23 February 2024 |
Welcome to Moschino, Adrian Appiolaza! The 51-year-old Argentinian designer, unveiled his debut collection for the house just a few weeks after his appointment was announced. The short lead-time focused his mind on adapting Moschino archive signatures for a new generation.
Appiolaza is an avid collector of fashion (his own archive included Comme des Garçons and rare early pieces by Yohji Yamamoto, Jean Paul Gaultier, Martin Margiela, Vivienne Westwood and Issey Miyake). For him an archive is a living thing. He paid homage to the founder Franco Moschino, basing the collection the brands iconic archive, “not repeated but revisited, reassessed and rejuvenated” he said in a statement. His aim was to bring new proportions and fabrications but the same Moschino energy.
The peace sign, which functioned as a de facto logo for Franco featured heavily, in his debut collection. The designer embroidered it in pearls onto oversized T-shirts and the word itself appeared in block caps on a striking knitted mohair maxi dress. Surrealist references spanned Moschino’s question mark logo was scattered over suiting and emblazoned on over sized T-shirts and cloud-prints which gave a whimsical, dreamy look to swagged skirts. The yellow smiley face also appeared on bags knits and even nipple pasties. But along with the fun, he brought a polish and sophistication to the Moschino look. The first look out, a beige trench with a sweeping skirt, was a beauty. Appiolaza is the successor of the Italian designer Davide Renne, who tragically died suddenly in November only 10 days after starting in the role.
Hugely experienced, Appiolaza was the ready-to-wear design director at Loewe for 10 years before joining Moschino, and has worked at Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton.
Photography courtesy of Moschino.
