Moschino, Franco

▪ 1995

      Italian fashion designer (b. Feb. 27, 1950, Abbiategrasso, Italy—d. Sept. 18, 1994, Annone di Brianza, Italy), as the irreverent enfant terrible of the fashion industry, poked fun at the excesses of the 1980s with his "tongue in chic" designs, most memorably creating suits festooned with cutlery, jackets with faucet handles or dice used as buttons, coats and hats made from teddy bears, expensive linen shirts embroidered with outrageous puns and slogans, dresses that looked like shopping bags, and ball gowns assembled from plastic garbage bags. After studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Moschino found work in the fashion industry as a freelance illustrator. He designed for Cadette, the Italian clothing company, before launching his own label in 1983. His company, Moonshadow, had annual revenues in excess of £150 million from two main-line collections and six complementary lines. His designs, which were inspired by the Surrealist movement of the 1920s, found acceptance among pop stars such as Madonna, Tina Turner, and Yoko Ono; royalty, including Princess Caroline of Monaco and Diana, Princess of Wales; and people on the street, though the latter could rarely afford his pricey ensembles. His mocking disdain for the industry earned Moschino both ridicule and respect among his contemporaries. He died after suffering complications from an abdominal tumour.

* * *