Marcel Winatschek

SpongeBob Goes to Milan

Jeremy Scott arrived at Moschino in early 2014 as its new creative director and immediately did what Jeremy Scott does: took the icons of American pop culture and put them on clothes that cost more than a used car. His first major collection for the house, shown during Milan Fashion Week that February, was built entirely around SpongeBob SquarePants. The face. The colors. Bikini Bottom typography printed across silk blouses and structured wool coats.

The fashion press split predictably—half loved it as irony, half hated it as irony—and both camps were probably wrong. Scott isn’t being ironic. He genuinely loves this stuff. SpongeBob is as real a design reference to him as Versace’s Baroque prints were to Versace. That sincerity underneath the absurdity is exactly what makes it work. You can feel that he means it, and meaning it changes everything.

I’d wear a SpongeBob Moschino jacket without hesitation. Not as a joke. Because it’s actually good.