Jeremy Scott Brings His Irreverent Fun to Melissa for AW16
In its four decades of existence, Melissahas regularly worked with the fashion world’s most prestigious names. From British queen of punk
A fashion icon as much as a designer, Jeremy Scott is today famous as the Creative Director behind Italian giant Moschino who leads a pop-tastic cult of followers including everyone from Rihanna and Britney Spears to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Despite his bold, colourful personality, however, Scott grew up with a humble start on a rural farm in Kansas City where high fashion magazines formed the inspiration of his dreams to become part of the fashion world. At the age of 18, Scott threw himself headlong into the New York Fashion scene when he went to study fashion design at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. An infectious passion for fashion and a seemingly innate ability to transform pop culture into exciting apparel saw him make an immediate impression in New York circles, and by the late 1990s Scott was already creating outfits for Björk and showcasing his work at New York Fashion Week.
But it was really during the ‘00s when Jeremy Scott would rise to prominence as one of the fashion world’s premier designers. An ability to fuse pop culture and high fashion would provide Scott’s signature look, and through the decade his creations began to attract the cult following he has today. His winged adidas high-top sneakers produced in 2008 are probably his best known design, and swiftly brought him to the attention of hip-hop stars for whom these shoes become almost a staple piece of footwear. Another standout model from his collaboration with adidas includes his famous teddy bear shoes, which feature a 3D teddy bear incorporated as part of the shoe’s tongue. His work with adidas helped bring Scott’s design to the masses who immediately became obsessed with him and his designs, quickly earning him the nickname “The People’s Designer”.
With his posse of celebrity followers waiting in the wings, Scott’s surge to popularity was clearly noted by the elite of the fashion world with Moschino coming calling for his creative spirit and boundless energy in 2013. In his very first collection at Moschino, Scott presented a leather Perfecto jacket moulded into a handbag that instantly put the ailing Moschino brand firmly back on the map, before rocketing the brand to where it is today with his more recent collections. Last year Scott drew envious glances from fashion designers around the world when Katy Perry wore one of his dresses during her half time performance at the Super Bowl, showcasing Scott’s work to a record-breaking 114.4 million viewers around the world. Despite not having yet turned 40, the frenzy surrounding Scott was by now meriting a film of his life; Jeremy Scott: The People’s Designer was directed by Vlad Yudin and included appearances from the likes of Katy Perry, Rihanna and ASAP Rocky all discussing the huge influence Scott has had on their own style as well as the fashion world at large.
A key influencer in the footwear world over the past decade, Jeremy Scott now brings his vision to Melissa. The new collaboration was launched at New York Fashion Week for SS16 when Scott’s show premiered a Melissa mule featuring a customised air nozzle, one of the hallmarks of the collection. All crafted from Melissa’s patented Melflex™ plastic—and eco-friendly and sweet scented material developed by the brand in the ‘70s—the collection includes the original mules as well as a new ballet flat with heart and bow-tie motifs.
