in the ultra-shapely form of Catherine McNeil, spectacularly shoehorned into the bathing suit/cocktail dress hybrid that was the collection's defining item.
So defining, in fact, that you could only wonder at the milieu in which the Catens move. How often do designers declare that they're dressing their girlfriends? Dean and Dan must surely hang with the cocktail-swilling-est, poolside-lounging-est posse of broads in the (barely) civilized world. Their women today were all curves, all micro-this and mini-that, lampshade hats and cat-eye glasses, indolent, kept. It was kind of sensational. And, when the Catens took on clothes that might have a life outside a Rat Pack orgy, it hinted at Ginger in Casino. An apricot silk top with matching pedal pushers? There is a supermarket somewhere that is craving a visit from the overmedicated wearer of that outfit.
