Moschino Pre-Fall 2021 Menswear Collection

In early 2018, when QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory, was still in its naissance, Jeremy Scott produced a collection for his eponymous brand in newsprint black-and-white. It was a takedown of fake news, with headlines screaming “chaos” and “scandal.” Oh, to return to those halcyon days. QAnon is sending two supporters to Congress in January; to quote FiveThirtyEight, it’s “found a place in the GOP.” Naturally, Scott found himself returning to the topic of communication tools, from manual typewriters to our digital era’s hashtags and at signs, at Moschino this season. “I think there’s something troubling in the way information has become so divided,” Scott said.

The concept played out as graphic elements on unlikely pieces such as a shawl-collar suit and a matching jacket and shorts set, as well as on sportier items like puffers and hoodies. The 1940s-ish tailoring got the more analog treatments and the streetwear the Twitterstorm of information. The tweets are blurred and glitchy, the obvious message being that we are subject to and serving up distortions and untruths. A trench featuring printed collages of 1980s and ’90s tabloids in a brown, blue, and boysenberry color scheme felt downright wholesome by comparison.

Will the system hold? Scott is a dyed-in-the-wool optimist; he finds ways to keep things light even when he’s considering dark themes. The fact that he’s unafraid to face those themes and that he also understands fashion is its own communication tool—that’s what makes him a necessary voice.

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