NYFW SS22: Moschino brings nursery fun to the catwalk

You can always guarantee that Jeremy Scott will bring fun and humour to the catwalk. For his Moschino spring/summer 2022 collection, showcased during New York Fashion Week, he did just that with a dose of nursery rhymes nostalgia, including a ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ purse combined with a kitschy ‘ladies who lunch’ vibe.

The Moschino spring/summer 2022 collection is “proper - but not exactly prim,” explains Scott in the show notes, with the designer reworking house founder Franco Moschino’s classic suits and separates with illustrated animal prints with a nursery rhyme twist. Think bears flying kites, poodles with flower crowns, happy-go-lucky seals balancing striped beach balls, and giraffes pulling trolleys chock-full of blossoms.

Gigi Hadid opened the show in a matching teal mini skirt suit and jacket, flashing a bustier bralette beneath, all covered in an illustrated patchwork animal print. The look was styled with pink rubber duckie earrings and an oversized, plastic chain link necklace spelling out Moschino in rainbow block letters, reminiscent of those magnets you rearrange on the fridge door.

It was a look that set the tone, as the whole collection was a homage to the early years, filled with nostalgia and novelty. Babydoll coats, knitted dresses, hot pants, and separates all featuring scalloped edges, bows, safety-pin detailing and character buttons, like a tiger, a cotton-candy coloured butterfly, and a skunk holding a daisy.

The playful references also made the accessories stand out, with heart-shaped bags, rattle bangles, safety pin earrings, a stacking wooden block clutch, a baby mobile headpiece, an ice-cream tub bag, and a baby bottle clutch.

The show concluded with an “embroidered menagerie” of dresses. On one dress, a three-dimensional quilted pony with a pink marabou mane leaping from the shoulder, while on another, an oversized sleeve turned into a quilted elephant’s trunk, and another featured a giraffe with a baby monkey clinging to its neck.

The statement dress from the collection had to be the one showcasing a bunny with his ears flopped coyly covering the bust.

“Ultimately, these are the finale ensembles to spring’s knowing, saccharine irony,” the show notes adds. “The ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ are fabulous, no doubt, but they may also sometimes see the world through rose (or baby pink)-coloured glasses.”