As New York Fashion
Week comes to an end, I find myself slightly more pleased with the beginnings
of a new season. Usually NYFW rarely grabs my attention and I tend to swerve
towards London Fashion Week, where I sit in anticipation and impatience. But
for the Fall/Winter 2013-14, I can happily say that I found myself enjoying
more and more designers take on the next season. One of which was Proenza
Schouler. The design duo (Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez) at Proenza
Schouler showed a dramatic change for the Fall/Winter 2013-14 season, presenting
a sophisticated but powerful maturity in their new woman. “We’ve grown up on a
business level and aesthetically and we wanted the collection to feel that way.”
Hernandez stated. The duo took to John Divola’s 1970s series of photographs of
derelict California Zuma Beach houses with views of the sea through shattered
windows. But instead of taking the route of deconstruction, the team took a
much softer and mature approach to their inspiration. “We’re in a coasting,
sort of serene mood,” Hernandez added, “and we wanted transparency and a
softness of form, colour, and texture—snowy, somehow.” The technical
sophistication was the little treasure that pulled you into the collection the
most to understand what you really are looking at such as embroidered dresses
with long, vertical chain links. Or a sweater that seemed to be ombré but was
in fact, made from leather, pierced so pieces of shaggy wool could be pulled
through. It was nothing but sheer brilliance. See the rest of the collection
here.
