Related News
Designers reflect getting off hamster wheel
Print Edition
AS New York was grinding to a halt in the spring, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, the designers behind Proenza Schouler, were a world away, trekking in Patagonia. They came back to a changed city.
“Those first couple of weeks were obviously spent just figuring out how to keep the company afloat,” Hernandez said.
Then the duo realized they had to start drawing their next collection. They sat in their studio in Massachusetts with a blank sheet of paper, a pencil, blank walls, but had no idea what to draw. What eventually emerged was a collection, just released, that dispensed with much of the spectacle and structure of a fashion show — because for once, there wasn’t going to be a show — and focused on ease, heavy on soft fabrics and, strikingly, shoes that resemble mini-puffer jackets.
The designers also had to figure out how to present their wares. Most labels have been embracing digital presentations. Proenza Schouler opted to make a hardcover book — “something that stands the test of time” — setting models against evocative New York settings like midtown at sunset.
Q: Everyone in New York has a story about where they were when the city suddenly shut down in spring. What’s yours?
Hernandez: We were in Patagonia. We came back and it was immediate lockdown. But you know us designers, we’re on this insane schedule, so we had to start thinking about drawing our spring collection. We had none of our usual processes in play. Usually we start with a feeling, a mood and then start doing some research and we go through our archives and pull some of our old stuff, and start creating looks — then we go away and draw.
This season we had none of that. It’s like a writer writing a book without an outline. So we just started doodling and drawing and riffing off each other. We dug deep into what we were feeling and all the conversations we were having with our friends.
McCollough: This season was incredibly freeing in a lot of ways, knowing we weren’t having a show.
We’ve had a show every single season since we started our career. (This time) we were a little more free, thinking about a woman’s life and how she’s living in these clothes, less about creating this spectacle and more about creating a wardrobe that can stand the test of time.
Hernandez: And those feelings have manifested themselves in the clothes. We’re all just wearing sweaters now. “Cozy” is such a non-fashion word but what does that word mean in a fashion context? We wanted everything so you could move in it, nothing restricting.
McCollough: We wanted to destroy all the sharp lines. We wanted the shoes to feel like slippers, we wanted bags to feel like pillows, we wanted the tailoring to feel soft and slouchy.
Q: Are people still buying luxury clothes?
Hernandez: People are still buying clothes. Business is not horrible. But I think the function of clothes has changed, no one is going to cocktail parties or corporate work meetings. It’s all happening at a more intimate level, whether it’s via Zoom like we’re doing now or a small gathering at people’s homes. I think this calls for a kind of intimacy in clothing.
McCollough: I think people want to dream, though, of things they desire. Even if they don’t have a purpose for them right in the moment. So finding that balance is important.
Q: You must have worried that nobody would want to buy clothes again.
McCollough: March and April were really scary. It was very unprecedented times and we were dealing with this for the first time ever. It was so unclear as to what the future would look like. Also, in April we get all our fabrics from Italy. But Italy was in lockdown, so what were we going to do? We went back to this archive of fabrics we have. I’d say about 80-90 percent of the collection is all upcycled from stuff we already owned.
Q: What changes will last from when the pandemic is over?
McCollough: It would be really unfortunate if the world went back to normal and it was just business as usual. Everything from our exploration into sustainability — it’s almost irresponsible not to be talking about that — to just approaching things differently.
We’re on this hamster wheel of show after show after show, and we’ve realized we could say something as strong about a collection without having a show.
Maybe we don’t need to be in this rat race of having a show every season. Maybe take a season off when we don’t have something to say.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
