“Plastic is fantastic” was Jeremy’s Scott’s summation of the mood of his spring/summer 2016 show at New York fashion week on Monday afternoon.
Alexander Wang at New York fashion week: a return to urban roots
Looking at the collection, this wasn’t just a pithy sound bite for the crowds of press backstage. It was a pretty neat description of clothes that combined bright colours, vibrant prints and, yes, plastic in shiny jewellery and dresses made from panels of Perspex. It was all worn by models in wigs that unapologetically resembled cartoon hair like that last seen in the 60s futuristic cartoon series, The Jetsons.
Since he launched his label in the late 90s, Scott has excelled at anything with a pop-art bent – and his references for this are seemingly endless. The designer, who has also worked as creative director for Moschino since 2013, has previously drawn inspiration from fast food to Barbie, telephone wires and the Flintstones.
This time around, it was “the cool girls in the Lower East Side in the 80s, and how they loved John Waters movies, Russ Meyer movies, as well as Startrek. It was about future babes”.
The feeling of mismatched things coming together – 60s pop culture seen through the prism of the 80s – was there from the start of this show. The B-52’s Planet Claire kicked off the soundtrack, and there were nods to Deee-Lite’s Lady Miss Kier (with daisy patterns and op-art) and Tim Burton’s sci-fi spoof, Mars Attacks!
