Designer Jeremy Scott has a message for Brett Kavanaugh

JOCELYN NOVECK

NEW YORK (AP) — Designer Jeremy Scott was a man with a message on Thursday night at his star-studded runway show, and that message was directed at Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Scott made his traditional post-show lap of the runway wearing a handmade shirt that said: "Tell Your Senator No on Kavanaugh," along with a Washington phone number to call and express displeasure with President Donald Trump's high court nominee.

Backstage, the designer explained that he was trying to stand up for "women's rights, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, affirmative action — you know, it's all at stake with this one man."

As for the actual clothes on Scott's runway, there was no political message there. His new collection, Scott said, came about when he started looking at old photos of himself from the '90s, when he was experimenting with ideas of gender fluidity.

"It was inspired by my old Polaroids," Scott, 43, said in a backstage interview, "all the different elements where I'm experimenting with looks on myself, things that we were doing in 1996, a time before gender fluidity was a term."

"A lot of things we were doing were really forward," Scott said.

Scott's models were, as always, dressed up in brilliant neon colors, especially orange and green, with shoes and boots that went up to the knees, or — in some cases — reached up the body and over the shoulders.

There were big sweaters emblazoned with big words, like "sex" and "riot" and "revolt" and "shock" and "peace" and of course "Jeremy" and "Scott."

And probably the most striking addition to the runway was the overalls, with those built-in shoulder-high boots. There were long zippers at both front and back, unzipped, for a revealing effect.

"It wasn't so much any particular thing from the past, just a mood," Scott said. "Things I really love like recontextualizing ideas of army surplus, and sequins and camouflage."

And yes, he had a muse this season: Himself.

"Often we have muses for our fashion. I decided I was my own muse this season," he said. "Sort of a meta-muse."

Celebrities tend to flock to Scott's fashion shows, and this time was no exception: Guests included rappers Cardi B and Offset (the latter walked on the runway); Tiffany Haddish, Paris Jackson and Caitlyn Jenner.