Moschino Women’s Spring 2025: A Jumble of Fashion Tribes Come Together
Many designers this Milan season seem keen to dress a broader range of characters with varying fashion tastes, a switch from a recent trend of parading a memorable silhouette and one unmissable fashion message.
Adrian Appiolaza is one of those designers with range and lots of ideas — perhaps a few too many — and he hung them all out on the Moschino runway like the bedding, towels and undergarments clipped to the clotheslines that crisscrossed the show set.
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He opened his display with bustier gowns draped and wound from white bedsheets in one of many winks to late founder Franco Moschino, a master of witticisms and visual jokes, forever poking a thumb in the eye of capital-F fashion.
In rapid succession, Appiolaza cycled through punk, grunge, bourgeois ladies, cowboys and bikers, not forgetting such Moschino-isms as polka dots, smiley faces, logo belts and playful references to Italy, like the Margherita pizza badges pinned to the show notes.
There were IJBOL moments, such as when a little black dress strolled out quivering with plastic tagging barbs instead of fancy feathers. The model’s limbs were peppered with colorful price stickers, perhaps a cheeky commentary on hyperinflation in luxury.
A puffer jacket composed of a jumble of mismatched throw cushions coaxed a smile, as did a trompe-l’œil trenchcoat etched in blue ballpoint pen on a white T-shirt dress.
During a preview, Appiolaza unfurled all his references and explained how they connect to each other, noting the opening bedsheet looks linked to the finale of his previous show.
The Argentinian designer drew on his formative fashion years in London, gorging on The Face and i-D magazines as they documented Ray Petri’s Buffalo style, and other emerging subcultures. Hence a collaboration with i-D founder Terry Jones, whose graphic phrases like “What’s Up!” mesh perfectly with Moschino’s word plays, and another with the estate of Judy Blame, whose found-objects jewelry jibes with Moschino’s DIY sensibility.
You could argue that Appiolaza’s debut Moschino show was weighted toward solid wardrobe builders, whereas this spring effort tilted toward concepts and ideas, all very good ones. Now he just needs to get the balance right.
Launch Gallery: Moschino Spring 2025 Ready-To-Wear Collection
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