BEAUTY: Clothing--Moschino

Jeremy Scott took over as Creative Director of Moschino ten years ago now, and at the time it seemed to me like he would be taking the brand from a, how to say it, um...trashy place to one of more creativity. And while he has brought an undeniable explosion of color and form to the label, he has tended to be a bit too cartoony and cheap, a sort of carnival fun-house mirror version of what the label was before his arrival.

But he has managed to create a few collections that are unique, previously here. And this Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection shown at Milano Moda Uomo is worth examining.

As with so many designers trying to find new ways to express the traditional concept of menswear through deconstruction, Scott takes men's tailoring and suiting as a starting point, but perhaps more thoroughly and even more uniquely than ever seen before, he comes up with some interesting new translations. Take the iconic wool gentleman's suit...he Frankenstein's a patchwork pattern for jackets. trousers, and overcoats. A skirt made of neckties is a wild moment.

He then moves on to literally deconstructing suiting with some offerings that seem to be garments presented inside out so the seaming and stitching can be seen. A collar curls up to become a hood. Sleeves are slashed from the body and held in place with braces, a look that certainly harkens back to Gaultier's costumes he created for Madonna on her Blonde Ambition tour. Scott even puts braces on a corset worn under a jacket. In a continuing tour of uniforms and de rigeur clothing for men, we take a stop into Tom of Finland territory with some motorcycle leathers, and we end up in a Puttin' On The Ritz motif of pieces worn by Cary Grant in "Bringing Up Baby" but worn twisted, sideways. A tuxedo jacket sprouts a second set of lapels on the arms, and a ruffle wraps around a collar and slinks its way down the trousers. It all feels like a very imaginative deconstruction and playful chiding of the clothing limits that have imposed upon men for a century or more. Good work, Jeremy!

https://www.moschino.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Moschino

Moschino's Jeremy Scott can get a bit too cartoony and cheap for me, but I have to say this Fall-Winter '21-'22 collection is pretty interesting. Apparently Scott is a classic film fan and has been watching the Turner Classic Movie channel all during our global COVID quarantine. While in lockdown, Scott has also been painting. Of course both of these elements infiltrated his work and, according to fashion journalist Anders Christian Madsen, he presented a collection that was a mix of "the precision of Old Hollywood tailoring and the spontaneity of hand-painting. The lines of overcoats, tuxedos, and suiting with a 1940s persuasion were enhanced with Post-Impressionist brushstrokes, in some cases creating trompe l’oeil effects that Scott attributed to his passion for the study of painting." I love how he seems to have accented with painted sections the natural lines of shadows and light on a garment--and even the shine of leather on a Tom of Finland-inspired biker outfit! It is definitely cartoony but in the most engaging way possible...

https://www.moschino.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Moschino

And here we go...the coverage starts at London Collections: Men for the 2016-2017 Fall-Winter shows.

Jeremy Scott has taken the Moschino brand into a very interesting place since he took over as creative director in 2013. My impression of Moschino in the past was that it was, well, a rather trashy line to put it indelicately. But Scott's imagination, inspirations, and bravado have made the house interesting to me. And for the Fall-Winter '16-'17 collection shown at London Collections: Men, Scott's inspiration proved to be a fruitful collaboration with the legendary modern artists Gilbert and George. That they would work with a fashion house to create works of art seems completely in keeping with their oeuvre...their slogan is "Art for all!" And given their honored place in the art world (The Tate Modern organized a marvelous career-spanning retrospective I was lucky enough to see in San Francisco), it's a wonder it didn't happen sooner. Fashion designers are always using inspiration from art and artists, and now we have a proper representation for Gilbert and George.

Their photo/paint works are saturated with color, figures--humans and shapes--and are presented on a flat plain within a grid system that can invoke the idea of stained glass. But Gilbert and George's subject matters are not really stained glass material. They mostly use themselves but other models as well as springboards to comment on social issues, inequality, justice, freedom, and sexuality, despite the fact that they politically identify themselves as conservatives. Gilbert and George met in 1968 as art students and have lived their lives together as artists and life partners ever since and have been vocal--er, I mean, visual supporters of gay rights as well as human rights in general.

Gilbert and George opened up their archives to Scott so he could incorporate faces, crosses, flowers, and random designs into this dynamic collection that really and truly does look like a Gilbert and George painting come to life. The pieces are presented in saturated jewel tones along with models faces and hair. And the additional touch of dark shading and motion/fabric folds in white or black lines actually drawn on the garments make it seem like a living cartoon!

And if you are unfamiliar with Gilbert and George's work, here are a few examples along with portraits of them when they were young and the couple now...

http://www.moschino.com/