Jeremy Scott’s Moschino is polarizing, but undeniably entertaining. His brand of humor is Pop-ier, wackier, more sugary than Franco’s, but that’s not a negative: Scott is a designer who hits the bull’s eye of contemporary look-at-me preoccupations. Everything he shows can be Snapchatted or Instagrammed pretty much without hesitation. The collection he unveiled tonight, in a Mayfair church setting, was as vivid as ever, yet there was a shrewdness apparent, thanks to collaborative input from British agitprop artists Gilbert & George.
“I wanted to do supersaturated clothes, so I had tea with them,” said Scott. “And as I was telling them my ideas for the collection, they said, ‘Why don't you take from our archive?’ So from the crosses to the heads to the slogans [which appeared fast and furious on virtually everything] there were so many wonderful things I was able to incorporate.” Evidently, G&G’s color-rich graphics had catalyzed yet another chromatic tsunami in Scott’s ever imaginative brain—his Fall collection was a rainbow in druggy, rave-y neon, right up to fluorescent-painted earlobes and coifs. (The chapel surroundings called to mind the Limelight, a ’90s Manhattan nightclub which was also located in a church, and some of whose denizens Scott dressed.) Denim had a spray-paint treatment, with folds and seams appliquéd on (think trompe l’oeil worn by nineties clubkids). Awesome Dr. Martens–style boots, cutouts of which functioned as the show invite, received the same graffiti. Collegiate stripes were also worked in early, either in scarf or shirt form, lending a grotesquely preppy element.
In a way—and this is relative considering Scott’s outrageousness—there was also an elemental bloodline in the clothes. “A lot of the shapes are quite simple, and I did a lot of collaging,” he said. “Almost like garments put together—like a knit sweater with MA-1 sleeves.” Collage can also be attributed to Gilbert & George: Jourdan Dunn—who walked as part of Moschino’s women’s Pre-Fall, which was shown concurrently—wore a hooded aviator jacket with a knit panel inset down the back and slogan-stamped sleeves. (Elsewhere, one notable example of that was SPUNK, which flanked the shins of jeans). Lucky Blue Smith opened and closed the show in Lisa Frank brights, but the silhouette and many other pieces were forthright: a suit up front, and a trench to round it out.
With Neneh Cherry, Noomi Rapace, Lucky, Jourdan, and even Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas on hand, Scott, typically, brought a bit of fame and flashbulbs to the otherwise lowish-profile London Collections: Men. And like it or not, that's a huge part of his package, a sort of superficial Pop curation, and extravagance for the sake of fun. As the finale stomped, Michel Gaubert’s remix of “Like A Prayer” by Madonna came thudding in—and at the line, “everyone must stand alone,” you couldn't help but grin. Scott is a lone wolf for sure, but his magnetism means he’ll always have a pack in tow.
