This afternoon, Jeremy Scott announced his sudden exit from Moschino after nearly ten years at its helm. What’s perhaps more shocking than his departure, is that it managed to fly under the radar – there were no rumours on the timeline and no hearsay from those within the industry itself. “I’VE HAD A BLAST CREATING DESIGNS THAT WILL LIVE ON FOREVER,” the designer broadcasted to his 3.7 million Instagram followers with a photo of Gigi Hadid in the closing look from his SS19 collection. “I AM GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT I’VE RECEIVED OVER THIS PAST DECADE. AS I CLOSE THIS CHAPTER I AM FILLED WITH EXCITEMENT & ANTICIPATION AND CANT WAIT TO SHARE WITH YOU ALL WHAT I HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU NEXT!”

Scott’s name is, for most people, inseparable from Moschino’s. Born in Kansas City and raised on a cattle farm in the depths of Missouri, the designer graduated from New York’s Pratt School of Design in 1996, where he interned in the PR department of Moschino before debuting his own label in 1997. It wouldn’t be until 2013, however, that Scott would take up the mantle as creative director, citing a kinship with founder Franco Moschino’s tongue-in-cheek approach to design. Throughout his tenure at the label, Scott subverted fashion’s traditional (and serious) taste values with a turbocharged fusion of pop-cultural satire. He was responsible for decking models in McDonald’s uniforms, life-size floral arrangements and chandeliers, candy wrapper ball gowns, pool floats, and Marie Antoinette cakes.  

But there was an unusual sense of foreboding to Scott’s latest collection, where Scott twisted Moschino’s 40-year archive into black lace bodices, biker jackets, and XXL spikes. It was fun and anarchic and extravagant but it was also a reflection on time – referencing Dalí’s melted pocket watches and soundtracked to “Sunglasses at Night”, which sounded like a cassette tape had been chewed up in the stereo. Perhaps Scott was also winding down the clock on his own tenure at Moschino. “I am fortunate to have had the opportunity of working with the creative force that is Jeremy Scott,” said Massimo Ferretti, executive chairman of Moschino’s parent company Aeffe. “I would like to thank him for his ten years of commitment to Franco Moschino’s legacy house and for ushering in a distinct and joyful vision that will forever be a part of Moschino history.”