Fifties-era American bad-girl teen-kitsch at the diner: that was where Dean and Dan Caten headed for spring with their Dsquared<sup 2</sup collection. Three of their pinup heroines, all ratted bouffants, stilettos, and eyeliner, set the show’s mood by roaring onto the set—furnished with classic cars and a gang of Dean and Brando look-alikes—on the backs of a trio of Harleys.
The Catens’ Killer Kittens were a roll call of trashy minxes, from biker chicks in babydoll leathers to Playboy Bunnies in overflowing corsetry to tiara-wearing beauty queens. Underpinning the collection was a commitment to cropping: cropped pants and jeans, slung low and cut provocatively in the back; cropped jackets; and cropped skirts and shorts snipped way, way up.
Judging by the vast crowd that surged into the hangar-like space on Milan’s outskirts to bear witness to the Dsquared<sup 2</sup show, the Caten twins are the latest, greatest designers to hit the Italian scene. Sure, this collection didn’t add anything to what has been said for years by the Versaces, Dolce Gabbana, and Roberto Cavalli; but then again, there’s no denying the buzz.
