The concept of "Lost & Found" holds incredible power because it encapsulates two profound emotions: desperation and elation. When something or someone is temporarily lost, it invokes a deep sense of desperation.
Yet, when that object or person is found, the overwhelming joy that follows makes you treasure them even more. This journey from loss to rediscovery amplifies the value of what was lost, heightening your appreciation for it.
On Moschino's men's S/S 25 and women's 2025 resort co-ed runway, the "lost and found" theme was symbolized by piles of assorted suitcases.
Less poetic and more cold than Boltanski's piles of clothes, the suitcases created a modern background, indirectly reminding us of the global world we're all part of (hands up who can spot among the piled-up luggage, a suitcase that looks exactly like your own).
The "Lost & Found" metaphor worked pretty well for Moschino as well: led by the late Franco Moschino right-hand woman Rossella Jardini until 2013, the brand saw a big change when Jeremy Scott was chosen as Creative Director in October of the same year.
While Scott was intrigued by the possibility of heading a house founded by an irreverent designer who loved fashion but who wasn't afraid of criticizing it, his tenure at the house wasn't inspired by Moschino's proverbial humor, but by commercial pieces and licensing deals that allowed Scott to incorporate popular cartoon or videogame characters in Moschino's collections.
Yet, as they became de rigueur, the genetic code of the brand was diluted and Moschino's original message was lost. The brand got a new creative director, Davide Renne, last year, but, in November 2023, he died unexpectedly. The Italian fashion house then announced in January they had appointed a new creative director, Adrian Appiolaza.
Born in Argentina, led by his passion for the English music scene, Appiolaza moved to the UK in the early '90s, studied at Central Saint Martins and then worked for a variety of houses and brands, including Alexander McQueen, Chloé, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton and Loewe (he worked with JW Anderson on the brand's S/S23 Anthurium collection).
Though Appiolaza has an extensive experience in fashion and an enviable CV, he never worked as a creative director for a specific brand.
Appointed at Moschino, he therefore found himself having to deal with a new role and a complex mission as well – having to find again the lost spirit of Moschino, revamping interest in a label that in the last 10 years focused more on overpriced smartphone covers than on clever clothes with a fun twist.
Appiolaza's first show for Moschino opened Milan's menswear shows. The runway started with office looks inspired by Appiolaza's time in an insurance office. He never liked the suit he had to wear at work, that's why all the suits he designed for this collection had a fancy twist.
White cotton shirts and jackets featured their extra-long edges that seemed to have gone through a paper shredder, while white coats were covered in thin strips of fabrics that again looked like the remains of shredded documents.
Black suitcases were shaped like hearts for those workaholics who have just one love in their lives – their job; starched collars were turned into three-dimensional surreal decorative elements on a skirt and on a shirt or they were used to create sculptural sleeves.
A tank top was made with oversized paper clips, and shirts featured with trompe l'oeil men's suspenders or jackets. The offer also included suits dotted with buttons or Post-it notes, and a shirt with a print of a fax on Moschino letterhead.
Brooches that looked like fried eggs (eggs also appeared in a pajama suit and necklace) or bananas and a faux ink stain on a pocket mimicking a pen that had just exploded (an accident that wasn't rare decades ago when we used to take more notes by pen…) added more whimsical touches to this first section.
Appiolaza then moved from the office to more leisure activities and the outdoors: his passion for raves and the Manchester scene, appeared in the smiley ties and tops; Moschino's classic Italian kitsch moods were distilled in a soccer-themed skirt and jacket (very Italia 90 World Cup…), the former was matched with a white vest with a faux tomato stain and a pizza clutch.
The suit with a print of Italian food products and a centurion helmet was classic Moschino kitsch, but it was also matched with a shirt underneath shredded and knotted to recreate a tablecloth, for an added camp note.
The outdoors was evoked by daisy motifs, prints of geese (that were also an inspiration for the feathery shoes) and monkeys, a dress and a skirt made wth table napkins and surreal safari designs.
A model in this section carried a watermelon-shaped clutch that could be interpreted as a reference to Palestine and not just to summer (if that was the case, Appiolaza is the only designer who was brave enough to make a reference to the situation in the Middle East in a recent runway).
This last section included a halter neck dress made from an trench coat and another version of Franco Moschino's original "Survival Jacket" (Spring/Summer 1991; Jeremy Scott did his version of the jacket in Moschino's A/W 21-22 collection) – updated to incorporate a space for a smartphone and hinting at a urban safari.
White looks – a young man in a white suit with a skirt fashioned out of a multi-sleeved shirt and a young woman with a long dress and a skirt blooming with organza flowers – closed the show.
But don't think they were a bride and a groom: in this journey from a surreal office to the outdoors, Appiolaza was in search of a paradise and these were probably angels, something that would perfectly fit with his vision of creating genderless designs.
So, was Moschino "lost & found"? Well, the show may have been edited, but, as a whole, it was a fresh start for a fashion brand that had clearly lost its direction, and featured a variety of offers for all ages and for a wide consumer base as proved also by his models (reminding us that we can be irreverent at all ages – as one Appiolaza's bags stated "it's better to dress as you wish than as you should").
Appiolaza may prove a good bet for Moschino, after all in this first collection he nailed it already, respecting the legacy, but adding his personal twists and humor in a balanced way. Now let's hope that at Moschino they will give him time to develop his vision in the next seasons.
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