If you had asked us ten years ago what the likelihood of Jeremy Scott's fashion line being around in a decade, we would have shrugged our shoulders and said, "Who knows?" After all, the prospects for a designer whose signature style can safely be described as "cartoon character" can be limited, and for every Vivienne Westwood or Jean-Paul Gaultier who survives, the Highway of Fashion is littered with the discarded labels of designers who thought they were more amusing than their potential customers did. Scott, however, is not only still around, but flourishing thanks to, among other things, a canny business sense, a combination of celebrities who need things to wear in music videos and smartly arranged collaborations, particularly with Adidas Originals. The Adidas line has been particularly successful, and so the sneaker giant's yearlong Hell's Kitchen shop has been hosting a two-week pop-up for Scott which will close up after this weekend. Ths Shophound stopped by over the weekend to check it out, because, as far as we know, this two week experiment is the only Jeremy Scott store that exists anywhere. Inside we found lots of bright, colorful clothes in the designer's typical, outlandish style, so if you always wanted a dress printed to look exactly like an actual potato sack, or have had a long-standing hankering to dress just like Fred Flintstone on some day other than Halloween, this is the store for you. We aren't judging anymore.
There are also plenty of Scott's Adidas sneakers in store including the newest versions of his justifiably popular Hermes-styled winged hi-tops (That's Hermes, the messenger of the Greek Gods, not the French leathergoods company). Prices run from affordable t-shirts to the thousands for more elaborate pieces. The winged sneakers run around $300, but even if you aren't ready for the flamboyance of a full Jeremy Scott outfit, it's still worth a trip for the sheer entertainment value of the store. Presumably, after this weekend, the shop will be converted back to its original stock of Adidas Originals, SLVR and Y-3 brands, and close down permanently sometime in May. It remains to be seen whether this store has raised the shopping profile of a neighborhood that despite its popularity among young New Yorkers remains pretty bereft of fashion, though it doesn't appear to have had an effect quite yet. Still, the unassuming location is part of the store's charm —which is what everyone says before some catalyst turns a pleasant little neighborhood into the next Bleecker Street.
Jeremy Scott through February 26th at Adidas Hell's Kitchen 715 Ninth Avenue between 48th & 49th Streets, Hell's Kitchen
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