Proenza Schouler, a sizzling duo comprised of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year. Darlings of the New York fashion scene, these two inseparable cool kids offer up refined and innovative collections season after season. Their work unites urban and sophisticated, 50s French couture and Kurt Cobain grunge, with a bit of contemporary art thrown in the mix.
Originally students at the Parsons School of Design, the two met there and created their first collection together as an end-of-year project, giving their collaboration the maiden names of their mothers. Until then, the whole thing seemed of little consequence. But when Barneys New York got ahold of the work from that collection as well as the next, and “the boys” got the iconic Anna Wintour on board with their work, it suddenly become very clear that the two were going to go far. Later, Proenza Schouler would go on to take home the award for “Women’s wear designer of the year” on two occasions.
The designers for the label, recognizable for its geometric cuts and graphic prints, draw inspiration from their travels to the four corners of the earth. For their Fall/Winter 2012-2013 collection, the Proenza woman is transformed into a samurai warrior. Once again, the duo is taking on different materials and in doing so giving birth to immaculate biker jackets, oversized menswear-inspired pants, neo-portfolio miniskirts reminiscent of an anime schoolgirl, minimalist shirts, “armor” dresses, and quilted jackets adorned with Asian-style embroidery. All of this plays out to the tune of a seventies soundtrack honoring John Lennon. Their signature is not forgotten either: extremely well-executed leather weavings, available in dress or jacket form, mixing colors and textures for an ultra-modern look.
For Spring/Summer 2013, the fashion wunderkinds, who just opened their first boutique on Madison Avenue, have created a line inspired by Tumblr and abstract paintings by artist Gerhard Richter. On the runway: models with dark circles under their eyes and no apparent order to their hair- influence from the grunge era is undoubtedly a guiding factor for the two thirty-somethings- with laser-perforated leather on display to recreate pixelation, deconstructed photo prints, sleeveless, exotic-skin patchwork jackets… The entire ensemble is decked out in vibrant neon colors, and the silhouettes are just as fluid, urban, and sophisticated as ever. It’s a surprising collaboration between craftsmanship and technology from these “2.0” designers.
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