Is fashion too safe and boring at the moment? Dean and Dan Caten certainly think so, so they bathed a historic Milan theater in red light and served up a kinky “soft sado” spring collection, mashed up with pro wrestling’s flamboyant years, and added a side helping of “Magic Mike” bump and grind.
“The theater is in us, and today we are in the theater,” Dan Caten said backstage before the show, where guests were handed a playbill and ushered to their red velvet seats.
The curtains went up to reveal five cages, each housing a hunky dancer who emerged once a peep-show blind in each box had revealed its well-oiled cargo. Usher’s “Good Kisser” got their pelvic regions going.
And then the Dsquared2 collection stormed out, opening with vaporous chiffon camp shirts and leather pants for him, and vaporous dresses — or bits of dresses — lashed to the body for her.
The Catens have tilted their focus toward more evening looks lately, and here most ensembles were meant for after dark – or perhaps the darkrooms. There were Robert Mapplethorpe leather daddies with quarterback shoulders – the ’80s were another undercurrent — and questionable Borat-style bodysuits for her, and swimsuits with less material than a slingshot.
In between harness tops and bondage straps galore were sprinkled some cool low-rise denim, handsome blousons — including one jeans jacket in meaty latex — shrunken tank tops, and a logo T-shirt with a slogan that could go viral: “Homocore.”
“We’re entertainers and designers at the same time, and we like to tell a story,” Dan Caten shrugged backstage, making no apologies for the racy tale about to unfurl. “When others zig, we zag.”
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