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NEW YORK, United States — A Jeremy Scott show is not rocket science. It doesn't require a particularly nuanced understanding of fashion to comprehend the brightly hued wares that the American designer parades down his New York runway each season on taut, teen bodies. What does help, though, is a keen understanding of pop culture, a little of which goes a long way to decrypting Scott's bubblegum vision, which stems from a deep-seated love of television from the 1980s and 1990s. It's what he grew up with and, to his millennial customer base, it may seem like something of a relic from the distant past, which works perfectly in favour of Scott's singular, witty universe.
This season he zoomed in on a particularly zany construct of the Wild West, deploying a barrage of blingy cowgirl-on-acid designs that ranged from buckled trenches in lime leopard and acid-striped fur (both real and faux) to satin pin-up shirts and teensy skirts in fringed red leather. Looking back at Scott's rags-to-riches trajectory, beginning as an outsider in Paris (as detailed in the 2015 documentary on his career), it is needless to say that it's his most sculptural, 'couture' creations that spring to mind before his printed jeans and tees, and Autumn's comprehensive collection balanced both more carefully than ever, something that has failed to click in recent seasons.
Balanced on PVC stiletto cowboy boots, today's dose of the former was comic genius, as literal bells and whistles were bedazzled across bums, constellations of studs were encrusted on leather bras and perfectos, and a trim coat and cocktail frock shimmered in double-sided black and silver sequins.
Scott's commercial categories were all ticked off too, as boys and girls alike paraded said jeans and tees emblazoned with freaky 1980s guitar prints (was that a keytar?) or ice cream coloured knits intarsia-ed with all the vital tools (a hairbrush, Ellnett and a hairdryer) for the models unmistakeable Hairspray blow-outs. Now two years into his gig at Moschino in Milan, it seems Scott has relaxed into the heady rhythm of helming a pair of labels across continents: this show was one of his best in years.
