There is a universal pressure that comes with repeating a first-time success. For Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi, this was not an issue. Best known as Kid Cudi, the high-achieving music artist, occasional actor, and avid designer insists that his sophomore ready-to-wear collection actually proved an easier exercise—largely because he had so many ideas underway, but also because he’s taking the long view.
“I didn’t just become good at music overnight. I busted my ass years before anyone knew who I was. With this collection, it’s been a relief,” Mescudi told Vogue on the final day of men’s fashion week in Paris. “It really feels we are on to something… but it took some time to feel that way, that this is a real fucking thing.”
As a refresh, his clothing brand is called Members of the Rage, and it exists in its own psychedelic niche of fashion streetwear—oozing bright colors, grunge nostalgia, and animation-inspired futurism, all with a soupçon of hip-hop swagger. In January, he debuted this vision within a vivid showroom installation at the Paris offices of 247, the Italian collaborators who oversee production and distribution. For spring ’24, the bold backdrop returned (apparently, a version of his home closet!); only now, the lineup appeared more streamlined.
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Whereas his debut included padded orange overalls, cascades of tiered tulle, and jeans glinting with beads, many statement pieces this season are uncomplicated in design (think: shirting and generously cut jeans) but covered in prints as elaborate as any comic book (created by artist Ugo Gattoni based on Mescudi’s drawings). In one, an otherworldly house party conjures Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights through an anime filter. (Is that a pink haired Mescudi sunbathing on the roof?) In another, a chaotic scene depicts hybrid creatures confronting an alien invasion. People will covet these looks simply to be entertained by the storytelling.
When conceiving the pieces, he says he considers the importance of an “easter egg that gives people something of Scott Mescudi.” To wit, these include matching sweats boasting the MOTR logo (a retro UFO that he designed with Nigo); denim covered in manga patches made by his niece, Zuri; varsity jackets with space badges marking the date 3048 (his mother was born in 1948); a tie-dye effect print that began as his own colored pencil sketch; a cheeky hand-drawn T-shirt featuring his two survival kit standbys; and a frayed, cable-knit sweater reincarnated from his “favorite movie ever” Billy Madison.
Given all these personal details, it’s not surprising that the brand has become his own wardrobe. “I’m making these collections so that I can really have them to wear. I’m tired of shopping. I want to make clothes for myself. And one thing I noticed is that people are always commenting on what I’m wearing. I have been fresh for a long time and this is the first time people have been coming up to me like, ‘Where did you get that jacket?’” he said, mimicking their enthusiasm.
While Louis Vuitton has begun positioning itself as a “cultural brand” coinciding with Pharrell Williams’s debut, what fuels MOTR is Mescudi’s desire to give fans an added sense of belonging beyond the music. That we’ve arrived at a moment in which fashion brands perform and performers create fashion has a net-positive effect for everyone, he believes.
“You have Pharrell who is both of those things; you have Virgil who represented both of those things; and you’re just starting to see more of a shift towards that. I think it’s really smart that Louis Vuitton is leaning more into the culture side of things. I think in the long run, that’s what matters most—something that can be in the culture for generations and generations and that kids can be inspired from.”
Does Kid Cudi ever entertain thoughts of joining a major fashion house as creative director? Mescudi seemed ambivalent, saying this has been a long-time dream while still relishing his creative freedom. “There is nothing cooler and nothing more satisfying than having your own brand and it being successful on your own terms. With 247, there’s no limits; I think I’m spoiled starting a brand this way. To have the illest possibilities at my fingertips is exciting,” he said. “If I did do something like [becoming an artistic director], I would always want to have my brand, my brainchild, to create my wacky ideas and do what I want to do.”
This is also why he has opted to not rush the rollout—defining the brand’s identity, growing the market, and learning about the industry—before determining that he’s runway ready. “At first there was this race to do a show, to prove myself. I guess this came from watching other people, how Kanye started immediately by doing an elaborate show for his first collection,” he explained. “Now I feel it will happen by June next year. I have this thing figured out for the stage. It will be a bitch to build, but it’s going to be dope.”
Nearer on the horizon, he has been teasing his Super Normal 2 collaboration with MSCHF, which will drop around the same time as his forthcoming album (no retirement from music just yet). Its design and color scheme are dizzying, yet on Mescudi, who often opts for shocking hair hues (right now, a thick golden stripe) they look entirely cool.
The press text noted that the collection featured AI-generated prints, and as someone who embraces futurism, his openness to the technology is situation specific. “People really shit on the use of AI and I understand that. I think using AI to write a script is fucking terrible. Using AI for a number of things is fucking terrible. To make songs of established artists is terrible, you know what I mean? But I find it really helpful when it comes to making designs and coming up with inspiration,” he said, of his work with the artist Glassface. “The AI art is always inspired by whatever we’re telling in the collection. We sit there for hours. It’s not like what you see where they put something into an app and get it right away. We’re really there working at it trying to find the right thing, something that takes you to another world.”
With one of the showroom mannequins wearing a T-shirt with an integrated flounce of the house party print and another in a salmon pink, three-button suit with a red tearaway effect, Mescudi mused that he has no plan to tone things down. “I had this guy say to me today, ‘I can’t wait until years from now when this gets better and more simpler,’’ he recalled with a laugh. “Simpler? No! I’m never going to be a minimal designer.” Naturally. Raging is all about staying loud.
