Moschino

Franco Moschino relentlessly mocked the fashion system yet profited by it. He used shows as theater and humor as marketing. Garments were his picket-line placards: Everything from suits to tees were emblazoned with such slogans as Good taste doesn’t exist; he embroidered the words Waist of money on a jacket in place of a belt. Like Elsa Schiaparelli, he played with surrealism through decorative trompe l’oeil effects (one otherwise classic black suit, for example, bore silverware and a napkin in place of buttons and jabot). Freedom was Moschino’s mantra—freedom from ideas of propriety, from the wastefulness engendered by trends, from rules.

Though sometimes accused of being a rebel without a cause, Moschino (who died from complications due to AIDS in 1994) used his ads to campaign against drugs, violence, and cruelty to animals; he brought early attention to environmentalism in fashion production.

Moschino could also be outrageous—once he left flowers and tomatoes on editors’ chairs at a show so that they could express their pleasure or distaste. His last act of showmanship, celebrating 10 years of chaos (or, in Moschino-ese, “X Years of Kaos”), was a retrospective exhibit–cum–fashion show that benefited a children’s AIDS organization.

Under all the surface witticisms, he had a serious knack for running classic pieces through a wringer of irony or surrealism. Chanel-isms were his favorite trope, though he also poked fun at Jean Paul Gaultier’s lingerie dressing and put out pasta bags in a parody of the Prada accessories craze. After his death, Rossella Jardini, his friend and colleague, carried on Moschino’s legacy of fun for nearly 20 years. Starting in 2013 and for a decade thereafter, the American enfant terrible Jeremy Scott animated the label with over-the-top runway antics, collabs with the likes of Barbie, riffs on iconic logos from McDonald’s to Marlboro, and a general feel-great vibe. The Italian Gucci veteran Davide Renne took over for Scott in late 2023, though he was never able to present a collection due to his sudden passing days into his tenure. Adrian Appiolaza, an Argentinian designer and avid vintage collector who spent a decade at Loewe with prior stints at Alexander McQueen, Chloé, Miu Miu, and Louis Vuitton, debuted as Moschino’s creative director in 2024. Appiolaza’s playful eye merges a contemporary outlook on ready-to-wear with Moschino Italianisms and a tinge of lively surrealism.