DSQUARED2 RESORT 2026: A REINVIGORATING LIMINAL QUEER SPACE

It is not difficult to define the reasons as why this collection stands out for the brand, apart from the storytelling. First of all, we encountered the freedom that comes with their termination of their license agreement with Staff International, OTB’s production and logistics platform. It makes the studio team have a little more fun and with less restrictive rules that affect the creations. Apart from that, the last show of the brand had an immense impact due to the creation and revival of pop iconography reminiscent of the 2000s.

Dean and Dan Cate are celebrating their 30th anniversary with a resort collection that shows the importance of communities in spaces where their true self can shine through intimacy. An array of outfits where wearable pieces are playing a mix-and-match game to create a declaration of personal freedom. Contrasts and layering are the tools that the designers are using to get their message spread through the fashion community, with a sprinkle of tropical vibes for the summer season.

The use of Tom Bianchi’s Polaroids on T-shirts is very significant in the political world we are living in these days. He captured in the 1970s and 80s the gay male life in an evocative and intimate way, in this case, the vibrant gay community in Fire Island during a period of relative liberation before the AIDS crisis. Vulnerability, visibility, history, and resistance through immediate and spontaneous captures that put images to Jack Parlett’s Fire Island: A Century in the Life of an American Paradise. A book that delves into the island’s dichotomies, its reputation as both a utopian retreat and a space marked by exclusivity. A candid exploration of male intimacy, sensuality, and the broader gay experience.

Across a set of intimate and curated images, we can feel the story that the creative duo is trying to tell. Characters that represent the coming-of-age era of nowadays youth and trying to get a space to express their own sense of rebellion against what is expected from them. In an elitist environment as a private school, many students try to find their way through life by taking illicit substances or developing their sexual appetite. These pictures are a great example of that feeling, where little details or gestures show the way of life of a whole generation, how they do not care how they are perceived in a society that does not accept their true self.

“The most rebellious act is to dress exactly how you want”, a statement made by the designers regarding this collection and that encapsulates the whole idea of it. But I would appreciate the fact that they are always doing it with an image inflated by young and stunning models, without getting to comment how this beauty ages. But still, it is relevant to know that LGTBQ+ history is still getting spaces into pop culture and as one photographic series of Tom Bianchi reflected back in the 1980s, there is an erotic dimension of the bathroom as a liminal queer space. Where we can find undressed men and women taking care of their personal image in front of a mirror that has seen it all.

Words: @alraco43