In our final recap of the events of Pitti Immagine fashion trade show in Florence in June, we present a documentary behind the scenes at Villa della Petraia, in the lead up to Proenza Schouler’s fabulous event showcasing their Pre-Spring collection 2010.

Watch as Kembra Pfahler directs her Florence ballet dancers for last-minute auditions in the gardens, witness Haim Steinbach’s precision as he constructs an installation of Proenza Schouler accessories in the foyer, and walk with Art Production Fund’s Yvonne Force Villareal as she places Kalup Linzy’s photographs against the villa’s façade.

Then watch as evening falls and the beautiful people come out to play,  with exclusive footage of the evening’s proceedings including the devilish performance by The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black and the dramatic genius of Kalup Linzy.

The video also contains an interview with Jack and Lazaro of Proenza Schouler as they discuss the curation of the event, providing further insight into the multi-faceted multimedia collaboration.

All footage is brought to you courtesy of Pitti Immagine.

Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler hosted the party of the week in New York city on Monday night,  when they invited their collaborators and friends to toast the US launch of A#9. Their choice of venue was a townhouse in Soho Mews, the new luxury condo development in West Broadway.

The crisp pages of their ‘Made in the USA’ edition were showcased inside the townhouse for guests to see the beautiful work of the designers and their collaborators, including that of performance artist Kalup Linzy (who was also in attendance).

And what would the A#9 NYC party be without it’s cover girl, the divine miss Chloë Sevigny? She dazzled in a Proenza Schouler leather belted jumpsuit, exclaiming “I feel a little bit like a super-slut superhero!”

Other guests included cover photographer Richard Burbridge, Derek Blasberg (who interviewed Bruce Weber for a piece in the issue) and Yvonne Force Villareal of Art Production Fund, the veritable ‘force’ behind much of Proenza Schouler’s brilliant spectacle in June at Pitti Immagine in Florence, Italy.

The party was as low-key an event as such a New York society crowd permits, with beers in icebuckets and a tire swing on the terrace (albeit a designer one by Aaron Young of Cumulus Studios!). ‘Kids’ actor Leo Fitzpatrick and artist Nate Lowman hit the decks to dj for the event, as various art, music and fashion personalities enjoyed the summer evening sipping beers and champagne, including P.S.1‘s  Tim Goossens, model Sigrid Agren, Vogue’s Hamish Bowles and up-and-coming young illustrator Aurel Schmidt.

Surely a last hurrah for Jack and Lazaro after riding a crazy wave in the past few months, culminating in the completion and launch of A#9, their reception of CFDA Accessories of the Year award, and their work with Pitti Immagine as the special guest of the womenswear pre-spring collection presentation. Congratulations guys!

Photos by Steve Eichner, Sherly Rabbani and Josephine Solimene.

Written, Directed, and Edited by Kalup Linzy

Kalup Linzy’s “Sampled and LeftOva” & “Fuck U” for Proenza Schouler

On the Occasion of Pitti W-Nº4. A Project of Fondazione Pitti Discovery. Produced by Art Production Fund.

Make up by Aidan Keopg and Bryan Campbell for MAC.

In a multidisciplinary practice that includes videos, performances and music, Linzy creates satirical narratives inspired by television soap operas, telenovelas and Hollywood melodramas. He performs, most often in drag, in a series of memorable recurring roles. The artist serves as writer, composer, director, cinematographer, editor, and actor—and, in a distinctive strategy, also voices and overdubs the dialogue of multiple characters. At once comic, raunchy and poignant, Linzy’s unique narrative music and videos fuse dramatic intensity with melodramatic irony.

Members of Art Production Fund sit with Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler at Palazzo Tournabuoni.

Dan The Scout joined an exclusive meeting of international press and guests this morning in the stunning Palazzo Tournabuoni in Florence, for the press conference of Proenza Schouler and their involvement with Pitti Immagine fashion trade fair and the launch of A MAGAZINE CURATED BY Proenza Schouler.

Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez [the designers behind Proenza Schouler] spoke about their creative world, and the powerhouse of people and talent that has come together here at Pitti, for “collaboration that creates vision without compromise”[1].

As the guest designers of Pitti Woman, Proenza Schouler will unveil their highly anticipated pre-collection event this evening at the Villa della Petraia, in a multi-format creative landscape where fashion, film, music and art collide. 

The event is orchestrated under the co-direction of Art Production Fund, the celebrated New York-based non-profit contemporary art foundation. APF have provided a powerful link to harmonious artistic resources and people in the United States, tying in the concept of ‘Made in the USA’ encapsulating Proenza’s position as the first American curators of A MAGAZINE CURATED BY, and their first collection event outside the United States at Pitti Immagine.

The event will involve a screening of two new films by Kalup Linzy, the New York based artist whose soap-operatic aesthetic is translated into a short piece featuring A Magazine #9 cover girl Chloë Sevigny and supermodel Liya Kebede. Liya also features in a display of Kalup’s photography, wearing Proenza Schouler pre-spring 2010 in a series of renaissance-style poses.

Proenza Schouler will also present a world first “unplugged” live performance by Kembra Pfahler and her fetishistic theatrical horror-rock group The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. Their controversial on-stage antics and darkly feminine goth aesthetic exemplifies the true clash of alternate worlds aligned by Lazaro and Jack, and their continuous dialogue on the concept of femininity and its representation in art and fashion.

The final component will be an art installation by Haim Steinbach, the celebrated New York artist who’s pristinely ordered consumerist installations present social commentary on consumer culture by using the literal platform of a shelf to display specific collections of common objects. Tonight he will take the CFDA award winning accessories collection of Proenza Schouler and engage them in a strategic game plan against everyday objects in the courtyard of the Villa della Petraia.

Following the press conference of Proenza Schouler @ Pitti, Dan the Scout spent a few minutes with Jack and Lazaro to discuss their experiences with A MAGAZINE CURATED BY.

On their CFDA Accessory designer of the year award, Pitti and A#9 launch all in the same week:

Lazaro Hernandez – [CFDA’s] that was on Monday, Yeah it’s amazing how this has happened all at once, it has been a crazy week, there’s been meetings and friends and family…

Jack McCullough – We’re really excited, when it rains it pours!

L – Yeah, we started the week off with a hangover, bad idea, and kind of throws off the whole thing!

On their experience with A#9:

L – We have really poured our hearts and souls into it for the past year. We loved it, it is unusual to be given a project like this and to be just told “go for it”.

J – We have been working on it really hard for a long time… we’ve called in favours from lots of friends and amazing people…

L – We really wanted to create a magazine with text, with content – something we can look back on and see where we were at that moment, what our friends were doing.

On the Americana influence:

L – We are really inspired by Donald Judd. Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, that whole post-minimalist 1970s movement, with Judd – the idea that this one guy created this whole world in Marfa [Texas, the series of buildings Judd recreated on permanent display, alongside examples of his minimalist structural art installations].

On the creative advertising in A#9:

Jack – Lazaro photographed the Swarovski campaign, he is a photographer now! [laughs]

Lazaro – Yeah we wore lots of different hats to make this magazine…

On cover girl Chloë Sevigny:

J – She is a muse, as well as a great friend. Such a distinct personal style.

L – Chloë is the kind of girl who is not afraid to take risks, she always looks fantastic and individual.

J – she stands apart from the ‘cookie-cutter’ fashions of America. Or the ‘biscotti-cutter’ style here in Florence!

On who they would like to see curate the next A#10: The three ‘R’s!

Laz – I would really like to see what Rei [Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons] would do . Also Raf [Simons].

Jack – And Rick Owens. He really has his own world, with the furniture… have you seen his house? So great.

Keep following as we bring you coverage of tonight’s PROENZA SCHOULER SPECIAL GUEST OF PITTI W event.