Yes to Fun
Of all the campiest fashion houses, Moschino takes the cake (or regarding its 2025 Ready-to-Wear show, the cookies).
A model wearing full Moschino during the Moschino Fall 2025 Ready-to-Wear show. Photo by Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com, and made available via Vogue. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
On February 28th, Moschino’s creative director, Adrian Appiolaza, wowed and delighted audiences with his spring collection. Amongst the well-tailored suits, polka dot splashes, and commendable drapery, an air of fun weaved itself throughout the looks. Specifically, the accessories reminded audiences how fashion can—and should—bring joy. The bags, ranging from suede to leather, and wine bottle to spaghetti to smiley face to cookie package, represented Appiolaza’s take on the Italian house’s campiness. These accessories added extra flair to sharply-cut coats, denim sets, and strapless mini dresses.
Models walking during the Moschino Fall 2025 Ready-to-Wear show. Photos by Alessandro Viero / Gorunway.com, and made available via Vogue. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Warning: for all new Moschino-lovers, these accessories may cause sudden elation and obsession. However, for the more seasoned followers, this playful side of the house is nothing new. Let’s go back a few decades to the Moschino Spring 1991 Ready-to-Wear collection. Straight from Franco Moschino’s brilliant vision, vivid colors and patterns sprung about. Even though the more neutral looks were equally as stylish, the key to Franco’s iconic campiness lies within the clashing-color extravaganza.
For patterns, polka dots accompanied stripes of various hues. The outfits boasted tassels, embroidery, jacket pins, lace, and silk. For movement, fuschia fabric hung down from one of the gowns like a jellyfish’s arms swaying in water. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Franco Moschino stitched the word ‘waist’ across the middle of a vibrant red pantsuit (the back read “of money”!). A more simplistic green tweed jacket with gold buttons seemed almost Chanel-esque at first. Then, the model twirled around and revealed an embroidered scene of a cow standing in a field of grass.
Models walking during the Moschino Spring 1991 Ready-to-Wear show. Photos by Condé Nast Archive, and made available via Vogue. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Clearly, Franco Moschino embraced the wild side of fashion. Through future collections, this beautiful and often peculiar style continued to roar. After his passing, Rossella Jardini worked as Franco’s successor from 1994 until 2013. When Jardini left, Jeremy Scott took over as creative director until 2023. Notably, many of their collections included design themes similar to that of Franco’s. Jeremy Scott's Moschino Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear collection is a beautiful, frenzied example of this phenomenon.
Regarding the chaos that was the 2010s, it makes perfect sense that Scott unveiled this Barbie-fied collection in 2014. For a quick exercise, picture every doll in a toy store but something about them seems off. That’s the overall theme, and genius absurdity, of this collection. The models wore enormous bombshell wigs and pink lipstick alongside their mini shorts, golden tops, and balloon-esque dresses. The silhouettes were either skin-tight or cartoonishly inflated. It’s the true beauty of Moschino: a pretty collection with some strange yet viral elements to it.
Models walking during the Moschino Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear show. Photos by Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com, and made available via Vogue. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Overall, Scott embraced the idea of camp throughout this collection. The “Barbies” were pinked out to the nines in a bubble-lettered ‘Moschino’ print. One of the models, Charlotte Free, roller skated down the runway (because why not?). A number of the looks, with their translucent shirts and golden jewelry charms, seemingly referenced Versace’s chain print. To add even more flair, one model strutted the runway in a wrapped towel dress, carrying two bags shaped like pool inflatables. A decade later, it's doubtful these exact designs will rise back into popularity. However, the campiness they represent will last forever. Long live Moschino and its ability to embrace fun.
