Moschino — a fashion brand whose tag line is “Cheap and Chic” — has released a “capsule” collection inspired by meds. Plastic-y orange purses shaped like pill bottles, T-shirt dresses printed with cheeky prescription labels, backpacks emblazoned with colorful “Valley of the Dolls”-style poppers — all in the $600 to $1,000 range. Cheap and chic.
It sure is tacky, maybe in bad taste, but is it, ahem, sick?
That’s what critics are saying, arguing that the new druggie couture “glamorizes” the opioid crisis. There’s even an online petition calling for retailers like Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue to stop selling the offending collection.
The opioid crisis is indeed a serious issue. Prescription opioid overdoses killed more than 14,000 people in the US in 2014, according to medical website STAT. That’s four times more than the number of opioid-related deaths in 1999. Doctors say prescription opioid use can lead to heroin addiction. Yet it’s unclear what kind of “prescription drugs” Moschino designer Jeremy Scott is referencing in his latest line. And, regardless, I can’t imagine anyone looking at these kooky, kitschy, pill-populated novelties and thinking they’re glamorous or seductive, or that they actually make drugs look alluring.
Indeed, they’re not so much offensive as just aggressively, cheerfully dumb, like much of Scott’s clothing. He’s made dresses out of trash bags, booty shorts stamped with Bart Simpson’s face, rainbow-unicorn leotards and McDonald’s Happy Meal clutches. (Hey, did anyone complain then that Scott was promoting obesity?) Scott’s stuff is full of irony and wordplay and pop — a “drug capsule” collection, anyone? But it’s also devoid of any social commentary or thought, and that unabashed ignorance has gotten the designer in hot water before.
Scott’s stuff is full of irony and wordplay and pop — a ‘drug capsule’ collection, anyone?
In 2012, he devised a pair of shackle-and-chain Adidas kicks that the sneaker company had to pull after they were compared to the shackles of slaves. (The designer insisted that he was actually inspired by a 1980s toy and cartoon character called “My Pet Monster.” Whatever.)
But while it’s hard to look at shackles and not think of slaves or prisoners, it’s a bit of a stretch to assume that all cylindrical pill bottles or colorful capsules include potent painkilling opioids. It’s even more of a leap to think that every kid who sees one of Moschino’s “Just Say Moschi-No” T-shirts will automatically raid his parents’ medicine cabinet.
As far as fashion controversies go, this barely even registers: What about the poor labor conditions in sweatshops and factories, the havoc that clothing production wreaks on the environment, the wastefulness of the industry, the fetishization of youth and impossible thinness? Instead of boycotting a department store that will do just fine without your patronage because of a silly fashion collection, why not use your energy to support legislation, medical groups and nonprofits that actually aim to help reduce reliance on dangerous painkillers, and work to reduce addiction? After all, this is just fashion.