Extra! Jeremy Scott makes news (literally) on the runway

Chromatically speaking, Scott’s runway show Friday evening at New York Fashion Week was a very disciplined collection in all black and white; Scott usually uses a riot of bright colours and large cartoon graphics in his clothes. (Photo by @marcus_mam via @itsjeremyscott/Instagram)

NEW YORK — CHAOS! HORROR! PANIC! BABY, IT’S HOT! Designer Jeremy Scott has always liked to make news, but with his latest collection he did it literally, drawing design inspiration from New York’s tabloid headlines.

Chromatically speaking, Scott’s runway show Friday evening at New York Fashion Week was a very disciplined collection in all black and white; Scott usually uses a riot of bright colours and large cartoon graphics in his clothes.

Here, garments were emblazoned with an artist’s versions of the New York Post and the Daily News — on dresses, trousers, jackets, jumpsuits and much more. Some of the most striking items: dainty, elegant chiffon party dresses printed with tabloid headlines.

Printed belts bore the headline: “Market drops 190 in worst bloodbath since Black Monday.”

Hats were black and white too, including newsboy caps or big, oversized bows. Dark hair was sprayed with white to match the colour combination.

Of course, the scourge of fake news was not far from Scott’s mind.

“I was thinking about society’s complete obsession with scandalous headlines,” Scott said backstage, “with salacious news, with false assumptions, with clickbait. And this kind of obsession we have as a people where we get so riled up and people don’t really even listen or investigate.”

Scott says he drew from “different headlines from over the years, especially that are very chaotic like ‘Chaos’ and ‘Panic.”’

“It’s this tragedy of excitement in a way, this addiction to that kind of feeling,” Scott said. “We keep perpetuating this addiction to salacious headlines and news.”

Scott knows it will surprise people to see him suddenly working solely in black and white. “It’s always good to keep people on their toes,” he quipped.

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Associated Press writer Ragan Clark contributed to this report.