MILAN, Italy — There was an unmistakable feel of Princess TNT to the dazzling, smashing DSquared2 show today: think Gloria Von Turn und Taxis going to waste the night at Limelight in a Lacroix mini-crinoline and punky hair. Dean and Dan Caten, as the press notes said, were after a crash of uptown and downtown. They were clearly into the pomp and lavishness of the 1980s, too.

The collection was essentially about a look: baroque leg-of-mutton top over baggy jeans, which was clearly a nod to Anna Wintour's first cover for American Vogue back in 1989: Lacroix top and Canal Street jeans. In this sense, it was openly referential and repetitive. But the couture richness of DSquared2's iterations on the theme felt revitalising. In future, editing would help.