MOSCHINO [tv] H&M

On the side of the main triangular shape black wooden runway platform surrounded by raised stadium benches, flashing lights signs and several large screen monitors was a TV booth designed by the firms Magic Leap and Warpin Media to create an experimental and immersive fashion experience where anyone putting on a Magic One headset can actually live and feel the products and the inspirations behind them at the launch of the latest collaboration Moschino (TV) H&M with the fashion show at Basketball City that was broadcasted live in Times Square.  On screens were Moschino and H&M logos, pictures of models wearing different products like black bras with gold chains, small leather purses, and even a dancing bear all floating about and merging onto one another with loud music playing in the background.  At the end of the sequences of still life and moving live images was the video of a black bag being melted and a bank vault that opened with a giant gold bar flying around inside. 

Existing now only as a creative experiment coming to live a virtual reality installation at the site of the H&Moschino fashion show, H&M hopes to be able to eventually translate this and other new technology into e-commerce as well as the merging of brick-mortar with digital retail where consumer can shop from home and pickup products at stores as a model for future store and shopping experience.  To bring new concepts and new products to consumers have been the cornerstone of the H&M collaborative project with high fashion designers that commenced in fall 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld and every subsequent years since with the likes of Oliver Rousteing for Balmain, Comme des Garçons, Stella McCartney and Versace.  

The latest collaboration of H&M and Moschino exuded originality at their immersive fashion show. The show took place at Basketball City and was broadcasted live in Time Square. A black, triangular shaped runway was surrounded by raised stadium benches, large screen monitors, and flashing lights. Models debuting the new products were projected on large TVs wearing black bras with gold chains and small leather purses. Loud music and merging images of dancing bears, the brand’s logos, and melting leather bags created an environment that felt much more like a virtual reality.

The H&M and Moschino collaboration with the Milanese house and its designer Jeremy Scott offered a wide range of products including gold sequins down coats, black leather jackets, pants and jumpsuits with criss cross gold chain links, gold leather pants, jackets and bikers, colorful print strapless dress, anoraks and faux leopard coats; black leather zippered dress; acid washed denim bustier, miniskirt, and a bevy of accessories like peace sign earrings, padlock small purses, chains necklaces and even logo elbow sleeves. The clothes were launched by an all star cast including Gigi, Bella, Joan, Naomi and even Jordan Barrett, Mitchell Slaggert and Jhona Burjack.

With loud rap music playing during the show, Jeremy Scott is smart to pair these products with the aesthetic prevalence in the late 1980’s and 1990’s golden era of hip hop where rappers used fashion to create an identity of their own in stark contrast to the more glamour oriented designer fashion world. Of course, Scott added his own touch to the chic yet urban streetwear, creating sports jersey inspired mini-dresses and white T’s with prominent Disney characters. A short evening dress with a long black train was paired with thigh high black leather lace up boots. Gold chains crossed on black leather jackets and matching pants were accompanied by necklaces with Moschino logo. These designs seemed to echo Mercedes Benz hood and dookie worn as necklaces by the likes of RUN DMC, Biz Markie and Slick Rick and the prison chain made famous by Treach of Naughty by Nature now rendered as peace signs earrings. The chains worn by those rappers represented the symbols of money and power, whereas now they are paired marvelously with silver jumpsuits or black wool jackets and a logo black bra top. Missing perhaps are the four-finger gold rings that were part of the staple of Big Daddy Kane!

In today’s age of ubiquitous collaborations, it is easy to forget that H&M was the first to bring designer design level product to a wider mass audience that preserved the DNA of the collaborative designer and brand.  Thus a Balmain military coat in the fall 2015 launch or a Lanvin jacket from fall 2010 were essentially Balmain and Lanvin coat and jacket respectively but made with less expensive materials to be available at a lower price point.  It’s the opposite of a high fashion brand making a streetwear item like a sweatshirt in high quality materials and marketed at luxury level pricing. 

Despite the glamour of the show, I can’t help but feel the products themselves should be slightly more expensive. Nice leather, nylon prints, and accessories lacked, even for the standard of these special drop collections. Perhaps these kinds of collaborations will be more frequent than just once a year and will serve as a means for the giant retailer to move in a new direction dealing with more exclusivity and higher price point products and maybe fewer products sold which is the antithesis of the company’s base business model of low cost and quantity of products deemed to fit the latest trends. Any business model is due for alterations in the rapidly changing fashion and retail environment where consumers are making conscious choices about buying products from brands that also share their ethical values. H&M’s embrace of new technology, even at an experimental basis, now provides a window to a future course as the world’s second largest producer of fashion products.

---

Photos courtesy of BFA