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From the outside looking in, Jeremy Scott's latest Moschino collection might have seemed like something straight out of a movie; you know, films like Zoolander and The Devil Wears Prada that tend to satirize the fashion industry, instead of documentaries that explain what it is we do. But for those of us who watched the show in Milan (or who saw the collection as images started to take over our social media feeds stateside), Scott's latest showing felt more like a lesson in humor — an integral part of his aesthetic that gets cheekier with each season.
Even the most well-known faces — Gigi and Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Stella Maxwell — couldn't detract from the fact that Scott dressed his models in garbage couture (or, as one of the graphic tees put it, "trash chic"), or the fact that they were strutting their stuff down a duct-taped cardboard catwalk. But beyond your tongue-in-cheek treasures — miniature Sesame Street-style bins, bicycle wheel hats, stained and disheveled Moschino shopping bags — the fall 2017 show's message is actually nothing new. In fact, Franco Moschino built his entire house upon the idea that one could profit from the fashion industry by mocking it.
Since Scott took the reigns in 2013, that notion has gone viral; the dichotomy between the serious reputation the fashion industry is known for and the possibility that we could all just be trolling ourselves has become so sellable that it's nearly impossible to miss a Moschino phone case or controversial pill bag at Fashion Week every season. Hell, the brand's own Barbie sold out within an hour. If that's not the most realistic example of the old adage "one man's trash is another man's treasure," then perhaps we should focus our efforts on other designers who find themselves simply not funny enough to challenge the status quo.
The collection's inspiration wasn't far off. "For fall 2017, Jeremy Scott presents a Moschino woman who is so enraptured with fashion that she wraps herself in every material to bring her closer to it. She is the antidote to the unsustainable cycles of consumption. Her cure? To take materials the rest of us reject and wear them with Moschino panache," the show's official press release said.
Following the presentation, Scott took his bow wearing one of the many graphic tees we've seen at Fashion Month that read "Couture Is An Attitude." And while you can interpret the rest of the collection however you'd like (we suggest covering one eye and pretending it's one giant subtweet that recycling has somehow found its way onto fashion's main-stage again), he's right: Couture is what you make it, and extravagance isn't just found underneath layers of hand-sewn embroidery. Instead, could it possibly come from somewhere deeper within? Of course, we don't actually know anyone who buys couture. But thanks to Scott and Moschino, we've got a fresh perspective: Maybe anything can be couture nowadays. Even a trash bag.
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