STYLE
****
Having fun with Moschino:
A designer takes a bow
Catwalking.com
Clockwise from top left: A humorous
Moschino handbag; an inventive
invitation to a Cheap and Chic show; a
helmet from the new line launched this
year; an arresting window display at
the Milan f lagship; the brand’s creative
director, Rossella Jardini; a front row at
a Moschino menswear show filled with
stuffed animals; a ‘‘Lock Ness’’ bracelet
from the new Cheap and Chic jewelry
line; a whimsical white rabbit store
display; a military-inspired ensemble
from the fall/winter ’08 show; and an
abstract f lower print sweater from the
Cheap and Chic fall/winter ’08 show.
iht . com/style
A slide show of the fun-loving
world of Moschino.
9
International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
By Jessica Michault
A
MILAN
front row filled with stuffed animals, an invitation made from a napkin
tied around a set of silverware, and an open delivery truck with runway
models flowing out of the back are just a few examples of how the
Moschino brand continues to harness humor in the name of fashion. For
the past 25 years, the company has prospered with a foundation of irreverence, fun
and a surrealist frivolity that runs counter to the way slick, big-business fashion
functions today. And its creative director, Rossella Jardini, wouldn’t have it any
Graziella Vigo for Moschino
other way.
‘‘The glossy, glamorous and cool world of fashion have never particularly fascin-
ated me: I adore fashion and many of its representatives not for those aspects but
for the creativity, the research and the effort that remains behind every collec-
tion,’’ said the designer.
Jardini — who started working alongside the company’s founder, Franco
Moschino, in 1981 and took over designing
the brand after his death in 1994 — has long
kept a low profile, letting the sunny brand
image and the colorful clothing speak for
themselves. But in the new fashion world
order, where designers are almost as fa-
mous as the brands they work for,
Jardini has started to step into the spot-
light in hopes of giving a face to a
brand.
A slim woman who often dresses in
large sweaters and easy trousers worn
with big jewelry and thick dark-
framed glasses, she offered
frank responses to ques-
tions about her ap-
Images from Moschino
proach.
“I don’t design the collection in my head,” she said in a re-
cent interview, speaking in a mix of Italian, French and
broken English. “I have a team that helps with that. For me it is
all about the choice of fabrics and the mixing of textiles. That iht . com/style
is always my starting point when I put together a collection.” A video of Suzy Menkes visiting the new Marc by
Since its inception in 1983, Moschino has been known for its Marc Jacobs Parisian f lagship and talking to the
playful style, one that particularly enjoyed poking fun at its company’s co-founder, Robert Duffy, about the
own industry with comical messages on clothing like brand’s expansion. A ‘‘recession-proof’’ store, the
“Fashion Ready to Where?” or the words “Channel No. first European f lagship for Marc Jacobs’s diffusion
5” inside the image of a TV set on a T-shirt. Cheeky line offers customers a cheery mix of high- and low-
clothing, including teddy bear collars on dresses, priced clothes and accessories.
trompe l’œil swimsuits, or a jean jacket made from
denim pants and a matching leather belt as a collar
have all found their way onto the Moschino runway in Ben Seidler
the past.
Jardini only recently started taking bows at the end
of her fashion shows, and she almost always does it
with at least one member of her design team. “I didn’t
go out on the runway as a form of respect for Franco
Moschino. But now I think it is O.K. for me to be seen,
but it is also important that I show that I am not the
only one doing everything,” the designer said.
Over the past quarter-century the brand, which is
owned by the Aeffe Group, has gradually expanded
and now has more than 20 different clothing and ac-
cessories lines that bear the company’s name, from
the high-end Moschino line and the younger Cheap
and Chic collection to accessories like ties, under-
wear, perfume, gloves and sunglasses. The brand has
grown, more or less under the fashion radar, and now
counts 90 stores worldwide in places as far flung as
Capri, Italy; Vilnius, Lithuania; Istanbul; New Delhi;
and Singapore, with plans to reach 100 stores by 2010.
Under Jardini’s direction over the past 14 years, there has
been a subtle shifting of the more over-the-top, ironic and play-
ful aspects that are the DNA of the brand, out of the clothing
lines and into the supporting categories of accessories, store
designs, runway backdrops and advertising. Of course there are
still big bows on dresses, witty prints and cute embellishments
in both the Moschino and Cheap and Chic collections, but they
no longer seem to overpower the clothing. They have become
accents to solid design work that can be appreciated on its
own. The celebrity world has certainly taken notice, with the
likes of Nicole Kidman, Beyoncé Knowles, Jessica Alba and
Debra Messing choosing to wear Moschino on the red car-
pet.
Jardini said she is happy that Hollywood’s leading ladies
like her clothing, but regrets there is not a more personal re-
lationship between the stars and designers.
‘‘I wish that such beautiful and communicative women
had their own personal style, in an independent way, apart
from the stylists and fashion brands,’’ she said. ‘‘Maybe it
depends on the self-confidence that women have or don’t
have in themselves, confidence with their body, but I know
that I would love to again see women and actresses who leave a
mark with their personality in current fashion.’’
Italy still rings up the most business for the Moschino brand, bringing in 32 per-
cent of sales. The remainder of Europe takes up another 30 percent; North Amer-
ica, 11 percent; Japan, 9 percent; and 18 percent is culled from the rest of the world.
In 2007 Moschino generated ¤136.8 million, or about $187.4 million, in sales, up 9
percent over 2006, which had already seen a 7 percent increase from 2005.
But 2008 has been a particularly fruitful year for the company. “It is a bit like a
strange cosmic aligning of the stars that all of this is happening this year,” Jardini
said, referring to the number of new ventures that are launching this year.
This year the company has added a line of whimsical Cheap and Chic jewelry
that incorporates the tongue-in-cheek style of the house. Earrings are made from
the pairing of a goose on one ear and an egg on
the other. Cufflinks spell out ‘‘strike’’ and are
fastened with bowling pins, and link bracelets
are made with the house’s iconic heart motif.
The company has also revamped its watch line,
starting a new partnership with the Binda Group
for its spring/summer 2009 collection, and has
added a new line of colorful motorbike helmets
that should do well in its Italian market.
In May Moschino returned to New York, after
closing its last shop there in 2000, with a new
2,500 square-foot, or 230 square-meter, flagship
store in the meatpacking district. The store car-
ries most of the Moschino clothing and ac-
cessories lines and is designed in the same ar-
resting and amusing way as the rest of the
company’s shops. This means couches in the
form of purses, light fixtures sprouting out of
boots and eye-catching window displays.
The brand also made a move away from its
core fashion business this year and broke
ground on the new “Maison Moschino” luxury hotel, reappropriating an old
neoclassical railway station on Viale Monte Grappa in Milan. The interior is
designed by Jardini and is faithful to Moschino’s quirky love of surrealism, tak-
ing inspiration from the world of fairy tales and the dreams they conjure up. It is
slated to open next year.
‘‘The beautiful thing for me is that when you create a first project you have fewer
boundaries: the fantasy can run freely and the limits are less oppressive, ’’ the de-
signer said.
But even if all of these new ventures are sure to keep Jardini busy, it is clear that
her focus will always be on creating wearable clothes. “I want people to notice the
person wearing my clothing and think they look beautiful first,” Jardini said with a
laugh. “It is not as important that someone recognizes it’s a Moschino design, at
least that way they can wear it for more than just one season.”