Moschino, pronounced moh-skee-noh, is the type of high-end fashion brand that sits perfectly on the borderline of trashy and campy in the best of ways. A typical Moschino collection will have the general public thinking, “WTF?” while fans of the brand would be disappointed by any relatively normal designs.
Creative director of Moschino Jeremy Scott recently collaborated with EA Games to bring a capsule collection, which released earlier this month during Coachella at its Palm Springs Desert Party, inspired by the surprisingly fitting video game “The Sims.”
Moschino is known for tapping into pop culture, with its recent collaborations with “Wheel of Fortune” and “The Price is Right.” The long-popular life simulation PC game “The Sims” is nothing short of iconic for most kids who grew up in the early 2000s.
Fans of “The Sims” know summoning a thousand Simoleons is as simple and easy as typing a “motherlode” cheat, but this collection will require your hard-earned American dollars instead. If only real life was just as easy. The pixelated capsule collection includes bathing suits, a phone case, T-shirts and bags ranging from $85 to $1295.
Days before the collection released, teasers pictured models uncannily posed as Sims-like characters in front of gameplay backgrounds that look like they were pulled straight from the game.
In typical Moschino fashion, the apparel is heavily reliant on the designed graphics, leaving the design of the actual garments relatively basic, only intended to act as a canvas. This use of simple garment design is somewhat reminiscent of edgy “hypebeast” brands like Supreme, but Moschino’s well-designed prints are detailed just enough to branch away from more casual street-brand aesthetics.
It has to be admired how Scott can pull off the pixelated designs convincingly enough to not be tacky, especially when pixelated, gamer-targeted, Hot Topic-esque apparel has been done before. The collection’s dresses, shirts and sweaters are cleverly detailed to have chains, zippers, pockets and stitches for added dimensionality.
With video games becoming more popularized in cultures around the world, it only makes sense for high-end fashion designers to begin looking for inspiration beyond their normal musings. It’s also not the first time “The Sims” has dabbled in pop culture. The game collaborated with pop artists like Katy Perry for hilarious covers in Simlish, “The Sims” official language. However, while video games typically have fans just as intense as high fashion brands do, who is this collaboration really for?
The collection’s garments feature a few of the game’s iconic symbols, from plumbob-plastered bathing suits (I was today years old when I learned that’s what the floating green diamond is called) to an Easter egg/callback Freezer Bunny hoodie. But would fans of “The Sims” be loyal enough to drop $200 and up on what could essentially be considered game merchandise? Especially considering the base cost of the game sits at a more affordable price of $40?
Regardless of its target market, a number of items from the collection have already sold out, the plumbob earrings reportedly going first as the strongest piece from the collection. Whether the products were bought by intensely loyal Moschino and/or “The Sims” fans is unclear, but this ready-to-wear collection could serve as a look into a future of video game-inspired collections.
Featured Image: Courtesy Facebook.
Article Originally Published by on North Texas Daily
Source: North Texas Daily
