After the departure of Jeremy Scott, Moschino tasked four stylists to design ten looks for their Spring 2024 show to celebrate the brand’s 40th anniversary. The stylists, Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Lucia Liu, and Katie Grand, each selected a painting of Franco Moschino’s and designed their collections around this work along with other themes from Moschino’s archives. The show was separated into four acts, one per stylist, each having a distinct energy and feel paying tribute to the many aspects of Moschino’s work that make the brand so iconic.
The show opened with Dudzeele’s looks, inspired by Franco Moschino’s painting, “Still Life with Heart”. Dudzeele reimagined Moschino’s wardrobe staples and presented her take on modern-day classics. These looks reflected his idea on a capsule wardrobe. The palette was dominated by whites and blacks, and the looks consisted of turtlenecks, elevated khakis, blazers, and even a wide-leg jean. It was elegant and had a distinctly post-pandemic style, featuring a hoodie and looser silhouettes mixed with more structured suits and styles. Each look was adorned with large gems embellishing everything from belts to jewelry to knit hats, which felt like the perfect cold weather (or bad hair day) accessory for a Manhattan millennial mom taking her kids to their Upper East Side prep school. Dudzeele brought new innovations to the timeless styles, additionally incorporating Moschino’s signature typeface through subtle labels on the sleeves describing the items, eg. look 10’s “classic windbreaker” cuff. Although Moschino is well known for loud and campy designs, these ten looks highlighted a lesser-known side of his designs that are quieter and more subtle.
Act 2, designed by Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, was inspired by “Heart of Wool” and iconic motifs from the Moschino archive, namely, the cowboy hat. The act was described as “cunty cowboy” by Karefa Johnson, and cunty they were! The pulsing beat of the music had me nearly expecting the models to be vogueing their way down the runway. Though cowboys originate from Mexican culture, they are often associated with white American men. As a Black American woman, she repurposed the symbol and created a series of looks that were a colorful, strong, and indulgent take on Americana. Her aptitude as a stylist was evident in the perfectly clashing prints paired with matching bags and textures, juxtaposing the soft and feminine with a hard and edgy twist. She included granny-square skirts referencing the Moschino archive next to chain-link skirts and grommet-covered motorcycle jackets and corsets. This segment of the show felt extravagant with just the right amount of edge and empowerment.
The third act was designed by Chinese stylist Lucia Liu and highlighted the more feminine side of Franco Moschino’s designs. Drawing inspiration from her personal style as well as “Cloud with Handle and Padlock”, the ten looks were covered in ruffles, ribbons, and merged knitwear with florals, showing a style that has never been seen before from the brand. They encapsulated the powerful aspects of womanhood with dainty details while incorporating traditionally masculine garments such as cargo pants or suit jackets. Military green was made into mini skirts, matching jackets adorned with floral beads, and waistcoats that were reimagined as corsets. Liu’s take on the Moschino woman felt intelligent and sophisticated, a blend of frilly femininity and sexy sophistication that means business. I couldn’t help but wonder if the graphic tee of Liu’s first look, reading “Protect me from the fashion system”, worn on an Asian model was a nod to the female garment workers in Asia and the rest of the global South who uphold the fashion industry while being exploited by it. Regardless of intent, the statement feels just as relevant to the state of fashion and the world in 2023 as it did when Franco Moschino first emblazoned a campaign with “Stop the fashion system” in 1990.
The final act came from Perfect Magazine founder Katie Grand. Grand was inspired by Moschino’s “Gone With the Wind” painting and explored the brand’s history with larger-than-life design and intentional irony. Incorporating symbols like question marks and exclamation points, Grand explored the “loud luxury” concept. Models danced, stomped, and contorted their way down the runway in skin-tight looks with breasts, butts, and suggestive V shapes printed over white and black fabrics. They moved like the kid on the dancefloor at a high school dance that the cool kids judge (attempting to mask their envy of said kid’s ability to be their authentic self without concern about the way they are being perceived). One standout piece was a voluminous skirt made of lacy bras with straps and clasps creating dynamic movement as the model walked. It was delightfully weird and a welcome contrast to the incessant notion of quiet luxury that was shoved down the throats of fashion lovers and haters alike in the past year.
As a whole, though each stylist’s looks were very different from one another, they highlighted different aspects of Moschino’s history that all led to Franco Moschino’s enduring legacy as an absolute icon. It was a joyful, extravagant, indulgent, and celebratory collection with something in it for everyone, with the exuberance of each stylist radiating off of them as they came out to close the show. As models made their final walk down the runway in see-now-buy-now shirts reading “Borrow Me, Wear Me, Hug Me, [Love] Me” (the proceeds of which will primarily be donated to the Elton John Aids Foundation), Gloria Gaynor’s lyrics played in the background that could sum up the show: “Your life is a sham till you can shout out ‘I am what I am’”.
Words and Graphic by Flora Medina.