If anyone could pull off a shoot featuring an underwear clad model with cartoon bananas down their pants and Terk from Tarzan looking on, it’s provocateur Jeremy Scott.
His latest collection, a partnership with Scottish collage artist Portis Wasp, is “the ultimate mash-up of cute and kinky” according to the designer. An incongruous patchwork of Disney princesses and scantily clad model Denek Kania, the swimwear and underwear collection is, as expected, deliberately tongue-in-cheek, and certainly a lot more fun than anything you’d see in the centrefolds of Sports Illustrated.
The departure from the stagnant and boring advertising norms when it comes to swimwear and underwear is a deliberate one, Jeremy explains. “From the start of my tenure at Moschino I really wanted to focus on the swim and underwear designs, because I believe there should be more fun, printed and colourful options on the market,” he tells i-D. “I mean, if you can’t have a little fun under your pants then why even wear underpants?!”
I mean, he has a point.
The photos, created by Portis Wasp, evoke the exact mood of colourful debauchery and fun that Jeremy wanted the collection to capture. “I love his vision,” the designer says. “When I was working on the campaign for my H&M x Moschino collaboration I reached out to him to collaborate, which ended up with him making some amazing videos that debuted in New York. His moodboards are high fashion haute glam, but still have an erotic feel, without being completely NSFW — and when he does his collages mixing elements from Disney with hot guys, it’s the ultimate mash-up of cute and kinky!”
Portis’s Instagram feed is full of this cute-kinky mash-up, whether it’s Joan Smalls with Mowgli from The Jungle Book or Jonas Barros with Cinderella. For the artist’s latest venture with Jeremy, emerging model Denek Kania takes the spotlight. A Czech native who grew up just outside Prague with a dream of being a professional footballer, Denek was instead embraced by the fashion world and debuted as an exclusive for Moschino last year. Now signed to Soul Management in New York, the rising star has several campaigns lined up for 2019.
Will any of them feature cartoon bananas in his pants though? Keep your eyes peeled.