Moschino

Moschino (Italian pronunciation: [mosˈkiːno]) is an Italian fashion design house and manufacturer of women's, men's and children's fashion.

Franco Moschino relentlessly mocked the fashion system, yet profited by it. He used shows as theater, and humor as marketing. Garments were his picket-line placards: Everything from suits to tees were emblazoned with slogans like “Good Taste Doesn’t Exist”; he’d embroidered the words “Waist of Money” on a jacket in place of a belt.

Like Elsa Schiaparelli, he played with surrealism through decorative trompe l’oeil effects (one otherwise classic black suit, for example, bore silverware and a napkin in place of buttons and jabot).

“I'm not a fashion designer,” Moschino declared. “I’m a painter, a decorator. I’m not the author of a new era ...."

Freedom was Moschino’s mantra—freedom from ideas of propriety, from logos, from the wastefulness engendered by trends, from rules. “Since the fifties, fashion has been considered something you have to follow without saying anything,” he was quoted as saying in 1986. “But fashion is only concept and theory, and I hope it is only one of the little elements in people’s lives."

Though sometimes accused of being a rebel without a cause, Moschino (who died from complications of AIDS in 1994) used his ads to campaign against drugs, violence, and cruelty to animals; he brought early attention to environmentalism in fashion production.

“Funny clothes have to be extremely well made because that is where you find the chic. It’s easy to be funny with a T-shirt, but it’s more clever with a mink coat. After all, if caviar was cheaper it would taste much less interesting.”

Moschino could also be outrageous—once he left flowers and tomatoes on editors’ chairs at a show so that they could express their pleasure or displeasure. In 1991, he decided that the runway was passé, and abandoned shows for private presentations.

His last act of showmanship, celebrating ten years of chaos (or, in Moschino-ese, “X Years of Kaos”), was a retrospective exhibit-cum–fashion show that benefited a children’s AIDS organization.

Moschino’s name might conjure loud, funny, colorful images (like the teddy-bear dress that ran on the October 1988 cover of Vogue), but many of his ideas have proved remarkably prescient—and he could actually tailor like the best of them.

Under all the surface witticisms, he had a serious knack for running classic pieces through a wringer of irony or surrealism. Chanelisms were his favorite trope, though he also poked fun at Jean Paul Gaultier’s lingerie dressing and put out pasta logo bags in a parody of the Prada accessories craze. Since his death, Rossella Jardini, his friend and colleague, has carried on Moschino’s legacy of fun.

The brand was originally created in 1983 by the late Franco Moschino (1950–1994). Moschino and his fashion label became famous for his innovative, colorful - sometimes eccentric - designs, for his criticisms of the fashion industry and for his social awareness campaigns in the early 1990s. After Moschino's untimely death, Rossella Jardini, his former assistant, became creative director. The brand has been part of the Aeffe fashion group since 1999.

In 2006, Moschino designed the outfits for the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Moschino also designed outfits for Kylie Minogue's 2005 Showgirl - The Greatest Hits Tour^] and Madonna's 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour.

Moschino Today

Starting with the F/W 08-09 pre-collection, the Moschino Jeans label changed its name to Love Moschino which better expresses its intrinsic nature.

Rossella Jardini has been Moschino’s Creative Director since 1994. Responsible for the brand image and style, Jardini fulfils the role of “creative witness”, keeping the stylistic and philosophical approach alive following the death of Franco Moschino (on 18 September 1994), with whom she collaborated from 1981.

Alessandro Varisco has been the Managing Director since April 2009.

The owner of the Moschino labels is Moschino SpA, the company which was acquired by Aeffe SpA (producer of Moschino since 1983) and Sportswear International SpA (SINV HOLDING S.p.A. since 2006) in 1999. Moschino SpA carries out its brand management, licensing agreement activities, communication and coordination of the commercial policies autonomously. In 2007, Moschino SpA signed an exclusive agreement with con Scienward International Holdings Limited for the franchising and distribution of its products in the People’s Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau). The 10-year agreement provides for the opening of 40 stores (22 in the first 5 years of collaboration) and the exclusive distribution of Moschino brand clothing lines beginning with the S/S 2008 collection. Moschino SpA also announces its 5-year renewable agreement with Allison for the creation, development and worldwide distribution of the new Moschino Eyewear collection, and the signing of a 5-year agreement (renewable for another 5 years) with the Binda Group for the manufacture and marketing of watches and for the very first time of the jewellery collection licensed with the Moschino CheapAndChic brand. The new collection of Moschino Helmets was presented to the world for the first time in November 2007, during the EICMA show. These helmets were the result of a collaboration between Max Safety Fashion helmet manufacturers and the Moschino fashion brand.

In July 2011 the company collection was presented at the catwalk of The Brandery fashion show in Barcelona.

The brand consists of several labels: Moschino (women's and men's main line), Moschino Cheap and Chic (women's secondary line, created in 1988), Love Moschino (women's and men's diffusion line, known as Moschino Jeans from 1986 to 2008), in order of exclusivity. In addition, accessories, jewelry, perfume and cosmetics, and even jet helmets^[8] are sold under the Moschino brand. In Milan, Moschino opened its own concept hotel in 2009, "Maison Moschino".