At Coachella 2018, supermodel Gigi Hadid announced through an Instagram live feed that Milanese brand Moschino will be this year’s H&M designer collaboration. H&M, the worldwide Swedish retail giant, is known for its yearly collaborations with high fashion designers garnering both upscale and mass market appeal. The announcement was simultaneously broadcasted during Moschino’s Coachella Dessert Party, which was attended by influencers like Cardi B, Paris Jackson, and Daniel Kaluuya, among others. During the party, both Hadid and Moschino’s creative director Jeremy Scott donned looks from the upcoming collaboration. The theme surrounds the topic of television and traditional media, characterized by the CD-printed piece Gigi Hadid wore and the video teaser the Italian label posted on their Instagram page.
Moschino is known to comment on both the fashion industry and the society outside it through their clothing. Before the heavily-political slogan t-shirts other brands are selling nowadays, Moschino was already using their runway as a form of protest. With their quirky sense of style, the Italian label has given their take on social issues and pop culture such as the dominance of big businesses (Fall 2014), female role models for children (Spring 2015), and drug use (2016 capsule collection). Although Jeremy Scott insists that his clothes are simply about having fun in the context of the history and politics surrounding the fashion label, one can’t help but think of the political subversiveness in his recent collections.
Moschino’s upcoming collaboration with H&M has already amassed heavy speculation that it might be as political as the clothes in their main line. Just by looking at the previews, some have interpreted the collection to be a criticism on the increasing power and dangers of social media. Meanwhile, others see it as a comment on the dominance of the new streaming platforms and services over traditional media when it comes to entertainment. Some have even gone deeper and associated it with the emergence of Fake News in Mainstream News Media. Whichever the true underlying message is, Moschino might just prove that fashion is not the “bubble” it’s often criticized to be.
The Moschino + H&M collaboration will hit selected H&M stores across the globe on November 8, 2018. Here in the Philippines, the capsule collection will only be available in H&M SM Makati.
