Raunchy Riviera chic wows the fashion set

By JAMES SHERWOOD

They are best pals with Christina Aguilera, hang out with Naomi Campbell, throw the hottest parties in Milan and count Lenny Kravitz as their main man. They're the Canadian-born twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten, who are behind the Milan-based label D Squared.

The designers stole the Spring/Summer 2005 menswear shows in Milan with a little help from the Dirrty girl herself, who offered her services for free because "she wanted to party with the guys".

This is an amazing success story for two boys who garnered their experience working for a catalogue in Canada before moving to Milan to chance their arm. Since launching the label in 1995, D Squared has achieved cult status among men for a look that's not so much homo, hetero or metro sexual, just sexual.

The butt-hugging, low-slung jeans and cowboy shirts the brothers put together for Madonna's Tell Me video and Drowned world tour made their name. But the designers have since carved a niche in Milan men's fashion with shows that force even the sourest fashion editors to crack a smile.

Like Dolce & Gabbana, D Squared threw a pool party on their runway at the Milan nightclub Alcatraz. The Catens, 39, didn't stop there. They invited the Cappellini design studio to build an Ibizan-style villa, complete with balconies, bedrooms, DJ decks and pool.

"I think real is the key word," says Dan Caten. "The invitation read: It takes all types to turn the world round. D Squared takes the pleasure to turn it out."

Turn it on is more like it. D Squared is all about hunks in trunks, sawn-off denim shorts, lounge lizard white silk twill suits and poolside sweatpants.

"We love to go out in Milan and it's great to hear guys telling us we're designing for their lives," Caten says.

D Squared communications director Nicole Brown says: "I've got to tell you we don't do that Milan Mafia stuff and pay people to turn up at our shows.

"We didn't pay Christina. She shares the same birthday as Dean and Dan and they flew over to LA for her party last year. She's returning the compliment."

As well as "D Squared main man Lenny Kravitz", Naomi Campbell is also a great pal. Three seasons ago at the launch of D Squared's first womenswear collection, the boys built an aeroplane from which the models descended. Campbell opened the show, running down the gangplank in six-inch heels pantomiming manic panic while the soundtrack boomed "I've got to get my flight".

"I don't think they saw us coming," Caten says. "Milan wasn't ready for D Squared and by the time they noticed, we'd already arrived."

The Caten boys throw the hottest post-show parties in Milan attended by all their runway models. "We've gotta have them buff and beautiful, honey," says Brown diffidently of the genetically blessed creatures who "walk" for D Squared.

This season Milan has again fallen in love with sexed-up Riviera chic. D Squared makes it a little rough around the edges with an LA flavour.

What sets the designers apart is the mix of chic and scruffy, sporty and smart that makes D Squared a truly democratic label. "We like to f*** it up a little," Caten says. "Fashion has to be real and appeal to the way men are dressing today.

"We ask the models if they want to wear what we've chosen. We look at guys in the clubs and see how they're putting it together. I guess we just keep sticking it out there and seeing what happens. That's what keeps us alive."

- INDEPENDENT