The best and most beautiful fashion presented in New York this week so far has been by Proenza Schouler, who in a season of rampant and predictable sportswear showed a collection of spirited originality, and impressive sophistication for a design duo so young...
Proenza Schouler, the label founded by led by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, have long been regarded as the most distinguished young designers in America. Their fall 2008 collection presented Monday night in the Uptown Armory on Park Avenue, was that rare thing in New York, a genuinely imaginative moment, where the fashion was so good it reached the level of art.
Nor could one fault the staging, New Age music greeted guests pre show, as the crowd settled into the post-industrial set-up in the cavernous armory. There was also a great sense of anticipation, as this was their first show since the Valentino Fashion Group, and new equity fund owners Permira, bought a stake in Proenza Schouler.
In preparation, the duo spent two weeks in Texas hanging around minimalist artist Donald Judd´s Chianti Foundation folding paper airplanes, and their collection was all about folds and twists, as silk twill cocktail dresses and tops hung in long bows and multi curvy backs. “There was not a single seam in those clothes,” bragged Jack backstage.
Staged on an enormously long plywood catwalk, in an homage to Judd, the show had the hallmarks of greatness. Mixed media garments craftily cut, elegantly draped and mysteriously flattering.
Coats came multi-paneled in selections of silver embroidered cotton, felt wool and pigmented jersey. They were complicated, all right, yet cool. However, the clothes were at their best when they were simpler – like the bone collared frock worn by model Elsa Sylvan, made of embroidered latex and cut with puff sleeves and lacy lower half; it had style yet sass, and underlined the one major problematic about Proenza Schouler. Their clothes tend to age women. One is always impressed that the duo are so surprisingly sophisticated guys on the cusp of 30, but that very urbanity strays into grandiosity and ultimately weakens the result.
Don't miss any of the action inside the tents. Click here to visit americanexpress.com/style to see live video of over 70 shows at New York Fashion Week.
More fashion week videos and coverage from Saks Fifth Avenue's Michael Fink here.
Article Courtesy of Fashion Wire Daily
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