September 7, 2019 |
Ladies, gentlemen and everyone in between, please welcome to the stage – Jem and the Holograms! Well, kinda sorta. Booking a one-way ticket to a galaxy far, far away, Jeremy Scott took his brand into a retro-futuristic direction for SS20, one where psychedelia and disco collide. 1980s party dresses and neon prints, wild Party City wigs in every colour of the rainbow, and Karla DeVito’s hard rock bop playing in the background. “Is this a cool world or what?” she asked the question in her haunting 1981 track, making the perfect soundtrack for the sort of escapist ideas Scott presented on the New York catwalk.
However crazy and wild they might have seemed at first sight, each of the pieces on the catwalk carried a deep sense of craftsmanship. The finale look – a beaded white twinset which could have been part of Kylie Minogue’s wardrobe on any of her past tours – was the pinnacle. In all the eclecticism of creativity, Scott re-confirms that his colourful spirit isn’t flippant. Being so outlandish takes time, effort and skill. And so it seemed, for 10 or so minutes that it took his 58 looks to sashay down the catwalk, that having another (more successful) attempt to reviving the 1980s cult animated series might not be such a bad idea. Where is Jem now? “Oh, she’s walking down the catwalk in a dress made out of silky knickers.”
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
