Spreading the happy dust since 1983, Moschino celebrated its thirtieth anniversary on Saturday night with an extravagant show in Milan delineating the history of the house, and turning the congregated fashion press into squealing Gloria Gaynor fans with a live performance by the Queen of Disco herself. 'I am what I am,' sang the diva, making her evergreen the anthem of the evening and the Italian enfant terrible that is Moschino. (If some had thought Gaynor’s hit I Will Survive might be a tad inapt for the occasion, it was wisely avoided.) A video montage of the late Franco Moschino was played before the show, the Italians in the crowd applauding like there was no tomorrow. (It was hard to see the subtitles, but he sounded lovely.)
Coming out of a huge red velvet curtain, Pat Cleveland opened the show strutting her stuff in an archive Moschino dress with a cow on it – the minimally inclined can just skip to the Jil Sander review now – with Violetta Sanchez, Amalia Vairelli and Gisele Zelany following troop, also in classic pieces. For the Spring/Summer 2014 collection that followed it was a hard spectacle to compete with, but such is the nature of an anniversary show. Models walked side by side, one representing good and the other evil in gold chain dresses, rose prints, heavy appliqué and all that glitters in the world of Moschino. You need only look at the guests present to know that this house is an Italian institution, and one with a very definable character. With the Franco Moschino quote 'For fashion victims only' on the t-shirt invitation, the show was, in the most heartily use of the term, camp as Christmas: part eighties walk-off, part cruise ship concert. And it was a lot of fun. After another vogueing segment of memorable pieces, this time featuring Erin O’Connor and Alec Weck, guests drifted into a courtyard with the words ‘Warning: Fashion can make you dizzy’ projected infrequently onto a wall. That was the truth and a half.
