At full speed, without any protections, we’ve plunged into Dsquared2’s winter. The Fall/Winter 2026 show marks a rupture for the brand—a moment of profound realignment between identity and vision. Something is shifting. Dean and Dan Caten choose ice, mountains, and adrenaline as symbolic terrain to refocus the brand’s language, stripping it of any complacency and charging it with a renewed urgency. Dsquared2 approaches this transition in a deliberately theatrical way, which, perhaps, comes as no surprise: the spectacle is perfectly in line with the D2 spirit. The collection unfolds like a story built as both an ascent—and a descent—mirrored by the icy staircases the models traverse on the runway. It seems born from a precise necessity: a return to the essence in order to look forward. Winter 2026 becomes a race along a frozen track, where balance is fragile and fleeting.
The reference to the founders’ Canadian roots is anything but illustrative. The mountain is not a backdrop, but a narrative device. It is a place of endurance, physical challenge, and athletic discipline pushed to its limits. Yet here, sport is not depicted in its pure form: it is contaminated by subcultural codes, urban performance aesthetics, and a stubborn sensuality that runs throughout the collection. The cold becomes an ally rather than an obstacle—a means to sculpt silhouettes and amplify character. The atmosphere is dense from the very first looks. Models emerge from a milky fog like mythological figures, athletes and heroes tempered by ice. The soundtrack, created through artificial intelligence technologies, underscores this imaginary. The Dsquared2 man is deliberately excessive, cumbersome, impossible to ignore. He wears hockey jerseys as symbols of belonging, layered over ski suits and oversized tailoring that defy traditional proportions. Volumes are pushed to the extreme: gigantic down jackets, monumental parkas, padded vests that transform the body into a moving sculpture. And yet, beneath this armor, the body is almost always revealed. Bare chests, fitted tops, trousers following the line of the leg—every detail proclaims a pure celebration of the athletic body. Attention is immediately drawn to nods to the 1970s: from après-ski knit sets to flared leather pants. Denim, long a central element of Dsquared2’s vocabulary, here gains new details that suggest icy reflections on the fabric, alongside embroidery, sequins, and shearling linings. This work on denim is especially significant for the brand: an iconic material that adapts to extreme contexts without losing its erotic charge.
Even when the narrative shifts toward a cozier imaginary—with voluminous furs and teddy jackets—sensuality is never abandoned. Male bodies defy the elements, as if the cold were an integral part of their attitude. Chunky boots, with squared toes and technical details borrowed from cumbersome ski footwear, ground these figures, making them equally ready for the mountains or the city. Women occupy the scene with the same intensity as the men, if not more. They race along the same track, but at even greater speed. Their looks are bold, glossy, almost extraterrestrial. Down jackets are transformed into corseted mini-dresses, hockey-inspired jackets are shortened to become sensual armor, and sculpted bustiers are paired with leggings and wedge boots that seem designed for a dystopian future. A strong cyberpunk influence runs through the entire female wardrobe: latex shapes the body like a second skin, nylon drapes fluidly over the shoulders, and accessories appear to come from a world where sport, fashion, and technology no longer recognize boundaries.
At moments when glamour becomes more legible, as in an off-shoulder bomber with a fur collar or an oversized furry hat, a sense of controlled danger still lingers, irresistibly sexy in the eyes of the Canadian duo. The #D2speed glasses, created in collaboration with Carrera, serve as a visual synthesis of this vision: sporty, yes, but also performative, almost theatrical. By the end of the show, what remains is not the reassuring image of a brand celebrating itself, but that of a Maison choosing to expose itself. Dsquared2 Fall/Winter 2026 seeks neither immediate approval nor conventional elegance. It is cold, fast, at times brutal. Yet it is precisely in this no-holds-barred race that the brand rediscovers its most authentic strength—a risky descent, certainly, but one impossible to ignore.
