Adrian Apiolaza is settling in at Moschino. His latest rite of passage is this pre-collection lookbook, for which he enlisted photographer Chris Rose and his villa outside Milan. Regarding muses, Apiolaza expressed an interest in looking at the British aristocracy, the different backgrounds of England and Argentina, and recently watching The Crown.
In the spirit of Franco Moschino, Appiolaza approached the subject with welcome irreverence. His aristocrats ride bicycles on their porches, play dress-up on antique carpets, and wear ceramics from their homes as jewelry. As his first year at the Italian brand comes to an end, his perspective becomes increasingly focused. His Moschino is less campy and more grounded in the everyday than previous versions, but it’s not without its quirky elements. “Franco had a sense of irony and humor, so it’s important to keep that flow throughout the collection,” he said.
He embossed T-shirts in the style of British hunting jackets, collaged other jackets into sleeveless dresses, cut lingerie slips and camp shirts with tee-and-crumpet prints, and more. We achieved this using techniques. The classic argyle sweater motif is reimagined with Moschino’s smiley face and heart. Hailing from Loewe, Apiolaza excels at brand building. The heart, which he has turned into a kind of de facto symbol, appears as a knee patch on a great-looking pair of denim jeans.
He collaborated with Sanderson (who, for those who don’t know, holds a Royal Warrant) on the floral patterns used on the dresses and tailoring. Other motifs, such as cloud prints and rustic landscape prints, were drawn from Franco’s archives and appeared in various forms on the Moschino runway. Apiolaza’s own playful personality is evident in a cloud-print bag with the word “Help” scrawled across it. What exactly does that mean? “It was a sarcastic way of saying ‘help me’ become the next It Bag,” he laughed.
