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May 16, 2013

Deerhunter x Proenza Schouler: Monomania

Band Members Become the Unlikely Faces of the Ever-Current New York Womenswear Line

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.

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Antonio Lopez: Disco Fashion

The Warholian Illustrator’s Flamboyant Life and Works Celebrated in New Show

From charcoal sketches of the swinging 60s, to sensuous watercolor illustrations and personality portraits, today’s series remembers New York’s irreverent wild child Antonio Lopez. A vibrant figure among Studio 54 circles, the Puerto Rican-born Bronx-raised Lopez first garnered attention with camped-up photographs of emerging artists and screen sirens including Jerry Hall, Grace Jones and Jessica Lange. Cultivating a surrealist, free-flowing drawing style, Lopez began making illustrations for master-couturist Charles James and advertising campaigns that appeared in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and The New York Times displaying vivid silhouettes, Pop Art references and a bold eroticism. Antonio’s World just opened at Suzanne Geiss Company gallery in New York, presenting three decades of the iconoclast’s fine art and photography and the first comprehensive survey of his work. “I have been a fan of Antonio's work since I was a teenager and followed fashion," explains Geiss. “He drew freely from contemporary culture and art history, but at the same time forged a unique body of work.” A forthcoming monograph from Rizzoli, Antonio Lopez: Fashion, Art, Sex, and Disco, featuring unfinished sketches, Instamatic photos and contributions from close friend Bill Cunningham, and a MAC cosmetics collection paying homage to Lopez’s salacious use of color, signal the artist’s continuing relevance today.

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Spotlight

Barthelemy and Leclere

Introducing Two Young French Designers Making a Bold Couture Debut

The debut collections of Louis Barthelemy and Lucas Leclere are captured by photographic duo René & Radka in this behind-the-scenes shoot during the recent Paris couture shows. The two young French designers presented their respective Central Saint Martins graduate collections side by side in front of a selection of editors amid the elegant gardens of the Hôtel Particulier Montmartre. Au fait with the Parisian fashion circuit, the friends cut their teeth at two of the most iconic European fashion houses––Leclere at Chanel and Barthelemy at Dior. “The way we perceive fashion can only be shown in Paris because there is an understanding about craft and time here,” explains Leclere, who completed the BA in Womenswear. “What we do has an 'autre couture’ side to it, not yet an 'haute couture’ one.” Designed around the dichotomous theme of rebellion and monarchy, Leclere’s collection featured intricate embroidery, lush fabrics and lace, including a pair of trousers made from nine meters of printed jacquard woven in Italy. Working fulltime at Dior designing the brand’s scarves and textile accessories, Fashion Design with Marketing graduate Barthelemy put his focus on exquisite prints and voluminous shapes for his optimistic collection.

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