MOSCHINO FALL WINTER 2017-18 MEN’S COLLECTION AND WOMAN PRE-FALL – MILAN FASHION WEEK

Moschino 2017 Men’s and Women’s Pre-Fall

PARAMILITARY

The place: an ancient palazzo. The time: an indeterminate future. The collection: a curated clash between dystopia and hope presented by Moschino designer Jeremy Scott. For Pre-Fall and Menswear Fall/Winter 2017 we are on a mission. The models emerge into the scarlet glow of digital clocks set to countdown. The collection is half artful collision, half meaningful division.

The baseline uniform is military. Olive cotton drill and parachute silk are issued as jumpsuits, elongated MA1’s, field jacket skirts, and camouflaged combat separates. These are worn alongside webbing harnesses, combat boots and cavalry boots. Ripcords provide ruche and gather, a hooded wind-cheater is deployed as a ruffled dress, and that camo’s color-scheme is twisted from you-don’t-see-me to oh-please-do: but this much more than a by-the-numbers subversion of military gear.

Because – BANG – there are tulle-pumped evening gowns and tailcoats strafed with scenes of conflict. Elegance fighting back, beauty uprising. These scenes run from Italianate frescoes depicting the eternal struggles through to Transformer laser-lit panoramas of epic battles in space. Sometimes the decoration is a source of conflict: a fresco half painted over by heavy black brushstrokes, an olive drill evening gown or overprinted denim jacket daubed with the outline of roses.

There are other tensions, other ambiguities at play here too. Moschino-classic black leather biker pieces are cut in with panels of gold on back floral jacquard: hard and soft. Jeremy Scott is proud to have recruited Judy Blame to contribute his hand-hewn headpieces: berets strafed with metal hardware that resemble disassembled Swiss Army knives.

Beauty conjured up through the magic of feeling. Pre-Fall or Pre the Fall? From then, for now, until when? Beauty and freedom are worth fighting for. That marabou rainbow burns brightest when set against a dark background. This season Scott delivers an anti-uniform for whats to come. So rise up and get dressed before the clock counts down to zero.