New York Fashion Week – Jeremy Scott – Fall/Winter 2010 Collection

No one would have expected anything less from one of fashion’s most irreverent and ostentatious (and proudly so!) designer today. Jeremy Scott, the American designer with a penchant for playing off pop-culture and icons with conspicuous bravado, sending Mickey Mouse gloves, sunglasses and Flintstone dresses down the runway, has laced his pop rocks fashion with speed a la the late eighties, plus a generous dose of Warhol swagger.

Jeremy Scott’s Fall/Winter 2010 collection, Hanger Appeal, is a homage to fashion itself, and the tribute is quite literal with monochrome oversize batwing sweaters that spell out “STYLE” and “FASHION” with arms extended. The designer toys with silhouette and design convention with a stunning high-cut black cocktail dress with a beautifully ruched sweetheart neckline and a sweeping train which is actually a satin slip, hanging off a golden Jeremy Scott hanger. Models strapped to wide belts featuring life-size model cut-outs strut insouciantly to Estelle’s new single championing “I can be a freak, everyday of every week”, turning their noses up against the confinements of “wearability”.

The psychedelic beats striate a collection of fragmented inspiration that come together in an uncanny harmony also known as “Jeremy Scott wants you to look at me”. Tough motorcycle jackets are bejeweled liberally with Jolly Rancher lucite tones; crucifixes dangle off opulent velvet jumpsuits and stained glass motifs further the religious (or sacrilegious) theme, drawing a strange mix of 80s and the church.

Unlike the previous season, pop culture references are less blatant but when a model marched out with nothing but cone-bra suspenders, and another in a black tube dress accented with larger-than-life bow trailing in the back, one cannot help but think, ah, Madonna. Brass plate Jeremy Scott printed tops and bubble hemmed coats are reminiscent of the Versace and Gaultier in the early noughties.

As usual, over-the-top, unapologetic and outrageous designs become admirable traits with Scott’s blaze and stands out as one of those presentations that injects a much needed sense of ridiculous joy into New York Fashion Week, and are for those who aren’t afraid of the spotlight and game for come what may.