Proenza Schouler Spring 2013 is Digital Quality.

This collection by Proenza Schouler was just the most marvelous, innovative, risk taking collection that was a result of the grand year that Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCullough have been having. New financing, new retail-business spirit guide and a brand new store in the prime of Madison Avenue real estate.

For this spring their message is randomness. "The internet, the images you're bombarded with and the collage of information that you get everyday," was how Hernandez described the collection. The designers went into a world of unlimited creative possibilities and came up with new, cool, fantastic ideas that were exquisitely tasteful in a fashion forward way.

The clothes had a digital quality to them, indeed. High def colors, neon green, electric blue and red, blared on laminated leathers, like a new patent, cut so thin and lightweight they were almost two dimensional. There was leather on boxy jackets, low slung pleated kilts and dresses that were fitted around the bodice and shoulders like a wet-suit and flared at the knee.

Patchwork looks were a dominance and there were some solid looks that were perforated with pixel-like dots. Hernandez and McCullough were inspired by a Gerhard Richter exhibition they had seen in Paris and they were keen on the notion of collage and what turned out were a combination of skins like the multicolored pieces of snake and iguana sewn up into one streamlined look combined with Internet sourced photos.

Pictures of a pool, a pool and a protest were all splice up with vivid jacquards, satins and graphic woven techniques on dresses and separates. What the designers did for the finale is that they blew the photo prints out onto dresses that featured a uniform embroidery of bright buttons at the top and grommets at the skirt.

This collection was one of the best for this spring season. Graphic and Amazing.

Proenza Schouler

Spring/Summer

2013

Proenza Schouler Fall 2012 Oversizes Fashion.

Proenza Schouler has moved forward for the fall 2012 season with clothes that had an Eastern influence. If you think karate, kimonos and samurai you will get the jist. The silhouette they played with is oversized which is a trend that they seem to make official for the season. The tops and pants came in stiff white cottons, like karate gis, or in waxy black leather.

Leather is a big element here. The designers worked it by weaving thin strips of leather in navy, black and white say, into a tiny grid for a side-zip jacket. The quilted satin varsity jackets embroidered with pheasants on the chest were really impressive and this is the same for the woven paillette skirts which these were paired with. This showed the wonderful handiwork of these designers. The wonderful brocade they used for long-sleeve dresses were marvelous in the construction that they almost looked like jackets and flippy miniskirts.

It is a remarkable collection and showed that evolution for these designers is on going and it is wonderful to watch. They have no problem in taking any risks in trying out new ideas and that is one of the most amazing qualities they have. The fashion crowd is always pleased and look forward for more. Proenza Schouler, keep up the good work!



Proenza Schouler Spring/Summer 2012



I was impressed with Proenza Schouler. I am always impressed. What Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have to offer is such a wonderful spring collection full of inspirations that included Fifties car interiors, Googie architecture, and the work of Morris Lapidus, the man behind Miami's Deco crown jewel, the Fontainebleau hotel. The show had wonderful key pieces like spongy, snug cropped sweaters and a cobalt blue A-line skirt in papery eel skin that formed one half of the lineup's best looks which indicated that the collection was to be a serious , sophisticated affair. The precision and expert craftsmanship was brilliant. They sure did not shy from the bad-taste elements like the tiger-print car interiors ad the palette of orange, green and gold that dropped out of fashion in the late Seventies. I loved the play of silhouettes, textures and the mash-up of neon and tropical prints. The talents of these young men that form Proenza Schouler are never out of sync and always have everyone look forward to every collection season after season.

Proenza Schouler

Spring/Summer 2012