Dean and Dan Caten know how to have a good time. Fashion shows, for them, are big-top entertainment – their DSquared2 shows have, over the years, become legendary. There was the one with the male model doing crunches in anti-gravity boots, in an ode to American Gigolo; another that opened with a plane crash before revealing a trio of muscled castaways on a lush desert island backdrop. There was the spring 2005 one where Christina Aguilera took a turn as the finale model, surrounded by scantily-clad guys (detect a theme?). And, spanning right back to their first womenswear show, there was Naomi Campbell bounding up to the steps of a private jet before hurling away her shopping bags to take a runway strut. In a word, they’re beyond.
Well, add another one to that cavalcade of eye-popping, jaw-dropping catwalk believe-it-or-not moments. In fact, you can add about ten from their Autumn/Winter 2025 show. DSquared2 turns 30 this year, so Dean and Dan decided to throw a party. The scene was a New York City street, built out in a vast Milanese hall, maybe purely as an excuse for a bevvy of cars – from Cadillacs to yellow taxi cabs to armoured tanks – to roll up and disgorge a selection of superstar models, ready to both pay homage and also just to have fun. The opening act was Doechii, fresh from her Grammy win, strutting out in a glorious collage of Canadian hiking gear and red-carpet arrival dress, spewing dollar bills as she walked. That set the tone for a collection that spiralled through every DSquared2 signature, with a few archival nods along the way. Each exit was an event, spotlit, the models forming a phalanx at the top of the catwalk against a warehouse – DSquared2 Bros Co, of course.
And the clothes were, in effect, a bevy of greatest hits, from slick, perfectly tailored suiting to crystal blinged evening gowns to the distressed denims that the Catens first launched their label with back in the 1990s. 30 years of work, edited down to a selection that looked and felt as relevant today as it ever did. Naomi was present and correct, in a BDSM, laced leather leotard and hair roughly the size of a Ford Cortina. Amelia Gray was dolled up as a Cher doppelgänger, emerging shortly after a pair of male models in leather daddy looks straight from the mineshaft, and a slithery silver sequin gown right out of Studio 54, if we’re playing the New York guessing game. When it comes to guests, it wasn’t just the models – the Catens chose their birthday to collaborate, working with young designers Magliano and Vaquera, the Italian motorcycling manufacturer Ducati, and 70s rock gods Kiss for a bunch of truly impossible-seeming collaborations, that all featured in the show too. Somehow, some way, it all gelled together perfectly.
Despite all those stars, despite the fact Doechii and fellow rapper JT took to a wheeled-out circular stage to perform at the show’s climax (what a fitting term), despite the mosh pit of pretty much every übermodel, male and female, working in fashion today that formed around said stage, the best moment of the night belonged to Dean and Dan themselves. It takes a lot to upstage all of that – but a lot was exactly what we got. As a siren wailed, a New York cop car sidled up, and a blonde figure emerged, dragging out two identical, sharply-tuxedoed figures in towering platform heels. They were D&D, of course, and the cop was the legendary actress Brigitte Nielsen. She dragged them to the baying photographers and whooping audience in handcuffs – but then, wouldn’t you know, both of them broke free to take their bows. It’s another one for the DSquared2 history books. And this feel-good, full-throttle celebration of all they’ve achieved – and, honestly, all a fashion show can be – brought the house down.
