Great (Jeremy) Scott

by Dena Silver

Street style genius Jeremy Scott has been a singular voice in fashion for over fifteen years, lending whimsy to everyone from Adidas to Longchamp. Now, after his masterful revamp of Moschino, the whole world is listening. With the blessed trinity of pop (Miley, Katy, Rihanna) rocking his sui generis looks, even mainstream America is in on the joke. What about vous?
BY ASHLEY BAKER

You just celebrated a birthday, right?
Yes! I had a party at SoulCycle. They threw a private ride for me, because I pretty much go every day. It was kind of perfect. They wanted me to ride the trainer bike for the class, but I was like, “There’s just no way. I can’t.” I’m always bike 9, so I have a mirror, and I need the mirror, but for the weights and the last two songs, I did the instructor bike. I felt really spoiled. They decorated the whole place—balloons, cakes, candy. It was super, super sweet.

What’s the best gift you got?
The fact that all my friends showed up was probably the best gift, but I did get a really beautiful Ronnie Cutrone print from Pablo [Olea, Scott’s longtime colleague].

What’s happening with your collection? What do you have up your sleeve?
I’ve been working on a new direction, in a way. I’ve really been thinking about how to make the collection feel very individualistic and challenge myself to make it feel more like a group of people, rather than a collection; give it a lot more diversity, and have it feel like a group of really cool kids at a concert or music festival. I’ve designed something like 23, 25 prints already. That part has already been a little more steep, compared to normal. We’re working every day on doing fittings and putting it all together.

You’ve had so much success in your first few collections for Moschino. Did you have any hesitation about taking on such an iconic Italian brand?
Absolutely none. I knew that it was the perfect fit for me, so I was just kind of like, “There’s just no one who can do this better than me.” As egotistical as that sounds, this is one that I know I can do so effortlessly, in the sense that it’s so similar to the language that I speak.

Right out of the gate you did a riff on the McDonald’s logo. Where did you come up with that idea?
I was driving up LaBrea and saw McDonald’s and it just flashed in my mind: McDonald’s, Moschino. Over 20 billion served. I scurried to find my pen and paper in my car. When I got to the stoplight, I had to draw something so I didn’t lose the thought. I could get a phone call—my mind is going all the time, so if I don’t make some notation, I could lose an idea forever. I scribbled on a piece of paper the logo, and was like, “Oh, my God, this is so strong, and it makes so much sense for Moschino.” I’m so flattered that people took to it so strongly and embraced it so well, and it’s been so ubiquitous. That’s what I try to do with my work—to touch people’s lives and have a conversation. For it to resonate so deeply has been super exciting and motivating for me.

You seem to have an endless well of inspiration. Where does that come from?
I think I just love doing what I do. I’m always open to the next thing and want to do exciting work. Inspiration is such a difficult thing to articulate. It’s like magic. I get very spiritual about it, to be honest, and I start sounding very church-y. In a way, it’s like God speaking through me. These ideas are gifts, and I just have to be there to receive them. In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m just a vessel: It comes to me, and I pour it back out. I don’t really feel like I have any control over it, and it’s not a turn-it-on, turn-it-off thing. When I have those ideas, they flood me, and then I can’t do anything else but them. I can’t go to bed. It becomes a bit manic in that respect. I get intoxicated by it. It’s like a drug. The vision becomes so strong and powerful that I probably wouldn’t see something in front of my own eyes, because it’s so clear.

How do you get all the work done, between your own line, Moschino, the collaboration with Adidas…
Luckily, everyone is miraculously on a different time schedule. I design Adidas a year in advance, and because it’s been going on now in its continuous form since 2008, I’m used to the rhythm. I handed in next fall’s collection last month. With Moschino, their deadlines are a little sooner than mine—they’re all on holiday, getting tans and relaxing—so I finished my fittings here in July. I still get e-mails about store windows and all kinds of things, but the main thing is that it’s not overlapping with my own collection. Trying to manage the deadlines is the part I like least about my job. Ultimately, I do want to always make something really creative and exciting and fun, and give it its full breath. You start feeling like, “Could I dive deeper into this?” I’d love to wallow in it like a pig in mud a little bit longer. But nowadays, with the fact that I have so much going on, it’s like, if you miss a train, another one’s coming. I’m going to have another place to say stuff in five minutes, so I don’t have to worry so desperately that I get every last thing said in each show. There’s always another one coming.

Do you care about critics?
Genuinely, I do not care about that. I’ve read things that are nice, and sometimes I read things that are not so nice, but I definitely do not search for it. I have, like, a million PRs right now—they’re like family, and anything I do, they are all so supportive. I have PR in every country in the world for Adidas. Imagine how many people are sending me notes! It’s not that I can’t ever get away with not knowing some of that stuff, good or bad, but I don’t base my value in it. Everyone does have an opinion, and that’s just part of the world. There are a lot of people, I feel, who are not my customer, who do reviews, and so I don’t think they would like it, and I don’t think they can get it. There are a lot of people in fashion who shouldn’t really be talking about fashion because I don’t feel like they have the proper education for it. I read reviews about Moschino that said, “Jeremy’s collection was so much more kitsch than Franco’s ever were…” Franco did Christmas tree tinsel and Christmas balls on a jacket. There’s nothing more kitsch than Christmas! I speak for a new generation, and I’ve never been part of the status quo, and so that’s always going to be part of it. I realize that I’m an easy target, too, because anytime that you do something that’s not de rigueur, it makes it easier. I don’t know what it is with fashion and humor, but it seems like whenever you see it, people get a little suspicious. I have legions of fans who are loyal, and loving customers who are excited about what I do, and that’s who I’m concerned about. Am I speaking my truth for my fan base? It doesn’t really matter what a critic from any magazine has to say about it, ultimately.

It’s cool to see an American reinvigorating Italian fashion. Do you think fashion has become a bit too boring?
Yes, I do think fashion has gotten boring. There seems to be this mentality—remember when they went into those poppy fields in The Wizard of Oz? It’s kind of like that.

Ha! What makes you happy?
Going to see a double-feature—having the time to buy that second ticket—and just doing what I do. At a fashion show, you feel uplifted. There’s an escapism for those 10 minutes. There’s so much serious s**t in the world, and fashion doesn’t need to be part of that.

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