A giant black curtain lifted, and a familiar game-show tune started jingling. It was the do-do-di-do of The Price Is Right, television’s longest-running game show, the one in which contestants vie for cash and prizes by guessing the retail price of—cue the canned voice—“a bedroom set, a billiard table, a brand new washer and dryer, a neeewww car!”
Jeremy Scott called it pure old-fashioned escapism. But the Moschino creative director never lets us off the hook quite that easily, does he? In fact, Scott staged a game show-fashion show once before. His Fall 2001 collection, the last he presented in Paris before moving to New York, covered familiar ground, all the way down to the grandfather clock, La-Z-Boy recliner, Hoover vacuum, and model presenters with bouffant wigs. “The professional term is teasing,” he said backstage. “They’re teasing the prizes.” Teddy Quinlivan gets special points for the way she sold that red Ferrari. Eat your heart out, Vanna White.
The first three looks here were a callback to that 2001 collection, only this time around the dollar-bill prints had six zeros at the end. Unchecked consumerism? We’re all of us guilty, but this was no downer of a show. When the “TV dinner” kimono glided out—vegetable medley, mashed potatoes, and meat surprise—it was downright hilarious. There were sight gags aplenty: evening bags in the shape of an iron, a bottle of dish soap, and a cash register; a tube dress shout-out to Press Your Luck, a short-lived game show only Gen Xers will remember (guilty!); and crystal-embellished dresses modeled on the packaging of consumer goods that advertisers try to sell during commercial breaks, like breakfast cereal, soft drinks, and household cleaner.
Scott’s message was as plain as that Cap’n Crunch logo: As tempting as it is—and, boy, does he hope he tempts us—shopping isn’t the solution; a good laugh is. “There’s always shit in everyone’s life,” he said. “A little levity, a little bit of fun—there’s nothing wrong with it. I am the king of camp.” Tonight he most definitely was.
