Indie rocker androgyny finds a kindred spirit in women's ready-to-wear courtesy of Proenza Schouler in this series of photographs featuring Deerhunter, accompanied by an eponymous track taken from the recently released album Monomania. The unlikely collaboration was born from mutual admiration between Bradford Cox, the provocative lead singer of the psychedelic noise-rock band, and the New York fashion label’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. “Bradford had all these themes and ideas he was playing with during the recording of the album. He was obsessed with primitive and African art, fur and animal prints,” explains photographer Robert Semmer, who is working with the Atlanta-born band on a bigger visual project, including a film and music video around the release of this latest album. “Bradford and the drummer Moses were already huge fans of Proenza Schouler and when they saw the Autumn/Winter 2013 show they freaked out because it was exactly the same vibe that they were obsessing over.” NOWNESS caught up with the designers to discover more about this brand new alliance.
What makes Deerhunter the perfect Proenza muse?
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez: Bradford is fiercely driven to explore his craft and is possessed by it, something we find incredibly intoxicating and inspiring. It makes us want to push harder, to think bigger.
Were you surprised to hear that the band are big fans of Proenza Schouler A/W13?
JM and LH: It was definitely unexpected and funny since it’s a women’s fashion brand.
How did your collaboration come about?
JM and LH: We went to a performance they gave at MoMA PS1 in Queens a few weeks before our fall runway show. Afterwards we went backstage to meet Bradford; he mentioned that he and the band were fans of Proenza Schouler and that it might be interesting to work on something together. We invited them to the show in February and the next day they called us up and asked us to dress them for their album cover shoot.
Is it important to connect with interesting bands?
JM and LH: We’ve been listening to both Deerhunter and Atlas Sound [Cox’s solo project] on repeat. Music is really important to us—it formulates ideas when we’re drawing and working in the studio. We’re constantly looking for new music online and going off on tangents searching for things.
