Its taken a whole year for Canadian designers Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared2 to issue an apology for an offensive term used to promote their clothing collection.
At Milan Fashion Week last year, the Toronto-born brothers unveiled their fall-winter 2015 collection using the hashtag #Dsquaw on social media. Squaw is a derogatory word used against indigenous women, derived from Algonquin words for woman. The term is offensive and hurtful.
In case the worlds worst social media campaign wasnt enough of a tipoff to what the fashion designers were alluding to, runway models wore clothing and accessories covered in prints mimicking indigenous designs some in sheer tops that looked like theyd been printed with tribal tattoos. Models peaked through fur-trimmed hoods in what the Catens called Eski a cutesy shorthand for the dated term eskimo. And at least one model wore a British military-style jacket over her plain dress adorned with feathers and tassels.
The enchantment of Canadian Indian tribes. The confident attitude of the British aristocracy. In a captivating play on contrasts: an ode to America’s native tribes meets the noble spirit of Old Europe, is how Dsquared2 described the collection on its website.
A year later, however, the designers are realizing what a terrible mistake it all was, and issued a public apology (shown below).
The timing of the apology, which still says the 2015 winter collection paid homage to the beauty and strength of the indigenous Peoples of Canada, is, in part, undoubtedly a response to Dsquared2’s name tied to a controversial announcement made a few weeks earlier.
Hudsons Bay Co., the official outfitter of Canadas Olympic athletes, revealed on February 11 that Dsquared2 had been chosen to design outfits for the opening ceremony at the Rio summer games.
On social media, it was clear that most people had not forgotten about the #Dsquaw incident and the Catens track record of cultural appropriation.
Hudsons Bay never responded to these tweets although that isn’t surprising for a company that continues to profit from what some writers call Colonialism chic. The Bay sells $300 striped blankets and fox fur trapper hats, cedar-strip canoes and heritage flasks. Plus, an archival map linen tea towel depicting white-wigged British settlers and bow-and-arrow-toting natives so you can presumably remember those bygone days when European explorers would wash up on new lands and take whatever the hell they wanted as you dry your kitchen dishes.
Despite the Bays silence on the controversy, the Catens released a statement of their own shortly after the announcement. Sadly, it wasnt the one most people were hoping for.
We are constantly inspired by Canada, so it is an honour to partner with Hudson’s Bay in dressing Team Canada,” they stated. “The opening ceremony look is made with our passion for our birth country mixed with the energetic spirit of Dsquared2.”
Perhaps the designers finally clued in and delivered an apology, issued just a few days before Dsquared2 showed their new collection at Milan Fashion Week. Likely, theyre also trying to stomp out controversy associated with their Olympic designs, which will be revealed in April.
But have they actually learned a lesson? Their latest collection, which debuted in Milan over the weekend, is a similar mash-up of military, Victorian and tribal influences.
New York Post fashion editors called it Attila the hunny.
Business of Fashion labelled it glam Samurai.
A writer for Womens Wear Daily described the collection as, classic feminine grandeur and savage opulence, but the Inuits of last year were replaced by incoming samurai.
So take what you want from Dsquare2s apology. Perhaps the greatest form of protest must come from the Olympic athletes themselves, refusing to wear the team outfit. Either way, I wont be cheering for the design.
michelled@nowtoronto.com | @michdas
