The Dsquared2 show opened with a brief video that set the tone for the sexy coed collection the audience was bracing for. Cartoon naked blondes moved provocatively on a big screen before an IRL set-up recreating the messy room of a teenager, plastered with posters and stickers, was revealed.
An alarm clock went off, TikTok star Kyle Thomas opened his eyes, stretched his arms and voilà — he woke up not to a new day but straight to 2003. So did the show guests, who witnessed a Y2K-style parade and rewind of all the aesthetic codes Dsquared2 has been known for over the past two decades.
Think denim in all shapes and forms, from distressed finishes to low-rise options left unbuttoned to reveal double constructions; maxi puffers, shearling coats and renditions of plaid jackets and shirts; see-through frocks, teeny-tiny shorts, and low-waist, high-hem skirts; a Western aesthetic, and injections of leather motorcycle styles.
It was an exercise of “looking back to look forward” that reaffirmed Dean and Dan Caten’s penchant for layering, style mash-ups and self-expression.
There was the geek, the cowboy, the rocker, the bombshell, the athlete and many more. There were preppy looks popping in-between cowboy fringed jackets; a crystal-embellished net dress layered over a cropped T-shirt and denim HotPants; lingerie peeking from everywhere and a palate-cleanser pristine tracksuit that interrupted a series of slogan tops in shrunken proportions and T-shirts nodding to baby onesies.
A hodgepodge of characters, styles and references, here was an old-school Dsquared2 collection in all its overtly sexiness, irreverence and high-voltage energy.
If on one hand the lineup included good reminders of what the Catens do best — denim and outerwear stole the spotlight — on the other, some looks just felt a bit too anachronistic and hard to imagine behind the walls of that staged room today.
