Dean and Dan Caten’s new collection for women picked up where their Spring ’16 show for men left off: at the beach. Waves splashed on the backdrop of the otherwise stark set and out strutted Mariacarla Boscono in a cutout maillot and hip-slung boy pants, a tangle of colorful climbing ropes harnessing her torso. This hasn’t been a big week for bathing suits, but the Catens gave us several different varieties, from sporty one-pieces to slinky little bikinis strung up with crystals. Sexy has more or less gone out of fashion in Milan, but not chez Dsquared2. Aside from those boyish trousers and a couple of pairs of high-waisted, tie-dyed jeans, the look here was seriously leggy. Pleated chiffon maxi skirts split open in the front, and otherwise it was all minis. Leather bandage dresses. Knit tube dresses worn two at a time. And, best of all, clingy scuba dresses with antecedents in Nicolas Ghesquière–era Balenciaga that combined tropical prints with bold swipes of color and three-dimensional embroideries.
This collection showcased the Catens’s strengths: sexy, athletic silhouettes; special denim; their insatiable eye for color. It also exposed a weakness: their too-strappy, overly high platform shoes. We’re not asking for Birkenstocks, even though real-life surfers do have a predilection for those old-school, cork-soled sandals, just something slightly more down-to-earth in which the models could really move.
