My heart can’t be the only guest’s who leapt when Devon Aoki hit the Moschino runway last night. The dollish model and actress looms large in the industry landscape of the ’90s and aughts, despite her diminutive height of 5’6”—remarkable in the catwalk world. She was a favorite of Versace, Chanel, and, of course, Jeremy Scott. “His was the first show I ever walked in when I was 13,” recalled Aoki, who’s made scarcely a handful of runway cameos in the past decade (Chanel Pre-Fall 2008 to name one), instead focusing her attentions on her family and film career.
She started her modeling career as a barely-teenaged beauty for Scott’s eponymous line, long before his Moschino appointment, and tonight the now 33-year-old Aoki unwound post-show with her two children nearby. “It took a little bit of convincing,” in order for her to join the roster last night, she admitted, but it wasn’t long before her close friend had sold her on the idea: “If I could be in any show, it would have to be Jeremy’s to come back to. It’s nothing but love and nothing but a joy to be working with him. You saw his lineup—everyone loves him. People will travel far for him.” That was a sentiment echoed by Scott, rhapsodizing post-show, and recalling that Devon's last appearance for him was over a decade ago, before he decamped to Los Angeles: “I cannot express in words how joyful [tonight] is. She started her runway career with me at 13, she’s one of my best friends. My baby muse forever, the most beautiful woman in the world to me. To have her with me on the runway after [almost] a decade not doing shows was such an honor and such a joy. When we were walking out together, my heart was so full of love.”