MOSCHINO BLURS REALITIES FOR PRE-FALL

MOSCHINO FANTASY BOYS
by Stephen Garner

Moschino’s latest menswear collection explores the increasing clash between our augmented and physical realities.

This thinking is the rocket fuel for creative director Jeremy Scott’s pre-fall 2022 Moschino menswear collection, which features a broad medley of wardrobe staples bonded by a verve of fantasia and a gloss of Space Cowboy. Yet the fantasy never becomes so grand as to fall out of orbit; each and every piece in this collection is something Scott would wear himself. It’s a personal, realistic reverie.

From the top: baseball hats are given raised horns, mimicking demonic filters that have sprung up on social media this year. A robotic redux of Moschino’s teddy bear appears, as a single motif on a raglan tee or all-over printed across a double-breasted suit. Other elements from the out-of-this-world realm include flame-licked boots, holographic outerwear, and the phrasing “Fantasy Boys,” printed on tops, that could almost serve as the name of the proverbial band: pre-fall 2022’s wearers are these confident daydreamers, savvy in their style and fluent both online and on the street.

Yet there’s more to the mix, in that all dreams are grounded in experience. With this in mind, Scott dips into nostalgia by reinterpreting a colorful ski parka, cutting chevron satin into a waistcoat-and-pleated skirt combo, or quilting diamonds of fabric into car coats and trousers. Fatigue accessories, like a cross-body bag or a tote, are spliced-and-diced in a manner similar to Franco Moschino’s penchant for taking two items and making them into something new, as one. This graphic treatment can also be seen on a half-striped, half-plaid-patterned suit.

Everything from a pink-tail tuxedo to new versions of Moschino’s signature motorcycle jackets to varsity sporting cues to shag Bermuda shorts further rounds out the arc between the wondrous and the worldly (and the worldly wide web).

Photos by Marcus Mam