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This is what a $400 My Little Pony shirt looks like (on Kaia Gerber)

Bella Hadid, left, and Kaia Gerber walk the Moschino Spring 2018 fashion show in Milan. Their shirts are priced at $350 and $395, respectively. (Photo: Getty Images)
Bella Hadid, left, and Kaia Gerber walk the Moschino Spring 2018 fashion show in Milan. Their shirts are priced at $350 and $395, respectively. (Photo: Getty Images)

Jeremy Scott is a master at turning kitsch into coins, thanks to cheeky accessories he has designed as head of the Italian fashion brand Moschino.

Scott has come up with glass cleaner and cigarette box phone cases, and Moschino logo belts and bags that have become sought after by the Instagram set.

But at its Milan Fashion Week show on Thursday, Moschino’s latest collection relied heavily on another powerhouse branding machine to feed the sales beast. “Moschino Little Pony,” as the name suggests, is a collaborative line with the popular Hasbro-owned children’s toy brand My Little Pony.

My Little Pony began as a 1980s cartoon, and has since grown into an empire of licensed clothing and products, movies, and video games. It has inspired adults to take part in My Little Pony cosplay — and now, apparently, Scott’s latest work.

Accessories from the Moschino My Little Pony collection include a $75 iPhone case and a $695 backpack. (Photo: Moschino)
Accessories from the Moschino My Little Pony collection include a $75 iPhone case and a $695 backpack. (Photo: Moschino)

Kaia Gerber opened Scott’s show wearing a powder-blue, long sleeved “Little Pony” T-shirt and a matching feathered tutu, juxtaposed with a shrunken black spiked hat, leather jacket, and biker boots. Bella Hadid followed Gerber wearing a pink crop top, rainbow pony included.

Beyond a flower army finale (florals for spring? groundbreaking) it was more of the same: tulle tutus and spikes and fishnets and BDSM collars, pairing adult lasciviousness with children’s characters.

But the most soul-crushing part of Moschino’s My Little Pony collection is that it’s immediately available for purchase online, but at hundreds — or even thousands — of dollars more than what it would cost to purchase nearly indistinguishable My Little Pony-licensed clothing elsewhere.

Moschino’s Spring 2018 collection includes My Little Pony clothing like this shirt, which retails for nearly $400. (Photo: Moschino)
Moschino’s Spring 2018 collection includes My Little Pony clothing like this shirt, which retails for nearly $400. (Photo: Moschino)

The shirt Gerber wears retails for $395, while a zip track jacket with a pony costs $1,050. Backpacks sell for nearly $695, and iPhone cases, $75, were out of stock nearly as soon as the show ended.

Meanwhile, a similar My Little Pony shirt costs $22.90 at Hot Topic — about a tenth the price of the Moschino version.

This My Little Pony shirt, sold online at Hot Topic, costs $22.90, a fraction of the price of the Moschino shirt. The difference? No “Moschino” label. (Photo: Hot Topic)
This My Little Pony shirt, sold online at Hot Topic, costs $22.90, a fraction of the price of the Moschino shirt. The difference? No “Moschino” label. (Photo: Hot Topic)

But the truth is, Moschino can get away with those prices. It’s Italian, it’s celebrity-endorsed, and it’s fashion. How dare you suggest it should cost anything less?

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Alexandra Mondalek is a writer for Yahoo Style + Beauty. Follow her on Twitter @amondalek.