©ourtesy of Sarah Harris @ Vogue.uk
See all show photos
MOSCHINO
turns 30 this year and celebrations have been non-stop. As one would
expect from a house such as this, a milestone anniversary was never
going to slip by, unnoticed. The Italians already staged a runway show
in Shanghai earlier this year, and everyone was expecting something
bigger and better on home turf this week. Invitations arrived
accompanied by a boxed white t-shirt branded “For Fashion Victims Only,”
and for days now, rumours have been circling of Gloria Gaynor set to
perform
I am what I am. Those rumours proved true. The show opened with video footage of founder
Franco Moschino,
who died in 1994 from complications of AIDS, aged just 44. It was a
poignant moment, but show-goers, fuelled by champagne supped in the
courtyard, were in the mood for a party and with that, the curtain
opened and out popped Pat Cleveland in that full-skirted “cow” gown (the
same gown she wore 30 years ago, in 1983 for the house’s first ever
fashion show). The crowd lapped it up whooping and cheering.
Only in Milan. Other archival hits followed, such as the clustered teddy bear hat and scarf, and a ball gown made from bin bags.
The
spring collection that followed is best described as a catalogue of
reworked greatest hits, from safety-pinned embellished black jackets
with ring-pull zip pockets, to rose-printed dresses, gingham bloomers,
monochrome ruffle-collared skirt suits and T-shirts emblazoned “Niente”
and a caftan that read “Holy Chic”. Everything was trussed up on good
girls or bad girls, the former accessorised with pearls, the latter with
brassy gold chains, hoop earrings, and those shouty logo belts. It was
humorous, delightful, outrageous and ridiculous and in all, a thoroughly
fitting tribute by
Rossella Jardini,
Frano Moschino’s friend and former assistant who took up the reins in
the mid Nineties – and yes, there are many pieces here that will prove
to be commercial hits too, when these clothes land in stores in spring –
but in truth, that wasn’t really the point of it all this evening. Take
it away Gaynor…!
Back in 2005, Gareth Pugh
was living in a squat in London when all the important UK fashion
magazines attached themselves to him like a Fred Perry-clad tumor. Fresh
out of fashion school and an internship with Rick Owens, he was soon a
style-page wank fantasy, representative of the type of hijinks English
fashion clamors for. It was all justified. Gareth’s first shows featured
inflatable outfits and light-strewn garments. Everyone in attendance
over the age of 30 offered mealy-mouthed praise—like it was all very
well and fun and diverting but ultimately fey and immature. Attendees
under the age of 25, however, cheered the models and clothes down the
runway, feeling like somebody had finally reinvented fashion for the
21st century and rescued us all from retro regurgitation. Six years on,
fashion sites are overflowing with photos of androgynous kids addicted
to black who look just like Pugh. His line garners the type of attention
and praise usually reserved for the vaunted and dusty old guard. He
shows annually in Paris and New York, working and hanging out with all
the ritziest fashion people, like Karl Lagerfeld and Mario Testino. We’ve known him for a while, though, so we persuaded him to take a few minutes for the following little chat..Read on : View more Gareth’s Collection 
