Jeremy Scott

They're among the pieces Scott is best remembered for. Launched in 2008 as part of his Adidas Originals collection, the winged high-tops, alongside the furry teddy-bear JS Bears, became some of the most eye-catching sneakers around and earned early co-signs from rappers like Lil Wayne. That mass appeal is exactly why they remain so sought-after by collectors today.

When Scott took over as Moschino's creative director in October 2013, he ran the house's irreverent spirit through an American pop-culture lens, sending out McDonald's-themed handbags, popcorn dresses and SpongeBob fur coats. The collections were playful, instantly recognizable and made for the social-media age, and he's widely credited with reviving the brand and turning it into a fan favorite before his exit in March 2023.

The nickname comes from a 2015 documentary about his life, Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer, directed by Vlad Yudin. It captures his approach of blending high fashion with pop-culture icons everyone recognizes, an instinct that runs through his work. As he once put it, an image of Mickey Mouse reads the same in Mumbai, Timbuktu and Los Angeles.

Yes, the namesake label is his own. Scott is the sole owner of the Jeremy Scott brand, which he launched in Paris in 1997. Separately, from October 2013 to March 2023 he served as creative director of Moschino, so his work spans both his personal label and that house.

He's built his reputation as pop culture's most irreverent designer, working across clothing, accessories and footwear. His best-known pieces include the Adidas JS Wings and JS Bears sneakers from 2008 and his decade of pop-saturated Moschino collections. He's also an early proponent of fusing high fashion with street style, often built around instantly recognizable pop-culture imagery.

Scott was born in 1975 in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up partly on a farm in Lowry City. After studying at Pratt Institute in New York he moved to Paris, where money was so tight he sometimes slept in the Metro. His brand made its debut there in 1997 with a show staged in a bar near Bastille, built largely from paper hospital gowns.

A great deal of his work has been outfitting pop stars. He created the retro-futuristic stewardess look Britney Spears wore in the Toxic video, designed Lady Gaga's outfit in Paparazzi, and built the costumes for Katy Perry's Super Bowl XLIX halftime performance. He's worked so often with figures like Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and CL that they earned the nickname the Jezza posse.

He treats pop culture as raw material in a way few others do, which is why he's been called fashion's equivalent of Andy Warhol. Rather than chasing minimalism, he leans into humor and nostalgia, from cartoon prints to a handbag shaped like a box of cigarettes bearing the warning Fashion Kills. The result is bold, witty and unmistakably his.

His Adidas relationship dates to 2002, when he created the '!Signed' project on the classic Forum high-top, with just 100 pairs made. The partnership exploded in 2008 with the Adidas Originals launch of his footwear and apparel, including the winged high-tops. Over the years his signature wings ended up on many different Adidas silhouettes.

Yes. In June 2012, Adidas decided not to sell a pair Scott had designed called the JS Roundhouse Mids after their bright yellow handcuffs drew criticism from some who read them as shackles alluding to slavery. Scott rejected that interpretation, saying the design referenced the children's toy My Pet Monster.

Quite highly, even as he plays the rebel. He won the ANDAM Fashion Award in 2000, and Karl Lagerfeld once said Scott was the only person in fashion who could take over Chanel after he left. His Adidas sneakers were even included in the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition on the rise of sneaker culture.