Moschino is a luxury fashion brand named after its founder Franco Moschino. Since its journey in 1983, this brand has grown into one of the top brands in the apparel industry. The company specializes in fragrances, leather accessories, and shoe luggage. Moschino history explores the brand’s beginning and growth over the years. That’s what this article covers; let’s take a look.
Moschino History – The Beginning
Franco Moschino has always had a love for art, and he decided to pursue a career in the line. To this end, he attended the Accademia di Bella Arte in Milan in 1967. However, the fees were a bit steep, so he began to sketch fashion designs and illustrations for various fashion houses and magazines. Eventually, several top designers like Gianni Versace began to notice his clever designs. So, in 1971, Moschino started his career with Gianni Versace as a sketcher, where he drew for the brand’s publicity campaign.
Most of his sketches were for a collection of ready-to-wear by Versace at the time. He also took a position as a designer with another fashion house called Cadette in 1976. In 1983, Franco Moschino left Versace and decided to open his own company called Moonshadow in Milan under his label. His first show was quite successful, and so was his second show. Moschino was a favorite amongst the press because of his playful nature. He also flaunted the norms of fashion, drawing the public’s attention. Moschino was a carrier of Schiaparelli’s legacy. His work was a mix of irreverent charm, art, innovative design, and surrealism.
Moschino History – An Italian Approach
Most established fashion houses looked on in horror at the acclaim Moschino was gathering. However, his adoring fans clamored for more of his designs. That’s precisely what Moschino gave his fans over and over again. He continued to provide more powerful and evocative combinations and creations. His designs were out of the world, and he offered more irreverent styles. Although Moschino wanted people to laugh at fashion, he knew they took fashion too seriously to laugh for long. Therefore, he took this as a challenge and consistently created a thought-provoking fashion that featured original messages by adding texts on the cloth or the addition of visual puns for his audience.
Moschino History – Moschino Couture
Franco launched Moschino Couture in 1986, starting with a men’s line that featured men’s fine underwear. He also introduced a women’s oriental fragrance called Moschino in 1987. In 1988, Franco opened his first boutique in Milan, Italy. The designer brand continued to grow with more products beings added. One of them is a Moschino fragrance that’s floral, light, and fruity in scent. Moschino released this fragrance under the name Cheap and Chic. In 1994, the brand launched a collection called Couture, and it was launched using only environmentally friendly dyes and fabrics.
It was easy to see his sense of the inane in every one of his designs. His sense of fashion was beyond the norm, the established, the classic, and the contemporary. Moschino was a designer that tempted the tides of faith. Although there was a twist to his designs, he constantly proved that he was a man of fashion. His sense of style was uncanny, and he had an admirable sense of proportion and cut. Moschino also found it easy to determine what the public was willing to buy, as proven by his designs and receptiveness towards it.
Franco Moschino’s Death and the Entry of a New Creative Director
Moschino died before he reached the age of 44. After he passed away, Rosella Jardini and Marco Gobbetti, the chief executive, took over the reins. Together, they began to lead Moschino’s Fashion house in Milan and tried to keep up the successful trend of Moschino. In addition, they continued to create fashion designs that were fun and extravagant in the method that Franco popularized.
Although Aeffe SpA, a fashion empire built by Alberta Ferretti, acquired the brand in 2001, Jardini remained the brand’s creative director. She brought impressive wearability to the company without losing touch with its humor-filled past. Due to this, Moschino continued to rise in the fashion world.
Moschino’s Designs and Labels
Moschino is a brand loved by women of all ages. This is primarily because of how the brand utilizes attachment uniquely. The artwork is also quite reminiscent of childhood favorites and comes with a disregard for the expected, making it a favorite for most women. This is why Moschino created three women’s labels: the Moschino Main Line, the Moschino Cheap & Chic, and the Love Moschino line. The main line is the high-end brand, while Love Moschino is the most affordable brand.
This doesn’t mean that men are not a part of the Moschino brand; the brand also offers menswear collections like Moschino Jeans and Moschino. Some top celebrities consistently wearing the Moschino brand are Nicole Kidman, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Paris Hilton, and Jessica Alba. Unfortunately, the untimely death of the fashion designer left the fashion industry empty of his dazzling personality, avant-garde visions, and eclectic fashion statement. Moschino’s goal was to keep the fashion world on its toes by changing the norm. He achieved this to a certain extent, and before he passed away, he created a non-profit organization where part of the Moschino proceed goes.
Most people believe that Moschino was a gift from the world of fashion. His collection was an eclectic array of fashion items, including shoes, jeans, eyeglasses, casual wear, eveningwear, watches, lingerie, and perfume. Despite his passing, his legacy and interpretation of fashion continued with his brand. Jardini expanded the brand to include more products and continued to create fun fashion items that people love worldwide.
Top Moschino Collections
Moschino has always been able to string the chords of controversy every season throughout Moschino history. Although it began with Franco Moschino, Jeremy Scott continued and walked a thin line between pop art and fashion. Scott can incorporate court jester and streaks of genius. This combination was quite rare and is one of the reasons Moschino was quite popular. Scott Jeremy believed in Franco Moschino vision of playful fashion. He frequently said, ‘it’s just fashion, you’re not meant to view it as a church, and you don’t pray to it.’ In light of this, some of the most iconic collections from Moschino’s collection are below.
The AW14 Collection – I’m Loving It
This is a collection by Scott Jeremy; it embodied tongue-n-chic ethos. Scott matched various looks that hyperbolized the classic Chanel silhouettes using the apparent ruby-red and gold glow of the McDonald color palette. He used this combination to create a collection that jarred the audience and left them feeling salty.
The SS15 Collection – We Girls Can Do Anything
Another outrageous collection from the brand is the SS15 collection. This collection featured platinum blonde wigs and a minidress. It was clear that Barbie was his muse. Scott Jeremy could make hot pink even hotter, although this seemed impossible. Instead, Scott Jeremy sent a model down the runway in rollerblades to create an active barbie. The exuberant and saccharine color scheme aims to transport the audience to the palette children used. It was also a motif to evoke the spirit of never-ending which Moschino craves.
The SS19 Collection – Etch-a-Sketch
This is another outrageous collection, and Jeremy Scott created it to taunt how the fashion industry requires professionals to function. This declaration that his commitment didn’t leave enough time for him to create a real collection. Therefore, this collection featured sketch scrawling, scribbles, and squiggles. Scott also shaded them in a desperate hurry with big marker pens. It also showed that high fashion’s distance from fast fashion isn’t as far as it would appear.
The AW18 Collection – Not so Extra-Terrestrial
The collections’ outfits were more lowkey than most people expected from the Moschino brand. People always expected a scandalous, controversial collection, as is consistent throughout Moschino history. Instead, however, this collection features conservative and mature looks. It also lacked the famous splashes of cartoon imagery that are common with Jeremy Scott’s designs.
Despite this, the show still received much backlash from fashion critics because the models were covered in shades of powder blue, Oompa-Loompa gold, and goblin gold. He then labeled the models as aliens. Most people viewed this as negligent and ignorant because of President Trump’s zero immigration policy.
The SS18 Collection – Vase Life
In this collection, the Moschino brand showed 50 looks. However, the first 34 featured an ensemble of ballet tulle skirts. This contrasted with goth touches and studded chokers, and black leather. He then switched things up at the shoe with the other 16 looks that featured delicate dresses that made models look like they were part of a flower arrangement.
The AW17 Collection – Handle with Care
People always try to think outside the box, but the Moschino brand focuses on quite the opposite. For the AW17 collection, Scott’s inspiration was the box itself. Most of the early looks in this collection feature the famous cardboard box with several looks wrapped in the popular package brown shade. Kendall Jenner opened the fashion show in a suede jacket that contrasted the tobacco-colored patent leather running down its length to give a parcel tape effect.
The look was followed by a mackintosh trend with the term packaging all over it. It also came with a logo t-shirt printed to give the appearance that it came from crumpled brown paper.
The SS16 Collection – Watch Where You’re Going
This is a top collection that made its mark in Moschino history. This collection features roadside diagonal-stripe piping, traffic cone headpieces, and stop-sign handbags. The brand’s playfulness was at full speed with this collection. Scott used colors like orange, yellow, and the 3M reflective material to disrupt the elegant womenswear cuts. The brand also finessed Balenciaga dresses with an ironic yellow ‘caution’ tape.
Final Thoughts
When Moschino’s first collection came to life in 1983, it opened the doors to the fashion of the eighties. It was a memorable year that birthed a rebellious era. This brand’s characteristic trait sets it apart from others with a unique brand. Despite the humor this brand brings to the fashion industry, it has garnered many fans and loyalists, as made apparent in Moschino history. The iconic variant of fashion pieces by this brand is why the brand continues to remain one of the top players in the fashion world to date.
