Deconstructing Jeremy Scott: the man who dressed Katy Perry up like a chandelier

Scott kicked off New York Fashion Week with a show best described as 'space age meets the 1960s', but that's perfectly in keeping with his noisy and irreverent career

Designer Jeremy Scott walks the runway for his spring/summer 2020 show during New York Fashion Week. AFP

As both the creative director for Moschino and his eponymous brand, Jeremy Scott is the industry's anti-fashion poster boy who ignores trends and does exactly what he wants. He is, after all, the man who dressed Katy Perry in a chandelier (complete with fully functioning lights) for this year's Met Gala, and is the brains behind Moschino's much sought-after phone cases, which have been shaped like packets of cigarettes and bottles of toilet cleaner. In short, Scott doesn't seem to take things too seriously.

autumn winter 2017 Moschino

Born in Missouri in 1975, Scott was so determined to work in fashion in Paris that he started taking French lessons age 14. In 1992, he moved to New York to study fashion at Pratt Institute, before relocating to Paris in 1996 to pursue his career in fashion. However, things didn't go as planned, and he quickly found himself sleeping rough in the metro. Desperate, he decided to set up his self-titled label.

In 1997, Scott showed his first collection, inspired by David Cronenberg's 1996 film Crash, at Paris Fashion Week. With no money to spend on fabrics, Scott repurposed paper hospital gowns, and his models walked sans shoes or in heels fashioned out of bandages. His second show, an all-black collection called Blade Runner, Trash Bags and the Apocalypse, was exhibited at the cult (and now defunct) Parisian store Colette. When his third show won the praise of French Vogue, Scott was taken under the wing of British stylist Isabella Blow (the woman who launched Alexander McQueen's career in 1992).

Spring summer 2018, Moschino

In 2011, Scott teamed up with Adidas to launch the Teddy Bear Pink sneaker, which became a bestseller after being worn by Lil Wayne, and also worked with Daimler on a winged concept car in 2012.

After being named creative designer for Italian label Moschino in 2013, Scott embraced founder Franco Moschino's love of colour and eccentricity. His debut collection for autumn/winter 2014 had models sashaying in dresses made of giant packets of crisps and huge bags of gummy bears.

For the men's collection for autumn/winter 2016, Scott's Moschino was a riot of colourful suits, with witty trompe l'oeil shadows and highlights, a feature which extended into the spring/summer 2017 womenswear that showcased life-size cut-out paper dresses, complete with paper tabs.

In 2013, however, Scott was accused of ripping off a design from Jim Phillips Santa Cruz Skateboards, and of allegedly plagiarising New York graffiti artist Rime in 2015. Never one to be put off, Scott stayed closer to home for his label's spring 2018 show, with dresses covered in photos of his teenage self, and what he called "over the shoulder boots".

Canadian model Meghan Collison walked for Moschino in a Little Red Riding Hood-inspired look. Instagram / MMoschino

This year the words Riot and Shock were embroidered over hoodies, while autumn/winter 2019 was almost entirely in the monochrome of newsprint. Scott's resort 2020 Moschino collection, meanwhile, was not about the anticipated life-on-a-yacht garb, but was based on horror films, proving that Scott is always predictable in his unpredictability.