Waterfalls cascaded down the marble walls of the impressive early 20th-century Beaux-Arts building where Proenza Schouler showed her latest collection at New York Fashion Week.
To be clear, the water was not actually wet, but given in the video installations. Still, the soothing waterfalls create a strong sense of humor for the clothes on display at Friday’s runway show — especially the cascading ruffles that adorn a number of the ensembles, either spilling down the back of a dress or “drip” down a sleeve. long.
In the Hall des Lumières exhibition space, housed in the old Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank building (an early example of a New York Beaux Arts style building), designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCullough presented a collection that they said it was a personal mix of them. stories – in their words, “the sensual and sultry qualities of Lazaro’s Latin roots along with the pragmatism and essence of Jack’s American experience.” Water, the pair said, was chosen as a symbol of life.
The collection, which featured significantly more skin-baring or sheer looks than the designers usually present, opened with a selection of crochet and fringed looks, including two dresses with sheer, crocheted skirts and a fringed bouffant. A shimmering gold crocheted ensemble with a sleeveless top and sheer skirt was later seen.
Hernandez later said the pair had found “this amazing community of hand weavers in Bolivia,” a group of women who worked on a set of pieces for six months.
In conceiving the show, McCollough said the pair had started with a range of silhouettes. The idea of water, he said, was expressed in the sensation of dripping—for example, the rippling sensation of a pair of loose bell-bottom pants or even a bare black leather skirt. Apart from crocheted looks, lace dresses added another clean look.
“We just wanted to mess around.” said McCollough, of the experimentation process for the current collection.
The designers, who met as students at Parsons School of Design, named their fashion label after the daughters’ names of both their mothers. They often base their collections on themes of contemporary art or culture.
