Once new creative directors get settled into heritage brands, they often let personal narratives start seeping into their work, which was the case Friday evening at Moschino, where a pixelated image of Eva Perón on a T-shirt and a leather sack of chocolate-dipped churros signaled that Adrian Appiolaza was letting out a cry for his hometown of Argentina.
Populating a runway with characters was something of a running theme on Friday, what with Demna’s hunks, babes and club kids steaming up the runway at his Gucci debut.
Appiolaza created outfits with all sorts in mind: bourgeois ladies, a bus driver with her vintage ticket dispenser, soccer fans, gauchos and tango dancers. He also referenced filete porteño, a decorative style seen on buses, trucks and in homes, which also looks very Moschino on a flaring dance dress.
While Moschino is perceived as being as Italian as pizza, pasta or polenta, Appiolaza noted that founder Franco Moschino took an “open source” approach to design, finding inspiration in many unexpected places. Indeed, the founder’s boyfriend was from Spain — hence the polka dots and flamenco references that became part of the brand lore.
Appiolaza even found a parallel to the founder’s beloved Olive Oyl character in Mafalda, conceived by late Argentine cartoonist Quino as a nonconformist girl “concerned with peace and human rights, who hates soup and loves The Beatles,” according to his estate’s official website.
“I don’t think Moschino necessarily needs to be about a certain culture or a certain group of people,” Appiolaza said during a preview. “He gave the brand the freedom to be just creative. When you feel passionate about something, just show it.”
As a love letter to Argentina, the fall show was splendid, but as a collection, it just didn’t hang together.
Appiolaza closed his display with a model suited up like a banker, her pumps festooned with fabric euro bills, and a leather piggy bank in the crook of her arm, the latest Moschino novelty after celery and spaghetti bags went viral.
“It was of saying that at the end of the day, fashion is all about money,” the designer said of the finale look.
