as continuation from my previous design studio post, here is the second installment.
for this third of my assessment, i focussed on the boys behind Proenza Schouler.
i've always held a special place in my heart for Jack and Lazaro, and i think part of the way that i can relate to them is through their youth / educational backgrounds, but also through the way in which they design.
Lazaro initially studied pre-med, which is somewhat aligned to the way that i was 100% sure i would study something scientific (eg. pharmacy, biomed..) up until the day i handed in my fashion portfolio for uni. they were also super young when they started their label - straight out of uni / 'college'. though they did study at Parsons in New York, i like to pretend that i am on a similar level to where they were at during their early academic years, and that i could some day achieve 1/1000th of what they have achieved so far.
i also have a strange contradiction regarding my most favoured design vibes. while primarily i most love pieces that are fairly muted in colour and focus mostly on the actual design, i have a part of me that will always love the exact opposite: clashing and innovative prints and surface texture that can be found amongst the likes of Dries Van Noten and the Proenza boys. they will, for some reason, always be some of my favourite collections - season after season.
aaaaaand i LOVE the Proenza slouch. i tried to highlight in my oral presentation that the marriage of slouch / downtown vs old world hemlines and details / uptown is one of my very favourite things about Proenza designs. the fact that their first boutique was located in Madison Avenue, while they advertised its opening on posters all over downtown New York is amazing proof of this balance.
+ some of my favourite parts of my research:
- 'there is something to be said for being true to your brand in times of wealth and times of scarcity. being too extreme and blowing to the wind can be definitely very dangerous.. shoppers are more educated than they've been and want luxury for luxury prices.'
- they create clothing that has fashion-forward silhouettes but isn't inaccessible to the shopper. 'nothing is too precious for reality. these are clothes that you desire and can also wear.'
- 'i often wonder, sometimes i think the people who buy our clothes live in a parallel universe. hell, we can't even afford our clothes.'
- 'i'm from Miami, i knew there was a fashion community in Miami, but i wanted to do something bigger than local, so i moved to New York. you have to decide for yourself on what scale you want to work in.'
- 'it just felt so wrong, in a good way, to open uptown. the reality is, the clothes are expensive and the customer is here. our sensibility leans more towards urban. but we like things that are aged and have a patina. urban doesn't have to be slick. we are not catering to 'uptown' customers - we are not into definitions. we want to avoid being pigeon-holed.'
- 'high fashion is always seeking newness. but newness in construction and the development of new textiles and treatment is always expensive. the price isn't inflated at all. we seldom make the margins people say you are supposed to be making. creativity is everything to us, unfortunately, this costs money. the prices simply reflect the process.'
- 'for us, it isn't about creating a jacket with three sleeves. it's not about inventing a new silhouette. for us, it's about surface. we are really interested in the surface more than anything.'
- 'our strongest collections take many abstract ideas and bring them together in a way that hopefully doesn't look specifically like one thing, or something thematic.'
for this third of my assessment, i focussed on the boys behind Proenza Schouler.
i've always held a special place in my heart for Jack and Lazaro, and i think part of the way that i can relate to them is through their youth / educational backgrounds, but also through the way in which they design.
Lazaro initially studied pre-med, which is somewhat aligned to the way that i was 100% sure i would study something scientific (eg. pharmacy, biomed..) up until the day i handed in my fashion portfolio for uni. they were also super young when they started their label - straight out of uni / 'college'. though they did study at Parsons in New York, i like to pretend that i am on a similar level to where they were at during their early academic years, and that i could some day achieve 1/1000th of what they have achieved so far.
i also have a strange contradiction regarding my most favoured design vibes. while primarily i most love pieces that are fairly muted in colour and focus mostly on the actual design, i have a part of me that will always love the exact opposite: clashing and innovative prints and surface texture that can be found amongst the likes of Dries Van Noten and the Proenza boys. they will, for some reason, always be some of my favourite collections - season after season.
aaaaaand i LOVE the Proenza slouch. i tried to highlight in my oral presentation that the marriage of slouch / downtown vs old world hemlines and details / uptown is one of my very favourite things about Proenza designs. the fact that their first boutique was located in Madison Avenue, while they advertised its opening on posters all over downtown New York is amazing proof of this balance.
+ some of my favourite parts of my research:
- 'there is something to be said for being true to your brand in times of wealth and times of scarcity. being too extreme and blowing to the wind can be definitely very dangerous.. shoppers are more educated than they've been and want luxury for luxury prices.'
- they create clothing that has fashion-forward silhouettes but isn't inaccessible to the shopper. 'nothing is too precious for reality. these are clothes that you desire and can also wear.'
- 'i often wonder, sometimes i think the people who buy our clothes live in a parallel universe. hell, we can't even afford our clothes.'
- 'i'm from Miami, i knew there was a fashion community in Miami, but i wanted to do something bigger than local, so i moved to New York. you have to decide for yourself on what scale you want to work in.'
- 'it just felt so wrong, in a good way, to open uptown. the reality is, the clothes are expensive and the customer is here. our sensibility leans more towards urban. but we like things that are aged and have a patina. urban doesn't have to be slick. we are not catering to 'uptown' customers - we are not into definitions. we want to avoid being pigeon-holed.'
- 'high fashion is always seeking newness. but newness in construction and the development of new textiles and treatment is always expensive. the price isn't inflated at all. we seldom make the margins people say you are supposed to be making. creativity is everything to us, unfortunately, this costs money. the prices simply reflect the process.'
- 'for us, it isn't about creating a jacket with three sleeves. it's not about inventing a new silhouette. for us, it's about surface. we are really interested in the surface more than anything.'
- 'our strongest collections take many abstract ideas and bring them together in a way that hopefully doesn't look specifically like one thing, or something thematic.'
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