Via Interview Magazine, A BLOG offers an insightful and intimate conversation between long-time friends Chloë Sevigny and Proenza Schouler designers’ Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez. From road trips to lost pooches, the trio discuss life, love, art & fashion in this candid piece.

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It has been nearly nine years since Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez – both 23 and fresh out of design school at Parsons The New School for Design, where they met and worked together as classmates-set up a womenswear label incorporating their mothers’ maiden names. Their almost instantaneous rise through the realms of the fashion world as Proenza Schouler-seemingly so unscripted that they hardly had a business model when they began-is the stuff of lightning New York success stories.

In the early 2000s, with many of the city’s top designers either retiring or fading out, the hunt was on for fresh, untapped talent, and Proenza Schouler had plenty of it. But as the decade wore on, something exquisite happened: The design duo wasn’t merely filling some vacant fashion niche. McCollough and Hernandez were creating a fully articulated, utterly unexpected sense of style for a young, urban, 21st-century woman. The designers referenced the past with certain shapes and layers-grunge, the 1960s-but didn’t get stuck in it. This woman walked with a street-tough, masculine gait. She was almost a veteran of raves and goth clubs, but was still new in the city and up for going out.

Proenza Schouler have become masters of precise, militaristic silhouettes that allow for radical plays of color and texture. The hues and prints are electric, the fabrics veer from thick and aggressive to fragile and surprisingly soft. For their Spring 2011 collection, they continued their evolution but added a feminine polish that suggested this art girl of their dreams could also be competent enough to be serious and dependable-an acid-house mix of knits, tweeds, and chiffon.

Now both 32, McCollough and Hernandez should finally be set free from their depiction as upstart fashion kids taking on the establishment. They’ve graduated to become the leaders of the charge. Still a couple, in and out of the studio, the two spend as much time in New York these days as they do either traveling for inspiration or hiding out upstate on their farm. Unsurprisingly, one of their favorite women to dress is Chloë Sevigny, who just returned to New York after wrapping the final season of Big Love and visited the guys in their studio in SoHo. But before any questions on life as designers, she wanted the lowdown on how Jojo, Hernandez’s miniature Pinscher, briefly went missing, only to have Sevigny come to the rescue, 2,000 miles away.

READ THE INTERVIEW AT INTERVIEWMAGAZINE.COM

Portrait by Craig McDean, Jack & Lazaro both wear Jil Sander.

The life and designs of Japanese fashion maverick Yohji Yamamoto will, this spring, be celebrated through a series of retrospective exhibitions and installations in London. His avant-garde, visionary style and signature over-sizing have created new silhouettes which continue to influence and shape fashion today. For over forty years, Yamamoto has challenged conventional norms of clothing with a multitude of innovative runway shows and exclusive collaborations with brands such as Adidas and Hermes.

First stop in the programme is his first major solo show in the UK; “Yohji Yamamoto” at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Over 80 women’s and menswear garments will be on display throughout the museum in a series of installations which trace the designer’s progression and highlight his most memorable and representative work. To accompany this, the Wapping Project will also house Yamamoto’s extraordinary wedding dress in white silk with a bamboo crinoline from the 1998 A/W collection, in the exciting and metaphorical installation “Yohji Making Waves”.

And to top it off, the third project manifests itself as a photographic exhibition entitled “Yohji’s Women”, containing images from throughout his career, as captured by iconic photographers Nick Knight, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Craig McDean and Paolo Roversi amongst others. The photographs celebrate the strength, independence and expressive qualities of the women that Yohji dresses.

I/ Victoria and Albert Museum: “Yohji Yamamoto” 12 March – 10 July 2011
II/ The Wapping Project: “Yohji Making Waves’” 12 March – 10 July 2011
III/ The Wapping Project (Bankside): “Yohji’s Women” 12 March -14 May 2011

Text by Felicity Shaw, London.

The garments of Proenza Schouler are a study of texture and proportion – subverting classics with unusual fabrications, traditional details in unexpected places, and a silhouette that accentuates the feminine form. All these elements come together in a colour palette that often challenges the eye – with a clash of dark and light, of pastel and primary colours, or simply tones that almost match, but just don’t.

For this shoot in A#9, photographer Craig McDean and stylist Karl Templer hit the ‘desaturate’ button, proving the strength of cut and the contrast of textures within Proenza Schouler’s Fall Winter 09 collection  - the integrity remaining even once the depth of those vivid colours is stripped away.

Five of the sharpest faces of the season were chosen by the pair, with a global mix of girls: Belgian veteran Hannelore Knuts, Ukrainian Alla Kostromicheva and American Jamie Bochert all at Women agency; Russian newcomer Ranya Mordanova and Canadian Meghan Collison at Supreme; and American tattooed beauty Renee Dorski at Elite.

The  clean, polished aesthetic of the pieces and Craig’s crisp ‘film noir’ effect is supported by the dark eyes and accentuated cheekbone shading by Mark Carasquillo, and the girls’ hair rendered dark, straight and lustrous by the masterful Orlando Pita.

The pure white backdrop perfectly showcases the subtleties of Karl’s layering and intelligent styling of the looks – with a chic balance between alluring minidresses and pencil skirts with loose cocoon coats, slimline jackets and cinched waists, the hardness of biker leather and zip details playing off the delicate lingerie detailing on bustlines, and skin-tight high collars shown next to loose evening coats. Several looks are also accentuated with hard, geometric costume jewellery from the likes of Camilla Dietz Bergeron and Erickson Beamon.

In essence ‘Style Noir’ captures the dark side of Proenza Schouler in both a literal and more figurative sense, not simply shooting their collection in black and white for a different impact (as one could do with any clothing) but rather accentuating the darker, sexually-charged aspects of their collection in a chic, modern way.

“From our point of view, a fashion designer is a creator of signs on the scale of life. From one season to the next, he builds up a complex and sophisticated language all of his own which enable him to articulate his proposals, his poetic, political or simply amusing messages.”

- the words of M/M Paris on the DNA of fashion through designer ideology and how we intrepret it all.

“The history of fashion for us therefore is something made up of a compression of all these signs, all these languages, which compose then decompose in the different aspects of creation.”

The importance of uniform in fashion cannot be underestimated – it’s a multi-layered concept that infiltrates on many facets. Think not only of the designers’ world, itself a repeating aesthetic and concept of codes – their ideology – but also the way everything is sold on the rails in store; coats, jackets, shirts and pants lined up on a gleaming metal bar. Wherever you may visit globally, it will adhere to the vision. The true beauty, and power, of uniform however is in its ability to mean something to everyone – it’s a universal language, alluringly repetitive and iconic.

In 1996, Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak instigated a project with renowned photographer McDean (Another Magazine, W, Vogue, Jil Sander, Calvin Klein) to turn their theories on fashion and uniform into a ‘collection’, a reference portfolio of men and women aligned to instantly indentifiable groupings.

We have UPS driver in his brown shirt, pen in pocket; the biker kitted out with full motocross armour, the jockey in resplendent silks, the fireman and a generation-X Hare Krishna, complete with hoodie and scuffed sneakers. Then there are the branches of military…

Of course, to the observer it’s the latter which is most identifiable within the world of Yamamoto. Think of his army jackets, long, wool naval coats and the tailoring which makes its wearer look quietly, progressively noble.

McDean, former assistant to Nick Knight (another name with Yamamoto lineage – that late 80’s silhouette in black with red, amongst other campaign material, burned into the consciousness of any avid fan) has produced a striking set of visual stereotypes, elevating these common dresscodes into moments of frozen beauty.

Article by Dean Mayo Davies.

For our third and final installment of Martine Sitbon’s series of Proust Questionnaire interviews, we offer you the muse of many, one of today’s most iconic faces in film and fashion – Tilda Swinton. In her shortened and personalised edit of the Proust Questionnaire, Tilda shares a brief yet poignant glimpse into her private world – her family, her sensibilities and her wicked sense of humour. Featured alongside her words is a photograph she herself has taken for Martine, featured below, and Craig McDean’s elegant portrait of Tilda. Having featured in both A#3 by Haider Ackermann and A#5 by Martine Sitbon, Tilda is somewhat of an A regular – let us hope our paths cross with hers again in the future.

Your favourite virtue: “Honesty.”

Your favourite occupation: “Going to bed.”

Principal characteristic: “Appreciativeness.”

My idea of bliss: “On top of a high hill with the sun coming and going and a good wind.”

Favourite Flower: “Sweet pea.”

Favourite word: “Dude.”

Film I would recommend to Martine: “School of Rock.”

Favourite poet: “My daughter.”

Favourite composer: “My son.”

Favourite painter: “Their father.”

Favourite motto: “It will all come out in the wash.”

Words to Martine on her return: “Yeah yeah yeah.”

Favourite sound: “Ponies chuckling to themselves when they can see you coming.”

State of mind: “Going to bed.”

Animal Martine most closely resembles: “One cool cat.”

Favourite heroes in fiction: “South Park’s Big Gay Al, Nancy Mitford’s Uncle Davy and Joe Gargary from Great Expectations.”

Words I would like to hear from St Peter at the Pearly Gates: “High Five! Great Success!”

Image enclosed for Martine: “Answers also the question of where my favourite place to live is (it was taken at home) and Martine’s symbolic women…

The quickest drawing I would send Martine is that of a sacred heart, but my computer lacks the key… in it’s absence, then: x

]]> http://www.ablogcuratedby.com/martinesitbon/questionnaire-proust-redux-3-tilda-swinton/feed/ 1 http://www.ablogcuratedby.com/martinesitbon/lifescapes-by-craig-mcdean/ http://www.ablogcuratedby.com/martinesitbon/lifescapes-by-craig-mcdean/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:00:43 +0000 Dan the Scout http://www.ablogcuratedby.com/?p=2759

Craig Mcdean is a British photographer, whose dramatic images form a sweeping urban scape of both intimate and public beauty. […]

Craig Mcdean is a British photographer, whose dramatic images form a sweeping urban scape of both intimate and public beauty. For A#5 he has contributed a series from his 2005 book ‘Lifescapes’ published by Steidl – pictures that evoke sensual memories of human experience.

Craig’s images show disparate elements fused into one image –  a swimming pool that fuses into a highway, a beach of faceless swimmers imposed upon by a giant woman and a masked face, a disrobing woman whose naked body reflects a forest scene. His work is subtle – the manipulation of images can almost go unnoticed – yet the effect is mesmerising, with small details that form a complex interplay between the original photographs. Other more simple images, such as the motorbike and vintage car details, permit the viewer into Craig’s personal world (his interest in autos saw him train as a mechanic before he began photography).

As a former assistant of Nick Knight, whom Martine Sitbon has worked with closely for A#5 and other projects, Craig’s work could not be a more appropriate addition to this magazine.

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