A hot (vodka and berry) toddy and buffalo-plaid blanket helped make up for the late start and long-haul, no-frills location: a gutted factory on the outskirts of Milan. Not forgetting the mood-booster of a show.
At a time when everyone wants to be Canadian, Dsquared2’s Dean and Dan Caten couldn’t be prouder. A giant red maple leaf glowed on the building’s facade, while the collection deliriously tumbled together country codes.
The high-energy show trod a fun apres-ski-meets-a-night-at-the-opera storyline, with as its opening act a crystal-loaded gown slung with a thick wool cardigan and cinched with a hiking belt.
Looks were super layered up, with sequined lumberjack shirts — the grunge status symbol — morphing from appendages tied at the waist on men’s looks to full-on skirts in the women’s section.
The Catens even coined an albeit unpalatable term for their glamour-meets-grunge, mountain-high romp combining the feminine and the rugged: “glunge.”
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As designers get into the co-ed groove, collections are becoming increasingly incestuous. The Catens’ first go at it was no exception with the Liberty prints on pretty Edwardian-style prairie dresses resurfacing on parkas, and jewel-like red-and-white crystal embroidery on gowns also forming a glittering crust on men’s pants, jackets and backpacks.
‘Tis the season for outerwear and the designers shoveled it on with entrance-making cowhide jackets swinging with tassels, and oversize mash-ups of their signatures, with puffer panels fused onto the backs of big-volume sheepskin coats and parkas.
Though the crystal-encrusted hiking boots and tiara trucker hats might be novelty pieces for the average Joe, for the designers, in their super-glamorous world, this was just another day at the office. The twins had a blast here and so did we.