Dean and Dan are on a roll. The Caten twins from Willowdale, Ont., (who famously moved to Milan in 1991) recently launched Dsquared eyewear, are starring in the Bravo reality series Launch My Line and have now been immortalized with a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame. This winter, their fragrances He Wood and She Wood will be joined by Velvet Forest Wood for women, and Rocky Mountain Wood for men. We caught up with them at The Hazelton Hotel in Toronto.
There’s a lot of plastic in your spring collection. What was the inspiration? Dan: “Spring is a camping theme, with a mom taking her kid to the wilderness. She is a real drama queen with champagne and caviar. They get rained on so there is lots of playing with plastic, including jeans and T-shirts, and insects in plastic jewellery. Everything looks wet.”
You’re based in London now–how is that working out? Dan: “We live in Notting Hill but we love hanging out in the East End, where people dress so creatively—but not designer. It has this raw-er, unpolished element. It makes me feel so young. We hang out with [model] Luke Worrall and Kelly Osbourne, and we can see friends like Elton and David and Patrick [Cox] more.”
How are you feeling about dressing the performers for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics? Dan: “This is the biggest audience we will ever have so we really have to turn it out. It’s a real chance to shine.”
Dean: “But it’s not Britney Spears, so the clothes have to be sober and elegant and yet stage-worthy at the same time. But it won’t be Vegas…” Dan: “Well, not all of it!”
What have you learned from dressing pop superstars? Dean: “We learned from Madonna that silhouette is so important because it’s all you see from the last row. That’s why she loved the rodeo-girl look that we did for her, with its big puffy sleeves and chaps. The silhouette really said ‘Western.’” Dan: “One difference is that for a concert tour, the clothes have to be washable. The Olympics is a one-off so the fabrics can be richer. And because of the television close-ups, we can add more detail.” Dean: “But we can’t say any more. It’s all very secretive.” Dan: “The emails they send us disintegrate after we read them!”
You’ve been working so hard. How will you celebrate the holidays? Dan: “We want to come back to Canada this year to see our family and have a fantasy Canadian Christmas—something that involves a lodge and a sled.”
What do you want for Christmas? Dean: “A $5-million helicopter outfitted like a limousine.” Dan: “An island.”
What was your best Christmas season? Dan: “It was in Courmayeur [Mont Blanc, Italy]. We rented a 10-bedroom house so big it had an elevator! We packed up a jeep with Christmas decorations and presents. We had friends fly in from New York, and Neil Barrett brought mincemeat tarts and Devonshire cream. We stayed up all night drinking and decorating. We were like little elves! It was exactly what Christmas should be.”
Amazing! And what about your favourite New Year’s eve? Dean: “That would have to be Rio de Janeiro, with a million people on the beach, all dressed in white, all throwing flowers in the ocean, and clapping to God in thanks for the last sunset of the year. You can see it a thousand times and it’s still w onderful.”
First published in FASHION Magazine December 2009
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