Backstage designer Jeremy Scott referenced the “bonfires of the vanities,” in Italian, “il falò delle vanità,” in regards to the Moschino Fall 2016 collection inspired by the 15th-century Dominican monks who took on the Renaissance, leading a mob through the city of Florence, burning objects of beauty—art, books, furniture, and clothing. Of course, the Renaissance prevailed, but those monks left a trail of ruin along the way.

Dresses feature the splintered shards of smashed gilded mirrors, or a grand chandelier made with crystals from Swarovski that’s fallen from the ceiling above. Another is decked out with the stringy innards of a destroyed grand piano. In a technical first, a few dresses are followed by trails of smoke as they come down the runway – beneath their skirts and crinolines are integrated smoke machines.

A little shimmy of the hips or a shake of the ball skirt, and fogs of vapor appeared. “That’s a first,” Scott announced backstage. Special props for milliner Stephen Jones’s singed net veils and the cigarette holder chapeau with glowing crystal embers. Scott also lifted Marlboro’s iconic red-and-white packaging, swapping that brand name for Moschino, and switching up the familiar health warning, “smoking kills,” for a more pointed one, “fashion kills.

Discover the dynamism backstage at the Moschino runway show.

https://youtu.be/o_5hpiAY8Ak