Dean and Dan Caten have surfed in Bali and Barbados among other wave-riding destinations. Their surfing and snowboarding instructor was in the front row of their show today. So they knew whereof they spoke when they built their new collection around surfers. But, in typical Caten fashion, it was less the physical standing-on-a-board thing that appealed to them than, as Dean so artfully declared, the notion of surfers as "gypsy heartbreakers, nomad travelers with a techno edge, collecting souvenirs as they tour the world." Travel has been a theme in Milan this Spring season, but there were surely no other designers who conceptualized souvenirs as the lace panties a fly-by-night lover might snag from a girlfriend. (The twins said they got the idea from Bull Durham.)
That style of seaminess has long been the spice in a Dsquared² stew. Once upon a time, it might even have been the strongest flavor. But time passes, people mature, and the Catens have entered a period in their career where what they love to do and what they need to do must find a balance. They're still able to stage an immaculately detailed entertainment, the soundtrack and the set impeccable (today's back projection was distractingly good, and the mash-up of James Brown and Led Zeppelin demands release now!), but they also need to feed the beast of their business. That's what made today's presentation so provocative. How best to break it down? The tattoo-printed tulle body suits turned the Catens' platoon of beefcakes into Hawaiian warriors from a vintage photograph. Over the top they laid a 21st-century update: zip-back mesh tees anchored with raffia flowers, bonded leather shorts in neoprene shades, technique a-go-go.
At the same time, the Catens have always had a subversive streak, so the shorts and tops with beaded Hawaiian florals were simultaneously old school and weird. Same with the black lace peeking out from underneath a mesh tank. Even the masculine note added by huge military anoraks and massive crumpled denims had an over-the-top, slightly campy edge. But what has become clearer with the passage of time is that a Dsquared² show is as carefully calibrated as a mathematical equation. The boys left no turn unstoned with this outing. Their fans will fall at their surf-sandaled feet.
