Last bite of the Big Apple

US WOMENSWEAR label Proenza Schouler channelled the energy of New York and its recent political protests at its final runway show in the Big Apple on Monday before relocating to Paris.
“For us it was a celebration of everything we love about New York – it was our idea of New York, really, the energy,” said Lazaro Hernandez, who co-founded the label with Parsons School of Design classmate Jack McCollough.
Much admired by critics and edgy fashionistas, they got a strong send-off from the likes of Calvin Klein’s new creative director Raf Simons, British model Alexa Chung and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, all guests of honour.
Hernandez said the inspiration for next autumn-winter was “the energy that New York has had the last few weeks” and protests that have swept the city in opposition to President Donald Trump.
“It’s been really inspiring to us – people getting together and standing up for what they believe in,” he said backstage after the show in a Greenwich Village loft on Fashion Week’s Day 5.
“It’s not a time for being |in your bathrobe and slippers at home. You stand for what you believe in and you say what you believe in and you fight for the things that you want, the things that are right.”
The result was a collection that “almost” had what McCollough called “that trash-bag kind of feeling – asymmetry is definitely a thing”.
There were column dresses, silver metallic pants, leather jackets, shearling-lined coats and flat shoes – practical attire in some respects going out to protest. Colours were scarlet, hot pink, black and white.
There were asymmetric sleeves, cut-outs and detailing, graffiti prints, latex coverings and tunics, and long belts studded with eyelets, all very urban.
Proenza Schouler will next show in Paris following an exodus of other labels that have already abandoned New York this season for the balmier climes of Los Angeles or the greater global exposure of the French capital.
They intend to show earlier each season, in July and January rather than September and February as was the case in New York, and are due to launch a fragrance next year in collaboration with L’Oreal Luxe.
But they are not leaving for good. “It’s not permanent – we will come back,” Hernandez said. “These days nothing is permanent.”