September 21, 2024 |
Adrian Appiolaza is a story teller, a designer who wants to make connections and bring the past into present with every piece he creates. Each collection is a continuation of a conversation.
His 21st-century take on the Moschino legacy began with a photograph he found of Franco Moschino draping fabric on a mannequin – it inspired his opening looks of bed sheet gowns. The designer’s love of of making the ordinary extraordinary was expressed throughout the show, but nowhere more delightfully than on an LBD which quivered, all over, with hundreds of plastic price tags (they looked like feathers from afar). Appiolaza finds many ways to pay homage to Franco Moschino, from smiley face bags to signature polkadots that escaped the clothes and were daubed on the models skin, as well as child like drawings on the back of coats which were based on drawing Franco did as a child.
Appiolaza is also drawn to youth culture tribes and how they express their sense of belonging through clothes. He found his own tribe in fashion, through magazines like i-D where he discovered the work of influential stylist Judy Blame. The designer paid homage, asking i-D founder Terry Jones to collaborate on slogan graphics (“THINK TWICE”, “WEAR AND CARE”, “WHAT’S UP!”) and collaborating with Trust Judy Blame on trompe l’oeil T-shirts bearing his objet trouvé jewellery, which likened to band T-shirts “because we are fans.” Other looks – in a collection brimming with ideas – referenced Blame’s distinctive Buffalo silhouettes. You could feel the optimistic energy.
Photography by Christina Fragkou.
