Pop Art, Op Art and psychedelia; ’60s sci-fi dystopia and Sgt. Pepper band spirit all converged in Jeremy Scott’s color trip of a Moschino pre-fall 2022 men’s and women’s lineup.
“Colorblocking is such a Moschino trope that Franco did.…I wanted to take those military codes and things that are so staid and formal, but do them in candy bonbon colors and make them feel more playful and surreal,” said Scott during a Zoom session from his Los Angeles home.
While his collections sometimes can be too literal (we get it, we get it), this season’s sparked the imagination with its multilayered approach.
He listed Op Art pioneer Victor Vasarely’s trippy illusions, painter Richard Lindner’s fractured figures and Allen Jones’ bondage sculptures as inspirations. Two of his favorite films, “A Clockwork Orange” and “Blade Runner,” were also in the aesthetic blender, inspiring the bowler hats and the models’ exaggerated eye makeup.
Scott put his tailoring and uniform pieces — officers’ jackets, sailor suits, riding pants, uniform dresses and trenchcoats — through a kaleidoscope, using colorblocking and graphic patterns to achieve a potent surrealism appropriate for these topsy-turvy times.
Tailoring dissolved into trompe l’oeil knits, including a drop-waist dress with collar, button, pleat and anatomical breast color blocks that brought to mind the 1960s and L.A. designer Rudi Gernreich. Meanwhile, bondage strap pants, Latex mock turtlenecks and minidresses added a subversive streak.
But there was a lot for anyone to wear — color-blocked leather moto jackets and miniskirts, cheery vertical stripe suiting, artful puffed-sleeve dresses and trenchcoats. Evening looks were also strong. Trippy honeycomb and wave-patterned gowns and disco dresses looked sophisticated, as did geo-jacquard tuxedos.
Rather than a narrative, the accompanying short video was straightforward, letting the details of the clothes shine. “I wanted to bring a bit of the vibe of ‘Clockwork Orange’ without trying to do an homage or pantomime,” he said of the project.
Once you get Scott going about film, he’s unstoppable. Singling out “Blade Runner” as one of his all-time favorites, he noted how costume designer Michael Kaplan mixed genres and time periods. “Most of the collections I do are a mix — is it a bit 1970s, or 1940s — there is always a bit of signaling.…And none of us are living and wearing and experiencing all of 2021 at the same time. We have things for different times even if it’s five years ago. Michael captured that.”
After he spends the holidays in Palm Springs, Scott is gearing up for a return to Milan, where he will show the fall 2022 women’s collection live on the runway.
“If I get back to doing more than two shows a season, I will think about moving them. But the main women’s ones, they belong there. It was really nice to be back for fittings,” he said of spending time in the atelier ahead of this collection. “I hadn’t been there since the Marie Antoinette collection, and they were holding me tight.”
