Canada is more than a land of ice and snow, red maple leaves and unfailingly polite people — it’s also Dan and Dean Caten’s home turf, and a continuous source of inspiration for the designers, who grew up in the Willowdale neighborhood of Toronto.
“I definitely think Canada’s a big influence for us,” mused Dan. “It’s our little bit of individuality inside [the] fashion industry, so we kind of milk it, and we work it, and it’s ours…We like to wave our flag whenever possible.”
Dean agreed, noting that he and his brother are “very proud” of having helped place Canada on the high-fashion map.
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From suiting up homegrown celebrities to running with the Olympic torch in Vancouver, here’s a look at all the ways the Dsquared2 twins have sung “O Canada.”
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Retail
In their first Milan flagship, which opened on Via Verri in 2007, the Caten brothers opted for a lodge-like decor that combined logs from old-growth trees with maple leaves, moose antlers, an imaginary forest, glowing fireplace, 39-foot suede bench and Champagne bar. In all, 17,000 timber chocks were manually stacked to create a store showcase.
Subsequent flagships in Paris, Tokyo, St. Moritz, Mykonos and Los Angeles closely mirrored the Milan boutique concept, although each also incorporated more local elements to the design. For instance, while the St. Moritz store featured a rustic look appropriate to its mountainous location, the Mykonos counterpart drew on the seaside spirit of the Greek islands.
Advertising
Shot by Steven Klein, Dsquared2’s fall 2004 advertising campaign featured Naomi Campbell and a posse of hunks in an explicit series of comic-book style images, titled “The Great White North.” The campaign took consumers on an outdoorsy romp, with not-so-subtle captions like “Bang” and “Is that wood hard enough to chop?”
For spring 2006, the wilderness theme returned in the form of sexy cowgirl Carmen Kass, the star of the “Dean and Dan’s Ranch” campaign shot by Mikael Jansson. The blonde model was shown lounging around in a foggy homestead, surrounded by horses and a bevy of scantily clad men carrying lassoes and pistols.
Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott were behind the camera for the brand’s spring 2010 campaign, which the designers called “Camping.” Against a vivid blue sky, models Daria Werbowy, Arthur Sales, Andre Bentzer, Kyle Ledeboer were shown hanging out by a pristine lake, with a rowboat and cooler — presumably beer-filled — in tow.
Honors & Awards
The designers’ love for Canada has been publicly reciprocated over the years, via a plethora of honors and awards.
Fashion Group International recognized Dean and Dan Caten for their accomplishments
in fashion on April 17, 2008, during the Night of Stars Gala at Toronto’s The Carlu event space.
On Sept. 14, 2009, the designers received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, a distinction shared with the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Céline Dion and James Cameron, among many others.
Vancouver’s Winter Olympics committee named the brothers “headline talent costume designers” for the event’s opening and closing ceremonies in February 2010. After participating in the Olympic Torch Relay on Feb. 9, the duo decked out such northern notables as Michael Bublé, Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado.
Last February at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto, Dean and Dan Caten received the Canadian Arts and Fashion Award’s prizes for “International Canadian Designer of the Year” and “Outstanding Achievement.” Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha, who won “Model of the Year,” collected her prize in a long, white Dsquared2 dress in double wool with asymmetrical shoulders.
Packaging
When the Caten brothers teamed up with licensing partner ICR-ITF on their first fragrance, one element was a given: wood. The aptly named men’s He Wood eau de toilette, which launched in 2007, not only made use of woodsy notes in the juice — it also encased the glass perfume bottle in a wooden frame.
The idea for the flacon stemmed partly from a bottle of maple syrup the designers spotted on sale at Toronto’s international airport.
In 2008, the women’s eau de parfum She Wood followed, also featuring a piece of wood along the top of the glass bottle.
A Certain Celebrity
While various Canadian stars have been spotted in Dsquared2, one has a special relationship with the brand’s designers: Grammy and Juno award-winning singer, songwriter and actor Michael Bublé.
Bublé clicked with the designers at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and the following April, he called on them for wardrobe assistance for his Buenos Aires wedding to Luisana Lopilato. The duo dressed Bublé in a “Hollywood Tuxedo” from their classic collection, with a black silk jacket and satin peak lapel, closed with a single button, and pants with a lateral black satin stripe. The shirt, in white popeline, was matched with a black bow tie and nickel and black leather cuff links. In a personal touch, the designers stitched their best wishes inside the jacket.
The singer again turned to the twins in 2013, when he needed a look for the cover of his album “To Be Loved,” and he donned Dsquared2 during his world tour the same year.
Show Themes
Dsquared2 shows are never just about the clothes; each season, the designers devise a new theme to entertain their guests, and Canada has been at the heart of the message on more than one occasion.
For their fall 2004 men’s and women’s lineups, the designers worked the “Great White North” theme, also used in that season’s advertising. Models — some carrying dogs — walked down the catwalk in furry ranger hats and red-and-black checked coats, with a backdrop of pine trees and snow.
More recently, the designers unveiled a “Hockey Horror” show for men’s fall 2010, with models in athletic jersey-like shirts decorated with skulls and maple leaves, and “Pioneer Cold Mountain” shows for both the men’s and women’s fall 2011 collections, with models striding forth from an icy backdrop in dark hats, long gloves and plaid wraps.
There’s No Place Like Home
To celebrate Christmas at home and the 50 candles on their birthday cake, in December the Caten twins threw a party evocative of their childhood yuletides of yore.
Approximately 140 of the designers’ relatives descended on Toronto’s Casa Loma — an early-20th-century Gothic Revival mansion — for a celebratory dinner made with Italian ingredients specially flown in for the occasion. The designers made sure to include their paternal grandparents’ names, Arcangela and Pietro Catenacci, on the invitations.