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NEW YORK, United States — Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez's trip to Cuba earlier this year already inspired a pre-collection, which left enough to explore for the duo that it evolved into the looks they showed for Spring 2016 on Wednesday night.
“We’ve never done anything based on our personal history,” said Hernandez, whose family roots are Cuban. Any doubts he might have had about exposing too much of himself proved groundless. The duo are past masters of ambiguity, things being carefully crafted to be not quite what they seem, but here it was directness — exposure, in fact — that the collection was based on.
“Unravelling the clothes, peeling away layers,” Hernandez clarified. The process was quite literal in the way shoulders and hipbones were exposed, legs were bared, and a coat worn by Molly Bair was precisely dissected. But equally, there was nothing ambiguous about the ruffles, the tiers, the red and black colour scheme, the bows and baubles. It was senorita central.
"Clothes and craft, that's what we wanted," said Hernandez. "Optimism and soulfulness…" McCollough chimed in. Then, as if he'd realised all that wasn't quite the Proenza Schouler we know and love, he quickly added, "…with twisted undertones." Expect more of same when he gets to explore his personal history.
