In a Year of Punk—so opineth the Met—all eyes ought to turn to Jeremy Scott. Scott, nose-thumber that he is, turned all eyes back out. Cara Delevingne made the opening turn of the Fall show in a cropped cone-bra top and miniskirt printed with dangling eyeballs and a drooling, lumpy monster's mouth. Other dresses and several sweaters had pairs of googly, glowering eyes. What were they? Some saw Spongebob, melting into a 'roid-induced rage. Others thought the Garbage Pail Kids. Scott mentioned the posters and skate decks West Coast surfers, skaters, and punks used to tack on their walls. Whatever it was, it packed an infectious graphic punch—here's looking at you, kid!
Grungy SoCal punk 'n' skate is Scott's primal scene. "I just really wanted to have that potpourri of all those things," he said after the show. "It's very much a teenage boy's messy, puke-y fantasy." It's his fantasy, even if, as one of his seasonal message tees ruefully noted, Adults Suck, Then You Are One.
Every Scott show will have its short skirts, skintight tops, bolts of sheer. That's a given. This one also had cohesion, and not just because little bulging-eye-print bucket bags matched little bulging-eye-print dresses. Scott's may have been a messy fantasy but it was a controlled chaos. Some credit may be due to an intriguing new collaborator: the legendary stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, stepping in on this show for the first time. The union of L.A.'s outsider king and Paris' industry queen suggested that punk really may have the ear of power this season. It was "heaven" to work with her, Scott said. "She gets me. She understands the mix of the street, the high and the low—which has always been my style, as well as hers."
