Before they founded their label 25 years ago, Dean and Dan Caten waited on tables, did a part-time course at Parsons, freelanced for a Canadian store named Sublime, and then caught a break working for the then owner of Ports International, Luke Tanabe. Tonight these eternally puckish and utterly irrepressible twins presented an anniversary show that reminded us of where they’ve been and where they’ve got to.
As we waited in a hangar next to Fondazione Prada, we saw a scrolling video of campaigns past shot by Steven Klein, Mert and Marcus, et al. that leaned heavy on abs, tighty-whities, and Naomi Campbell. The lights went down startlingly early but that only was to preface another video of shows past—the airplane show looked fantastic and there was a funny slogan knit “Jesus Loves Even Me”—which climaxed with a montage of the Catens taking their bow from 1995 until nearly now.
The collection rolled out and seemed to pay homage to landmarks past. Was an oversize knit blanket coat a nod to Campbell’s first look at that fall 2003 airplane show? Surely we had seen Dsquared2 do Western womenswear for the very first time (for them, at least) back in Madonna’s video for “Don’t Tell Me”?
Even for the non-Dean-and-Dan completist in the hangar there was plenty for everyone to chew on. The vibe was hot pioneer vintage, and the silhouette was narrow at the bottom (tight kicked pants and jeans for men, bare legs for women topped by under-butt skirts) and volumized above (Western jackets, fake-fur fringed herringbone overcoats, a great waxed horseman’s long coat).
It came at you in ragtag waves on stacked-heel chisel-toe boots, and demonstrated the twins’ enduring knack for jackdawing ingredients from far and wide, then combining them to create a whole identifiably theirs. At the end of it we got the latest installment of the Dean and Dan bow. This time they were flanked by Sister Sledge and worked it to “We Are Family” with as much elastic thrust as first-disco teenagers. Happy anniversary Dsquared2!
