NEW YORK – The Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez train isn’t slowing down anytime soon, if the latest Proenza Schouler Spring Summer 2012 collection – which they showed at New York Fashion Week on Wednesday – is anything to go by.
From the hoard of celebrity faces that turned up, think Alexa Chung, Alicia Keys and Vogue’s two powerhouses, Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington, to the flurry of tweets hours before the Proenza Schouler show that illustrated the popularity of the duo’s works in the social media sphere, it was obvious expectations ran high.
These darlings of the fashion industry drew inspiration for this Proenza Schouler collection from Miami’s art deco pioneer, Morris Lapidus and his famous Fontainebleu Hotel, 1950s car interiors and futuristic Googie architecture, and quite definitely Elvis; the models all had messy, unfinished Elvis-esque poufs.
All photos from Getty Images.
Art deco panelled button up skirt-suits in delightfully soothing shades of ash brown, charcoal grey, sun-bleached yellow and brown went with vintage wallpaper patterned shirt dresses cinched at the waist.
Then suddenly, a hint of African tribal influence hit, when models walked out in crocheted skirts – which the duo revealed were actually made of plastic – and raffia-striped skirts that moved like fabric
Even if that seemed like an attempt to show off how adept the duo are with materials, it would be unkind not to give them due praise for all the hard-work they’ve put in.
There were paper-thin leather – or so they’d have you think – striped shorts, bib dresses and split-front skirts, which mimicked the 1950s car interior look they were going for, but as Hernandez gleefully revealed later, it were in fact made of eel-skin.
Finally, the requisite plainly identifiable Miami palm tree prints made an appearance, the strongly nostalgic prints made modern on body-skimming pencil skirts with a sarong-like twist, or on Betty Crocker-approved apron tunics.
Clearly, these two Parsons graduates intended on enthralling the crowd, and seeing from the way the collection was received, with WWD calling it “the first time a banana leaf print was seductive”, it was evident they succeeded.
