This season in Milan, many designers seemed keen to dress a wider range of characters with different fashion tastes, shifting away from the recent trend of flaunting memorable silhouettes and one unmistakable fashion statement.
Adrian Apiolaza is one of those designers with a wide range of talent and a wealth of ideas (maybe too many), and he put them all on display on the Moschino runway: bedding, towels and underwear clipped to clotheslines that crisscrossed the set.
He opened the show with a bustier dress draped and wrapped in a white bedsheet, one of many winks to the late Moschino founder, Franco, a master of witty verbal and visual jokes who constantly provoked the fashion world.
Apiolaza introduced punk, grunge, bourgeoisie women, cowboys and bikers, all while keeping Moschino’s signature play on Italy: polka dots, smiley faces, logo belts and a Margherita pizza badge pinned to the show notes.
There were some classic IJBOL moments, like a woman shivering in a little black dress with spikes attached to plastic tags instead of gaudy wings, and the model’s limbs were covered in colorful price tags, a cheeky comment on luxury hyperinflation, perhaps.
A puffer jacket with a jumble of mismatched cushions is as smile-inducing as trompe l’oeil. A trench coat inscribed with blue ballpoint pen over a white T-shirt dress.
During previews, Apiolaza revealed all the references and explained how they connected to each other, pointing out that the bedsheet look at the beginning links to the previous show’s finale.
The Argentinian designer studied fashion in London, where he devoured The Face and iD magazines, which documented Ray Petri’s Buffalo style and other emerging subcultures. His collaboration with iD founder Terry Jones, whose graphic phrase “What’s Up!” dovetailed perfectly with Moschino’s wordplay, and his collaboration with Judy Blame’s Foundation resulted in found-object jewelry that matches Moschino’s DIY sensibility.
Whereas Apiolaza’s debut show for Moschino was focused on constructing a solid wardrobe, his spring collection was more about concepts and ideas, both of which were very good. Now he just needs to get the balance right.
