VIVA MOSCHINO! at Mint Museum Uptown

The Mint Museum organizes the first American retrospective of renowned designer Franco Moschino

Known for relentlessly mocking the fashion system while at the same time profiting from it, Franco Moschino (1950-1994) used fashion as a platform for theatrical presentations filled with humor, irony, and surrealism. Many of the iconic garments that made him a fashion legend will now be on view in the first American retrospective of his work, VIVA MOSCHINO! The exhibition will open October 31, 2015 at Mint Museum Uptown and remain on view through April 3, 2016. 

Drawn largely from two Chicago-area private collections as well as institutional loans and the Mint’s own Fashion Collection, the exhibition will focus on the Italian designer’s work between 1983 and 1994, when his designs were worn by rock stars, actors, and other celebrities including Tina Turner. Today, Franco Moschino’s fashions continue to be admired by musicians and performers ranging from Sting to Rihanna, and continues to inspire the designs of the fashion house that bears his name.

The exhibition will feature many of the designer’s best known creations, such as the Be Simple! Little Black Dress, Smiley and Domani è un altro giorno jackets, a variety of works from his Cartoon Couture Collection, and a leopard and velvet couture coat from Fall/Winter 1993/1994 of the same design worn recently by Rihanna, along with approximately 40 other full Moschino ensembles and fashion accessories.

“Franco Moschino’s fashion designs represent his knowledge and fondness for historic couture, especially the classic designs of Coco Chanel, as well as his deep interest in surrealism,” said exhibition curator Annie Carlano, the Mint’s senior curator of craft, design, & fashion. “The Mint’s exhibition will show the range of sartorial achievement and social commentary in Moschino’s oeuvre, a tremendous variety in such a short time span.”