Jeremy Scott’s fertile pop-art imagination and affection for the outrageous in fashion were on full display at New York Fashion Week on Monday at a high-octane, high-volume show that melded elements as diverse as John Waters movies, Jackson Pollock and Star Trek.
The colours – bright, varied and bold – popped off the catwalk as models sauntered along in exaggerated bouffant wigs and bright plastic shoes, some of them outfitted with an inflating nozzle (just for fun, not function).
There were futuristic bikinis topped with bangled dresses, silkscreen dresses with images of vampy women, and knit miniskirts with big cartoon faces on them.
For the men, there were fabulous loafers in brilliant yellow, bright green leather trousers or polka dot leather jackets. Scott’s explanation of the unifying theme was endearingly all-over-the-map.
“It’s my imagination of what the cool kids in the 1980s on the Lower East Side in New York were doing,” he said backstage. “They were watching those early John Waters films and those Russ Meyer films that inspired them.” He continued: “It’s cross-generational, 1980s looking at 1960s, 1950s. I wanted to play with all these nuances, like the vamp and that bad girl who was like, bouffant a little too high, belt a little too tight.”
But wait – that bad girl has also managed a trip to outer space. Or to a place where they use really cool ray-guns, one of Scott’s more striking prints.
"It's kind of Star Trek-based," he said. "Futuristic planets, with those bangly dresses, and some goddess from outer Venus or something. I wanted to play with all that and have fun with it."
Yet another print – on a series of dresses and tops – seemed to have come from the Jackson Pollock paintings at the Museum of Modern Art.
Scott is having a big moment. Along with his ever-popular catwalk show this week – attendees included Rita Ora and cast members from Empire – a documentary about him, Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer, is opening with fanfare this week.
Scott says he feels fortunate how ideas come to him, then come to fruition so easily. “I just find things that I’m excited about and I just build from there,” he said. “It’s very organic. It all comes together. I feel very lucky.”
artslife@thenational.ae
