It’s been quite an anniversary year for Dean and Dan Caten, opened with an over-the-top, blockbuster show in February and ending with the initiation of a reorganization plan across DSquared2’s worldwide offices aimed at ensuring another 30 years in business. Throw a resolved legal dispute with OTB and a music debut in between, and you get a sense of how the Catens aren’t the type of founders who step back and wait for the perfect conditions to make their next move.
In the process, they can count on the support of their Dsquared2 women, this season aptly portrayed against bleachers in the look book imagery accompanying the pre-fall 2026 collection.
The Catens must know that sometimes a (fashion) attack is the best defense and stuck to their playbook in their latest effort, which leveraged all their signature codes: the play of contrasts between the masculine and feminine and the sporty and the seductive, and a heightened focus on denim and cool hybrid pieces, especially when it came to outerwear.
Even if the designers’ mix-and-match game was tamed in favor of instant readability, the collection still served swag in styles combining parka, leather biker jacket and denim elements all in one, or alternative takes layering cropped leather jackets on checkered blazers. Many items came with wires in their trimmings that could morph their shape for an extra sculpted effect, while others played with asymmetries to convey a not-too-perfect attitude, like in an attention-grabbing take on a denim jacket that wrapped around the torso.
This added to logoed denim, a plethora of nylon bomber jackets and puffers in popping hues in delivering interpretations of the Catens’ Canadian heritage. Ditto for the lumberjack theme, here revisited in a sexy way in shirts with a tapering front revealing the hips.
The sensual twist matched the plunging V-necklines of minidresses, the openings on the back of blazer jackets and subtle cutouts cheekily revealing a hint of bum in tailored pants, which were among the Catens’ options for special celebrations after dusk.
“Life is a game, and we make sure we’ve got our eye on it. We don’t plan to lose,” assured Dean Caten.
