Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott is stepping down from his role at the Italian luxury fashion house after a decade of irreverent, pop culture-infused collections, according to a statement from the label released Monday.
“These past ten years at Moschino have been a wonderful celebration of creativity and imagination,” Scott said in the news release. “I am so proud of the legacy I am leaving behind.”
During his tenure, Scott was known for theatrical productions, over-the-top styling and a playful take on the zeitgeist presented on the runway, through looks such as Marie Antoinette-inspired mini pannier skirts, paper doll motifs and evening gowns incorporating inflatable pool toys. He also partnered with H&M for a collaboration that prompted massive lines and eye-watering resale prices, with Mattel on a highly sought-after Barbie capsule collection and with The Sims to create a line of virtual clothes.
Scott was the third designer to lead Moschino, carrying on the legacy of Franco Moschino, who founded the label in 1983 with pop art, camp and playful irony influencing his ready-to-wear collections. After his death in 1994, the label’s reins went to Rossella Jardini, who helmed the fashion house for some two decades — updating Moschino’s eccentric style for the 2000s and dressing pop icons including Madonna and Lady Gaga — before Scott joined in 2013.
Scott’s splashy debut for Moschino in 2014 focused on American consumerism, weaving the branding of McDonald’s, Hershey’s and Budweiser, along with the face of Spongebob Squarepants, into pieces shown on the runway. From this and other early collections, Scott’s reimaginings of Moschino accessories as everyday branded items — from Happy Meal handbags to cleaning spray bottle phone cases — were a particular hit.
His final Moschino collection, shown at Milan Fashion Week in February, was more subdued than past seasons, however, with models wearing skirt suits, knits, chunky gold jewelry and sky-high mohawks.
Though Scott has dressed a number of A-List celebrities while leading Moschino, his designs were particularly unmatched where high drama was needed, for occasions like the Super Bowl half-time show (for which he produced looks for Katy Perry in 2015) or the Met Gala red carpet. For the latter event, Scott dressed Cardi B in an ethereal pearl-encrusted dress and headpiece in 2018, dressed Perry as a chandelier in 2019 and sent Megan Thee Stallion in a mythological-themed feather-and-armor gown in 2022.
Earlier this month, he dressed Angela Bassett and Tessa Thompson, among other stars, for the Oscars and Vanity Fair after-party.
When pandemic restrictions kept designers off of runways in recent years, Moschino led the charge in creative workarounds, devising high-production short films instead. One featured a tiny marionette show with real (scaled-down) spring-summer 2021 looks — as well as puppet attendees such as Anna Wintour — and another featured vignettes acted out on a rotating set by stars such as Dita von Teese, Precious Lee and Hailey Bieber.
The films felt fitting for Scott, who already treated Moschino’s runways like a stage or cinema set — and once even built smoke machines into his gowns.
“When I’m doing a show I’m really creating a character, so I really want to put (the models) in that mood, like I think a director would an actress,” Scott told CNN in 2016. “It’s really important for me to speak to them and talk to them about it, and that’s why the models do look so different in my shows.
Scott led Moschino alongside his own eponymous label, though he has not presented new collections independently since 2019. Scott has yet to announce his next steps — including whether he’ll take his label off the backburner — but his aesthetic is sure to remain unmistakeable.
“I think it’s important that people have fun when they come to my shows,” he told CNN in 2016. “It’s what people expect from me.”
