For his next chapter Jeremy Scott, the people’s designer, is doing whatever he wants. Plus, launching a new bag with Longchamp.
Jeremy Scott’s brilliant New York Fashion Week shows captured a particularly fascinating time in fashion history. From 2002 to 2019, the crowd was the coolest, the designs, hair and makeup were overtly over-the-top and totally imaginative and everything felt fun with a capital F. His runway shows were an entry point for models like Gigi Hadid and Hoyeon before they blew up into super stardom, and every show was a mini thesis on purposeful, exploratory creativity to the fullest degree. One season you’d get twisted, glammed up Barbarella latex goddesses and the next you’d see a haute ’90s dissertation fueled by Gregg Araki, Coco-Cola and Clueless. And that doesn’t even begin to touch on his legacy at Moschino.
At the center of Jeremy Scott’s namesake shows were the Longchamp bag collaborations, decadently placed on each front row seat like a glorious gift waiting to be unwrapped on Christmas morning. Seasoned editors would arrive at the show an hour early to secure theirs and prevent it from getting snapped up by super fans who snuck in. The collaboration first began in 2006, when Longchamp’s Sophie Delafontaine invited Scott to reinvent the humble Le Pliage tote with wacky, chaotic chic prints to match his runway collections. Think: Pills! Zodiac signs! Pink poodles! Keyboards! Bones! Of the 25 designs launched over the course of 20 years, some of the most-loved were the “Greetings from Paris”, “Greetings from Hollywood” and “Greetings from Paradise” designs – each one presented as a technicolor dream of a bag, embodying the perfectly camp picture of a touristic postcard. So naturally, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the partnership, Scott created his own handbag homage to New York, replete with all the emblematic sightseeing heroes of the Big Apple, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Empire State Building.
When I meet Jeremy inside Longchamp’s Soho store, he’s wearing boxers, and an Andy Warhol t-shirt styled with a tie coyly covering one of the pop icon’s eyes. As he stands against the gallery-like space, it’s quiet compared to the party that happened earlier this week with Amanda Lepore, Emma Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Zoey Deutch and Kate Mara. The installation; featuring all of his archival bags for Longchamp, is designed to be open to the public through early July. As he gestured to his favorites of the many bags he’s created over the years, we chatted about his next chapter, his New York fashion memories, his most impractical archive piece he’d save from a fire and more.
Kristen: So I wanted to start out by asking you, what has been inspiring you lately?
Jeremy: Gosh, what’s been inspiring me lately? I have been very, very meticulously working on renovating. I’m on year ten of this. It’s a very iconic house in Palm Springs, the Arthur Elrod House, which is famous from Diamonds Are Forever with Bambi and Thumper throwing Sean Connery in the pool. It’s been ongoing—obviously we’re on year 10, but we’re close to the end. I have been putting a lot of effort in these last couple years, since I’ve not been having the daily grind of my other old job, to really try to accelerate it and get it done. Not only the elements of that, but also the interior. And I have dipped my toe in your world a little bit. I’m writing a screenplay.
K: Yes, you told me last night. That’s super exciting. Are you able to share publicly?
J: Yeah. I mean, I’ve been keeping it close to my chest, but I am writing a screenplay based off the novel Maybe the Moon by Armistead Maupin. He’s my favorite writer and that’s my absolute favorite book of all time. I read it when it first came out in 1992 and I’ve read it several times since. I cherish this book, and it’s been a journey getting the rights because it’s been with other people for many years. I’m also going to take a ceramics course at UCLA this summer.
K: Oh my gosh.
J: So I am going back to college even though I just got a doctorate last week. It’s very odd, but yes. So I’m just doing a lot of different things that are creative and just trying to enrich myself and follow things I want to do. I’ve always believed that creativity is like water. I could pour it into a glass, I could pour it into a vase, I could pour it into a pool, into the cracks in the ground, and it can take up that space. Whatever I’m doing, whether it’s a Longchamp bag or a baby stroller or a fashion show or ceramics or a house, I just want to pour that creativity into it. So that’s what I’m trying to do with the screenplay as well, which I hope to direct as well.
K: That’s amazing. So your new Longchamp bag is obviously a tribute to New York. Do you have a favorite New York fashion memory that springs to mind?
J: Oh, specifically a fashion memory. I have a lot of them. One that comes to mind has nothing to do with my collections. This is when I was a student here going to Pratt, and I was trying to crash shows. I wanted to see them. This is 1992, let’s say ’93, somewhere around that range. Anna Sui’s show was a hot ticket to get into—all the supermodels, all the things. It was in Bryant Park, in the park, in a tent. I was trying to find a way to get in. I literally found a place where I could pull up the tent and go under. I remember coming up, going under and being in there and watching—it was really thrilling and moving. And then within a minute, two hands on my shoulders and I was back outside.
I was like, ‘God, I just want to be there and be in the room and just experience it.’ So to that point is why—you would know this well from my shows in Paris—we always tried to let the kids in. Obviously we need to deal with all the people working, people who were invited, but if there were kids that were enthusiastic and they were hanging around, especially with cool looks, and you knew they had the passion, they were us, you know what I mean? We wanted to get them in. So Pablo [Jeremy’s close friend and long-time brand image/PR director] always did that.
K: Right. That’s amazing. How would you describe New York’s style?
J: New York’s style has always been to me such a melting pot, and that’s what I think is really great. I love that people kind of borrow something from the other. There are so many different communities—okay, there are like hip hop enthusiasts, and then there’s downtown cool, or there’s eccentric, or there’s business people. And I love how it slightly can all merge, just like how people all have to get on the subway and all have to literally be next to each other. So it’s like, oh yeah, an eccentric girl is now wearing a puffer that’s like a hoodie that would have come from seemingly hip hop culture, or a hip hop girl is wearing a pinstripe blazer as like a little dress with bike shorts and a sports bra. I love that, and I think that is uniquely New York.
K: Definitely. Do you have a personal New York fashion icon?
J: Oh, as a human?
K: Yeah. You can have more than one.
J: Personal New York icon. You know what? It might be a little bit on the nose, but Anna Wintour. To me, seeing her out is like seeing a wild unicorn—she is out on the street, even doing things, and she’s iconically Anna. I think that’s always kind of cool. I remember once I went to some art opening and I was coming up to go in and she was starting to come out, and I helped her down the stairs. Even knowing her, obviously, it’s still like seeing a unicorn out in the wild. I love that. She’s never off.
K: She likes what she likes.
J: Yeah. And it’s always done and it’s there, and it’s like—since day one.
K: Exactly. How did New York shape your personal aesthetic?
J: I think streetwear. I feel like that’s a lot of me being American, but there’s always been the streetwear, utilitarian wearability about things. Obviously my whole thing with Adidas is very that too. A hoodie that is actually a jacket with tails, or mixing those kinds of elements. I feel like that’s something that’s super New York, because you are on the go; the thin shoes and the movement and all of that. That kind of utilitarian thing. I love an up-down, high-low. I love juxtaposition.
K: Yeah, me too. What are a few of your favorite collections you’ve shown here, and why?
J: Delete History [Fall 2012]. I feel like my homage at that moment to Tumblr life was as right on time as it could be. It was so not yet bursting, but this whole Tumblr life—and then that’s where the Bart Simpsons pieces came from, which became and are still super iconic and were being duplicated by fast fashion almost within the time that they were still existing in my world. Everything about it was just very fun and vibrant. That one’s a real favorite of my New York shows.
I would also say I love the one that has the pink phone in outer space, which was my homage to Kenny Scharf. I worked with Kenny on his prints, actually; his graphics I made into prints. That was my homage to him and Keith [Haring], because it was really about their time and that vibe. It’s always been something that’s a source of inspiration—seeing those old pictures, the early Basquiat, early Madonna, and the gritty New York that went really dangerous. I love all of that.
K: Do you have a New York Fashion Week memory that was kind of like, oh my God, I can’t believe that happened? Something that you’re like, wow, that was a crazy moment in time.
J: I think one very big special memory was my 20-year anniversary show, because I got Devon [Aoki] to come out of retirement, which is the hardest thing to do with her. Especially a live thing. She hates a live show. She’s smaller than everybody. She sees herself now as just a mother. She’s like, “I’m a mother, I’m taking my kids to school. No one wants to see me. I’m an old lady.” I’m like, “No, you’re not. You’re a gorgeous icon. You’re my girl. You’re always the Jeremy Scott girl for life.”
And so getting her and being able to be with her and bringing her—she was opening the show. All the new girls were so excited to meet her, especially HoYeon [Jung], specifically also the Asian girls, and they loved her. The Korean girls cried. They were so excited to meet her, because I didn’t realize how much of an emblem she was specifically for them, even given the fact that she’s Japanese and half American. Just that she was one of the first Asian faces to have created campaigns with Karl [Lagerfeld] and obviously all the stuff that she and I did and magazine covers and going into movies. She represents so many hopes and dreams.
Even cute little Gigi [Hadid], who had never met her—and obviously they’re ethnically different, whatever, but they’re, to me, part of my lineage. They’re like little lollipop girls, because they have these cute little big heads and little bodies, and she’s in that lineage. It was so sweet for Devon, for me to be able to show Devon that she is still that bitch. “Girl, you still got it. They’re gagged that you’re here.” It meant so much to me to have her with me celebrating my 20 years, because my 20 years isn’t just about me. It’s about her. It’s about Pablo. It’s about all my friends. It’s about everyone that was part of the journey, all the people that love what I do. You’re part of it. You know what I mean? I see it as a group effort. I’m just the physical embodiment of Jeremy Scott. That’s how I’ve always looked at it. I represent that for other people—whether it’s the ones I know very well or the ones I don’t know well. I’m just the physical embodiment of that feeling, that joy, that happiness, all that.
K: It’s a whole world! Is there a piece you designed thinking that it would scandalize people and it didn’t?
J: Oh, I don’t know. You know what? I don’t think of myself as very scandalous, honestly. That’s why even when we were talking about the pills, I was like, oh, it’s literally just—even though it can just be medicine. Which is funny—just for the record, I’ve never been a drug person. I’ve never smoked a cigarette. I’ve never had coffee. People who know me know this well about me, but especially coming up, people were like, ‘You must be so partying.’ It’s like, yeah, I have to throw a great party, but in the old days, the most I’d do was some champagne. I’ve always been a clean teen. So I don’t ever think of myself so much as scandalous. It’s more the opposite.
K: Yeah, that was going to be my next question. What did people think was so scandalous?
J: Yeah. There are a lot of things I’ve done that were like, ‘Wait, that’s upset you?’ One-high-heel, one-low-heel, or my gold show—an all-gold show—where nearly people wanted to drive me out of fashion. Icons like André Leon Talley, who had been so lovely to me at that time, were suddenly like, “He should never have a show again.” And it’s like, ‘This is my fourth show, you guys, really? Is it that serious?’ And is it, you just can’t stand the sight of gold, because it was too reminiscent of the ’80s for what they had just lived—it was a real definition of a fracture between ages. Yeah, too many times I felt like things I’ve done seemed scandalous and I’ve only met them with fun, love, excitement, even admiration. There are times where people take it and go the opposite way with it, and I guess that’s on them. I just hate being the one that’s holding that. And now we obviously live in such a weird social media world. I try not try to hurt anybody’s feelings here, I’m just making some fun colorful things.
K: What is the most random thing in your house that others might think is ugly that you love?
J: Oh, the most random. Well, currently I have a giant collection of elephants and camels and some other maybe giraffes, some other animals that are all made in Rajasthan and Pakistan with the mirrors and embroidery. I don’t know. I started collecting them—one and then another and then other—and I have way too many. I actually just need to let go of them all and start fresh with something else. I don’t think anyone would think that I have these hippie patchouli kind of things, because I don’t do work around that, and they’re all faded and patina’d. I’ve loved them, but maybe now I need to let them all go.
K: How many do you have?
J: 60? I don’t know. It’s a lot. It’s like a herd. There are different places where there’s a herd of them.
K: This is kind of in the same vein but a little different. What’s the most impractical thing you have in your archives? A piece that you’d save in a fire, but others might be like, that’s impractical.
J: What I really cherish, and I think you’ll believe, are Judy Blame pieces. I have one beret that was from his work in the ’80s, early ’90s—I’m not sure of the exact date—that I was able to convince the vintage store in London that had it. It was not for sale. I almost cried. They finally called me and were like, ‘Jeremy really wants this, please let him have this.’ So I was able to find it. Judy Blame and all his work was so inspiring. It was so informative to me growing up, seeing i-D magazine or The Face magazine with those images and his styling and those found objects and him making it great. I’ve always been fascinated with those documentaries on African tribes where they make their own jewelry from Western pieces mixed with their beads, and I always found that very exciting and vibrant. His work has that kind of feeling to me—like an old top from a champagne bottle, the metal cage part, he’s flattened it and it’s on there, and a key, and obviously safety pins and things. So that’s what was the premise when I said, ‘Judy, would you work on a new set for me?’ It was for a Moschino menswear collection or men’s and women’s resort, and I was like, ‘I want to collect all the items inspired by your ways of doing them.’ And we did a whole set of neckwear, which I now own and cherish as well. But the one with the fire would have to be the OG original.
K: I don’t blame you! If you could raid one fictional character’s closet, whose would it be?
J: I think it’s always Duckie Dale. I was telling Zoey Deutch this, because her father directed Pretty in Pink, and Pretty in Pink was always a seminal movie for me, being in junior high when that came out and being a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks, their story, and being enamored with fashion and things and wanting to… I loved Duckie Dale. I obviously loved Molly Ringwald, but I was into Duckie Dale, the pointed little creepers and the old—it was exactly the mood that I was in, and he was so perfect and emblematic. I don’t really ever escape it fully. I got to tell Zoey that the other night. I was like, ‘I’m going to tell you, your dad’s movie is part of my life.’
K: What childhood obsession—be it a movie, doll, cartoon, or book—do you think still shows up in your approach in your creative endeavors?
J: I don’t know about today, because I’m not really doing so much in that way, but I feel like Barbie—she was always around, because she was everything. I could always have a bit of a Barbie moment. Because obviously, yes, I did a whole collection inspired by her at one point in my own brand. I did an all-pink show, which was Barbie pink. So I think that there’s something about the fact that she’s lived every job, she’s been every time period that we’ve existed in.
K: She’s everyone.
J: Yeah, she’s kind of that. So in that way, it’s synthesized into an iconic, very transmittable image. She always kind of shows up.
K: Definitely. When do you feel like you’re most yourself?
J: Currently, it’s always boxers and an old t-shirt. I’m very into boxers as pants nowadays, because—take a look at these ones. I mean, literally. Would you not? I mean, come on. Honestly. Come on. Palm Springs can’t get enough of these legs.
K: Boxers! And a tie?
J: This is new for me. I had to have Pablo tie it. I will tell you, I do not know how to tie a tie, because I’ve never truly worn one. So the one I wore last night, which is from my collection—Pablo had to tie that for me. And I had to ask him today, ‘Please tie this.’ He had to put it on, tie it. I think I’ve now worn—even though it’s two nights in a row I’ve worn ties, not bow ties. Bow ties are a different story to me. Bow ties are a different thing. But I’ve worn ties, these businessman ties, twice in my life.
K: Okay. So yesterday and today?
J: Pretty much.
K: What made you decide to wear it?
J: Well, this was because I was paying homage to Andy [Warhol], because we went to his old haunt restaurant. So I got this t-shirt and I was wanting to wear it just for that, for today. And then I was trying to do this re-imagining and I was going to put it in, and I kind of liked it going over his one eye, and so that’s kind of what became this concept.
K: It’s a new look. Yeah. I like it. If you could dress one person, alive or dead, fictional or real, that you haven’t dressed, who would it be?
J: When you bring up alive or dead, I can’t help but want to go to Marilyn. But it’s still Dolly. It’s always Dolly. Dolly Parton. We’ve talked about it, we just never have made it happen, and I want it to happen.
K: I love her. It has to happen.
J: I love her. I was telling them the other day when I met her—the second day after I met her, I was wearing a biker jacket that’s all old leather pieces quilted together from old collections of mine, and she was like—we were backstage at the Country Music Awards—she goes, ‘Oh, Jeremy, I love this jacket.’ I was like, ‘I got it, it’s my coat of many colors.’ She said, “I love that. You’ll have to make me one of those sometime.”
K: Such an icon.
J: She is. And she’s so genuine. She’s, to me, the closest thing to God, because I really feel like light comes from her when I’m talking to her. When she’s singing, she’s all that’s good in this world.
K: Have you recently gone down any interesting rabbit holes, like internet searches, lately?
J: Oh, I’m always on a rabbit hole.
K: What’s your latest?
J: I’m easy to fall in a rabbit hole, actually. I’m so curious, I think is the problem is that’s one of the dangers of Instagram. I’m just like—yeah, and then I’m there. It’s planetary zodiac; they all come to me, and I’m a Leo, so now I’ve looked at some of my Leo ones. I’m all mixed up with all the things going on with the planets, and talking about them all the time, like, ‘Oh, well, that’s because of what’s going on. I’ll watch out. Okay.’ So that rabbit hole has definitely changed my algorithm.
K: All the best people go down rabbit holes.
J: Oh, good. I love hearing that.
Leave a Comment