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 colour-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. Awesome Dr. Martens-style boots, cut-outs 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.
To create depth and movement or, at least, this illusion in these
gridded, saturated 2D photographic assemblies, the artists emphasise the dark
indentations of shadow and flashes of light at fold and seam. «How thrilling Jeremy loves our art so much
he wants to put it all over his trousers!». said Gilbert & George. Scott
added: «There are so many reasons why
Gilbert & George’s work resonates so strongly with me: the saturated colours,
the slogans, the provocative nature of so many of their subjects. I feel not
only a visual attachment to their art but an emotional bond as well. So it’s an
honour to bring their art into my fashion and create a hybrid of the two.»
The result? A highly wearable body of work that revels in the punch and
dissent of British Art’s filthiest, responsibly-suited iconoclasts as
interpreted in cloth by fashion’s pre-eminent subverter of the pop and iconic.
From The Pictures there are collaged coats, knit cardigans and MA-1
jackets with patches of the artists’ images of young men’s faces. You’ll see
typography, words and phrases from Gilbert & George’s art.
A further group with tailcoats and sharp suits is peppered with crucifix
patches that recall their 1982 piece entitled "Youth Faith". The tightened
grids and grenade flower-bursts on suits and bombers strongly relate to the
walls of the Tate. Scott found one G&G subject captured for posterity,
wearing a vintage Moschino peace-print tee: so, in a doubly-reflexive semiotic
pirouette, Scott reappropriated the print then twisted it into jacquards. The
house Moschino question mark logo is reflected over itself in a nod to that
Gilbert & George touchstone. And Scott assembled his own hyper-colour collage
of the artists’ abstract images on woollen topcoats, jeans and M-65’s. Because
both artists and designers are anti-establishmentarians to their cores, there’s
a fiery blast of punk and plenty of future-facing gender crossover.
The gothic church by Sir Arthur Bloomfield on One Mayfair transformed
into Jeremy Scott’s canvas
for his next installation of wearable Pop art. Whereas previous collections have seen Scott subvert
commodity branding, appropriate traffic iconography and the likes, today
witnessed a series of looks that is not to be confused with Warhol’s screen prints or even Chuck Russell’s slapstick comedy, “The
Mask” (1994). At times, the bright streak of paint on the model’s hair, down to
the purple suits, felt reminiscent of Bob Kane’s drawings of The Joker. An
interview with the designer backstage revealed the collection to be a collaboration with fine artists Gilbert
& George. In fact, the pieces have been made to keep as true as
possible to the actual artworks of Gilbert
Prousch and George
Passmore.
Scott, who seemed well at ease after the show, described the partnership
with the artists as nothing but serendipitous. “I was really inspired by
Gilbert and George. I had tea with them and they were so excited about it and
said why don’t you go further and use some of our art imagery and artwork and
have fun with it? And I did. They have been such joys to work with and so
supportive of the different ideas that I’ve done.” Of course, this would
not be the first time a front liner like Scott had done literal translations of
visual art onto actual garments. Raf Simons’ project with Sterling Ruby that began in
Fall/Winter 14 and spilled over into his womenswear show at Dior spring to
mind. And more recently, J.W. Anderson had incorporated tapestry works by
British artist John Allen into
his Spring/Summer 15 collection.
On the process of treating Gilbert
and George’s body of work, Scott shared that this is one of the most
laborious collections he has had to put together. “I was basically looking
at oversaturated images. I wanted the clothes to look like photographs. You see
the wrinkles; you see the darkness and the highlights of white coming off the
very saturated colours. And having block colours head to toe, or breaking it up
with the stripes… In every piece of – what I call the shadow group – there’s
artwork. There is artwork in every panel of the boots, every panel of the pants
and everything is subtly different. It’s probably one of the collections I’ve
spent the most time working on ever because of the fact that every last portion
of my shadow group had a specific pattern printed on it.”
The optical illusion created
was truly impressive. The models appeared like two-dimensional renderings of
themselves especially in the dark surroundings of the church. The contrast
couldn’t have been more pronounced and the nod to Gilbert and George’s oeuvre of stained glass paintings and
religious motifs made thematic sense in that space.
A closer look at the pieces revealed monosyllabic messages emblazoned
on streetwear essentials:
parkas, hoodies, joggers. They were direct translations from Gilbert &
George’s “Hope” from 1984 and “Youth Faith” (1982) to name a few. It was clear
that Scott wanted to ensure Gilbert & George's work were presented in a
manner that was not overly farcical. Silhouettes were restrained by Scott’s
standards and much attention was put into techniques that would make sense with
the artists' core message of “Art is For All.” Warholian tradition of
reproduction and celebrity became very clear from the risograph-like treatment
of the prints and the larger-than-life profile of some of the models,
from Jourdan Dunn to Rob Evans. Safe to say the swagger of
the 80s New York Art scene is making a comeback and Scott has managed to
pitch Moschino right
at the heart of the trend.
What we really loved about the show is that it has
been something unseen before, all the clothes were a big yes in our agenda to
buy! Our favourites were the pop and iconic colours, all the amazing prints and
the accessories. Also lovely were the make-up and hair of green, blue and
orange palettes. Absolute favourite piece would be the blue leather jacket that
had a 2D print and the half & half trousers, while the most favourite for us
was the blue sweater with black sleeves with printed details.
Timi Letonja - Simone Bronzi
CEO & Founder of RooMXMatez TM - Creative Director
of RooMXMatez TM
It's a story about two room mates who just love living their lives. Join our journey. «To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.»
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