DSQUARED2’s Virile Maximalism Fall 2023
There is a conspicuous glamour colliding with a heated affirmation of identity and fetish at DSQUARED2′s Fall 2023 collection. The fashion voyeurism is on fire for this luxury house founded in 1995. This season’s runway collection drew form DSQUARED2‘s early 2000’s archive reworking it for a 24-7 digital feed.
The set design was teen bedroom decorated with tattered posters and skateboards hanging on the walls – an environment for a new generation finding historical fantasy in Y2K culture. The show opened with a brief film setting a tone for the sexually charged collection. It was an animation of naked blondes moving provocatively on a big screen. Suddenly an alarm clock sounded and Tik-Tok star Kyle Thomas who has 34 million followers opened his eyes waking to a new day in 2003.
The Milan Fashion Week show of Dean and Dan Caten’s luxury brand cast top male models along with soon to be superstars all wearing the most iconic fashion statements, the design duo is known for. What was new was the exploration of ‘personality codes’ and an expansion of silhouettes through layers of garments. Like an onion these looks were packed with a distinctive ménage of DSQUARED2 branded items. The fashion house looked to stereotypes or rather fetishized people who own, flaunt or perform their personalities… Rodeo cowboy, EMO with a proclivity for leather chaps to geeks and the mechanic who pumped your gas. The runway opened and closed with a boyish Kyle Thomas in western attire, an undone crotch and large pink and black cowboy boots .
The collection’s successful mix, resulted in a rich array of colors, a balance of matte and shine with a flair for volume. DSQUARED2‘s classics included plaid flannel, denim, varsity jackets and logo-mania. The shape in the trousers and shorts have a biker utility aesthetic where the volume is exaggerated in zipper pockets, welts and a ‘don’t give a damn slouch’.
Volume continued with faux fur shearling outerwear. Volume was also mixed with tight fitting, lower abdomen baring shirts and knits. Lace camisole tops also popped up further claiming the textile for men. There was a post pandemic en deshabille aura, with the inclusion of sweatpants paired with brightly colored cowboy boots as well as a number of layered jeans with unbuttoned crotches.
Fringe, stars, musical clefs were all high notes in terms of adornment on a spectacular display of denim. As mentioned logo-mania abounds with the DSQUARED2 brand identity. Products used to promote the house for this season were not only stenciled but also emblazoned on big buckle retro-belts and clothing items. There was a stand out logo look in a pair of puffer shorts highlighting a a vivid pattern in the beautiful knitwear in this collection.
The fall fashion message and direction were further clarified in baseball hats with messages reinforcing the visual fetish of class based archetypes. ‘I Love Beer’, ‘Chic Fucker’, ‘Recycled Teenager’, ’24- 7Star’ to ‘Oops I Did it Again’ and ‘Fuckin Freezing‘ added a heated salacious whisper and vernacular to the maximalist muse.
This was a sexy and beautifully styled collection of products and brand identity.
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Patrick Michael Hughes is a fashion and decorative arts historian. He writes about fashion culture past and present making connections to New York, London and Copenhagen's fashion weeks with an eye toward men's fashion. He joined IRK Magazine as a fashion men's editor during winter of 2017.
He is often cited as a historical source for numerous pieces appearing in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, LVMH, Conde Nast, Highsnobiety and others. His fashion career includes years as a fashion reporter/producer of branded content for the New York local news in the hyper digital sector. Patrick's love of travel and terrain enabled him to becoming an experienced cross-country equestrian intensively riding in a number of locations in South America Scandinavia,The United Kingdom and Germany. However, he is not currently riding, but rather speaking internationally to designers, product development teams, marketing teams and ascending designers in the US, Europe and China.
Following his BA in the History of Art from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York he later completed graduate studios in exhibition design in New York. it was with the nudge and a conversation in regard to a design assignment interviewing Richard Martin curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art he was encouraged to consider shifting his focus to the decorative arts with a concentration in fashion history and curation.
Patrick completed graduate studies 17th and 18th century French Royal interiors and decoration and 18th century French fashion culture at Musée Les Arts Decoratifs-Musée de Louvre in Paris. Upon his return to New York along with other classes and independent studies in American fashion he earned his MA in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from the Parsons/Cooper Hewitt Design Museum program in New York. His final specialist focus was in 19th century English fashion and interiors with distinction in 20th century American fashion history and design.
Currently, he is an Associate Teaching Professor at Parsons School of Design leading fashion history lecture-studios within the School of Art and Design History and Theory,
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