Let The Sun Shine
Schön! in Print
Let the Sun Shine Someone once said: “The greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart.” We, at Schön!, took the essence of this ravishing quote literally: letting our hearts get drunk on the beauty of summer and ultimately encapsulating our mesmerising summer-sun-fun findings in Issue 12. Sunbeams of talent radiate from the pages of our latest issue, warming our faces with the glow of never-ending discoveries of creative genius nestled in every corner of the earth. Model Sebastian Sauve once again graces our pages, this time alongside Leebo Freeman in the provocative cover story “Miami Bitch,” shot by Dimitris Theocharis. And the vibrancy of summer, both sun and shade, is captured in the editorial “Haughty Shades,” shot by Thanassis Krikis. Walk with us down the garden path of design as we share enthralling conversations with Kim Jones, a master of menswear and one of fashion’s most influential people, and Dan and Dean Caten, the daring men behind the irresistibly sexy and glamorous brand DSquared2 interviewed by our very own João Paulo Nunes. We at Schön! have taken great care to cultivate each feature in Issue 12 so it might blossom, each story seducing you with its beauty as it has for us. Spanish actress Rossy de Palma’s vivacious personality shines impossibly bright in her interview and accompanying editorial shot by Álvaro Villarrubia, while fellow Spanish rose, artist Lita Cabellut, reminds us that perseverance can overcome pain to create beauty. Of course no summer of fun would be complete without a trip to the zoo whilst skipping along past childhood memories, and fearless photographer and animal enthusiast Tim Flach somehow manages to recapture its magic in “Mammals.” We are further taken in by the magic of art, although in quite a different way, in the story of Elīna Garanča, a woman who is enrapturing the world as one of opera’s brightest stars. We are also proud to introduce Laurent Dombrowicz, a visionary fashion editor who worked on our editorial “Amsterdam, Pennsylvania,” photographed by Anne Combaz, providing shade, as if from a lush and ancient tree, to give respite from other steamy photo shoots encapsulated within the pages of Issue 12. And so we invite you to dig deep into your heart, to find the greatest treasures of life, and rejoice in the beauty of summer! It is our true joy to capture it for you within our pages.
shop @ schonmagazine.com
Raoul Keil, Editor-in-Chief
THE SEXY WORLD OF DSQUARED2
If there is a fashion brand that is inextricably associated with sex and glamour it is DSquared2. In less than two decades, this powerful brand has garnered an enviable position internationally with exciting plans for further world domination in the works. Schön!’s editor João Paulo Nunes met Dean and
Dan Caten, the creative force behind the brand, at DSquared2’s headquarters in Milan for an exclusive interview that involved sharing views on sexuality, creativity, celebrity culture and fashion in general.
Identical twins Dean and Dan Caten, the creative force behind DSquared2, were born in Toronto, Canada, in 1964. Their foray into fashion started in 1983 when they moved to New York to study fashion at Parsons The New School for Design. However, they only stayed there for one semester before returning to Canada. After a financial backer agreed to support them in 1986, they launched their first signature womenswear collection, DEanDAN. From then on, their level of influence grew exponentially and in 1988 they were brought onboard the label Ports International (now Ports 1961) as creative directors to bring the company more fashion forward and upscale. At the same time, Dean and Dan started designing for their own brand Tabi International. In 1991, the brothers moved to Milan, Italy, where they worked with some of the most important fashion houses. They debuted their men’s collection in 1994, and in
2003, they launched a women’s collection and a men’s underwear collection. They currently design apparel, footwear, fragrances, and cosmetics for both men and women.
2010, the autumn/winter menswear show in Milan featured Bill Kaulitz descending from the ceiling in a caged elevator, evoking a key scene from the camp cult film Rocky Horror Show.
The brothers became known for designing clothes often worn by celebrities and for staging fashion shows with raw, sensual energy. In 2001, Madonna commissioned the brand to design over 150 pieces for her Drowned World Tour and her Don’t Tell Me video. DSquared2’s designs were also featured in Britney Spears’ Circus tour and Tokio Hotel’s Welcome to Humanoid City tour. After designing a wardrobe for Christina Aguilera and her dance team for her Stripped World Tour 2003, Aguilera agreed to take part in their 2005 runway show where she ended up stripping male models of their clothes. In September 2007, the DSquared2 fashion show in Milan was opened by Rihanna and in January
In June 2010, at Milan menswear fashion week, Dsquared2’s garments embodied, once more, a sexy, young, male persona confident in colourful and playful designs that included body-hugging silk shirts and jeans. For this collection, Dan and Dean Caten’s designs relied on sex more than ever. The show had what was probably the best soundtrack in Milan and the set depicted a lavish bachelor pad that included a model getting dressed as he got out of bed. A few months later, this very sexual approach to garments changed radically, with a menswear collection for autumn/winter 2011 with darker undertones than the ones expected of DSquared2.
Your spring/summer 2011 menswear collection screamed sex and was clearly aimed at a man who is unashamed to embrace his inner gigolo. What part did sex and pleasure play in the creative process for that collection? They played a big part. We took inspiration from the movie American Gigolo that was all about sex, sensuality and body consciousness. The models we chose for the runway were all fit and trained like Richard Gere in the movie. In contrast to your designs and runway show for spring/summer, your recent promotional campaigns and collection for autumn/winter 2011/12 showed a much more sombre side of DSquared2. What was the decision to depart from the porn-chic for which you were known and move radically towards an almost asexual vision of fashion in the campaigns and images of pioneer and grungy men in the collection? We don’t like to stick to a certain concept. Our collections and fashion shows are all different; depending on the mood and inspiration we have for that particular season. We like to be unpredictable, yet we have to say that the ‘sex’ element is always present… Sometimes it’s more obvious; sometimes, it’s more in disguise. James Sherwood of the British newspaper The Independent once said that “DSquared2 has achieved cult status among men for a look that’s not so much homo, hetero or metrosexual: just sexual.” Can you imagine a fashion world where clothes, either as objects or in their marketing campaigns are devoid of the physical connotations associated with the body beautiful, youth, sex and sexual identity? No, we cannot. We love to enhance the shape of the body with our clothes. We like to make people feel good by wearing our stuff. Sexiness is not a goal; it is more of an effortless consequence of feeling good and at ease. In that effortless consequence, there seems to be something inherently ‘Italian’ about the majority of your menswear designs insofar as they are aimed at clothing a body that is intended to be displayed. In fact, one can even say that this is what distinguishes Milan from Paris when it comes to menswear. How formative were the early 1990s for you in Milan? Do you think your designs would have been radically different had you stayed in Toronto or developed a career in Paris instead?
We don’t know. Our fashion is not necessarily influenced by the place we live in… It comes from who we are, our education, our experience, our personalities... And that life experience is fascinating! You started out by promoting nightclubs and your shows have been known for being theatrical, musical, humorous, and with high doses of camp thrown in. The DSquared2 runway seems to be almost a stage for a Broadway show or a set for a Hollywood film. How much of fashion is about performance for you? That is a great observation! Performance is crucial to show the mood of our collections. The most fun part of our job is to create the set and music of our shows. We cannot imagine a plain and simple catwalk. A fashion show needs to entertain the audience, like a proper show! If you think about other art forms, like the art of cooking, for example, how much is preparation? Properly orchestrated performance and entertainment are part of 360° trip in our world. It’s a complete lifestyle.
“Sometimes it’s more obvious; sometimes, it’s more in disguise” Your recent collections play on the eclectic mix of eveningwear and sportswear, denim and silk, and many other opposites. How much of this reflects the consumer’s need to mix and match high fashion with affordable items, and how much is about the importance of creative dualisms? The notion of playing and mixing are very important to us. We basically bring to the catwalk what we like to wear, and that often includes a mix and match of opposite garments and styles: a tuxedo jacket paired with distressed jeans, a tailored shirt and bow tie with shorts and patent leather shoes... We also like to pair well-cut, timeless items with cheaper pieces, maybe coming from a high street fashion brand.
DSquared2 boomed in a relatively short space of time and you now have shops in Dubai, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Monaco, Russia, and Singapore. With many designers now waking up to online retail, what are your physical and virtual expansion plans? We are very much focusing on physical and virtual retail at the moment. Our online store is going very well and we are now planning to expand it to the Chinese market, which was out of the network of countries where you could shop online. At the same time, we are opening quite a few mono-brand stores in China starting with one opened in Shanghai in December 2010 and one at the end of April 2011 in Beijing. Like many other brands, DSquared2 currently offers men’s and women’s clothes and footwear, as well as fragrances and cosmetics. However, some fashion designers have moved from developing similar products to focus their creative energy on furniture, industrial design, and even media (films, television, music, etc). Where do you see the brand expanding in the near future? For the moment, we are focussing only on small but relevant collaborations with design brands like Kartell, for which we designed our version of the famous cult ‘Masters’ chair, and with car brand Mini BMW, for which we designed a Dsquared Mini that was auctioned at the charity event Life Ball that took place in Vienna on 21 May. It is clear that you see the value of fashion partnerships with celebrities. In many contexts, you two are often portrayed as celebrities yourselves, which raises interesting questions about the relationship between creativity and social status. With that in mind, how do you see the future of celebrity culture and fashion evolving? Celebrities are undoubtedly the best spokespeople for fashion brands. They are effortless promoters of styles and trends. Everybody wants to look like them and people are willing to buy exactly what they wear to feel even just a tiny bit like them. This is an impressive phenomenon that we cannot ignore.
Words / João Paulo Nunes @ worldmanabouttown.com All images are courtesy of DSquared2