FASHION
DSQUARED2 DOES DIGITAL FOR MILAN FASHION WEEK
JULY 22, 2020
WORDS
by KRISTOPHER FRASER
PHOTOGRAPHY
COURTESY of PURPLE PR
With coronavirus turning the world’s fashion calendar on its head, brands had to adjust their format for showing their new season’s collections. While there were a few physical runway shows, the majority of brands opted for digital, including Dan and Dean Caten’s DSquared2. For their pre-spring 2021 collection, DSquared2 focused on themes of sportswear and traveling playing with their signature brand logos.
The dynamic duo’s latest concept involved a literal rolling take of models and their looks, almost like the audience was watching a film project. The pair managed to take time out of prepping for the debut of their original new concept to speak with AS IF Magazine about Fashion Week going digital, the current state of fashion, and the future of fashion.
DSquared2 pre-fall 2021
AS IF: Talk to me about the Canadian references in your clothing?
DSquared2: Canada is our starting point! The essence of the Dsquared2 philosophy and fashion is a mix of Canadian inspirational elements that come from our childhood and adolescence and we have merged these elements with refined Italian tailoring. We are very creative but staying close to our origins, we experience modernity but with an attention eye to the past.
How and why do you continue to interpret these references in your collections?
We put and merge different elements that came from our origins in any collections and defined them through new shapes and materials. Denim and plaid shirts are for example unmissable, there is always a detail or a reference: denim is the main link to our past, a key element and it reminds us when our father didn’t want us to wear it and we could not afford it.
Milan’s been home to your runway show and brand for so long, how did that end up being your second home?
We were born in Canada, but Italy welcomed us and inspired us in a way that we have always felt this country to be our home and it represents the place where our family roots came from. Milan means a lot for us, it is the city where our dream started to be real and through the years, it become our second home; we have taken the strength, the attitude, the energy and the spirit of this amazing city.
How else have you adapted your brand to fit this coronavirus world business model?
The times have opened us up to a new perspective of creativity and new opportunities to valorize our brand that this year turns 25 years from our start. We think that our ideas have to adjust and take new shape while staying close to the brand’s DNA. In this new situation we gained the awareness of the importance of digital technologies to get the consumer closer to our brand and we also worked remotely so it was all about new ways to work and communicate.
