Adrian Appiolaza was named creative director of Moschino three weeks and two days ago. His arrival is tinged with sadness. Davide Renne, his predecessor in the role, died suddenly not long after beginning the job. It’s delicate, taking over in a situation like this; Appiolaza did so by committing himself to Franco Moschino’s legacy.
“It’s been a very intense journey,” he said backstage. “My first input when I decided to take this opportunity was to go to Franco’s universe and bring it to today. I went to the archive and picked iconic points of Franco.”
This Moschino is a big departure from that of Jeremy Scott, who headed up the label for nearly 10 years before exiting last March. Dubbed “the king of camp,” the American designer grabbed onto a theme and didn’t let go, making indelible collections, if fewer everyday clothes. Appiolaza, who is Argentinian, took a much broader approach with this first outing, reviving many of Moschino’s signatures—the cloud print first shown in 1985, a smiley face lifted from a yellow blazer in the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, a white and black tweed skirt suit that nodded in Coco’s direction, and slogan pieces promoting love and peace, among other things. The peace sweater dress in particular was interesting for the way the model’s head emerged from the P.
Mixed in among all those house memories were other “characters,” as Appiolaza called them, dressed “eccentric, but real.” Franco, he said, “had this saying: ‘wear what you want, not what you should.’ I want to keep the theatricality that he was known for but bring it in a more balanced offer.” Hailing most recently from Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe, and with a long résumé that includes stints at Chloé, Miu Miu, and Louis Vuitton, Appiolaza has a handle on eccentric realness; here it mostly revolved around deconstructed tailoring, stonewashed denim, and knits either 100% shrunken or 100% enlarged, and embroidered as such on the back.
He sent the clothes out on one of Milan’s rare gender-diverse runways. There’s promise and intrigue here. We’ll be curious to see where Appiolaza takes Moschino with a full season to develop his next collection.
