Color Story
One masterful element that Proenza Schouler never fails to incorporate into their collections is that of color. For their fall 2011 show they really mixed it up, and played with various color palettes. The show began with vivid tangerine, and a densly bright orangered, and soon incorporated a rich amber into the mix. From there it progressed to demure teals, cobalts, and electric aquas. Moss greens, burgundys, and all of the aforementioned were all fused together via mix-and-match prints. The show closed showcasing the brighter and more vivid colors in forms of rich and dense textiles. All throughout the neutral of a midnight navy-hued black gave a balance and refinement to the collection.
Concept and Inspiration
From the first look that stepped out onto the runway the most noticeable aspect to Proenza Schouler's colletion was the patterns. From low-slung pants to knitted sweaters to velvet dresses and intricate jackets: pattern was everywhere. Instantly a Native American influence popped into my head. From rugs, blankets, teepees, and other various textiles, it was as if Hernandez and McCullough had hand woven each patterned peice by hand with these indiginous people in mind and at a heart as their prime source for inspiration. The designer's of Proenza Schouler have always been intriqued in creating their own custom textiles, and this collection was no exception. With the Native American textile influence and concept they successfully blended their cooL New York, downtown, urban-warrior with the home-spun, rugged, and authentic Native American culture.
Another example of the source behind the designer's inspiration is this Native American Navajo blanket. The deep reds, violets, and royal blue are all synonomous with the pants Proenza Schouler sent down the runway. As well as the pattern. The various forms of lines, widths, and shapes from this blanket can also easily be seen in the pair of pants. The sweater also emphasizes the main colors found in the blanket, and also carries over the authentic homespun feel of the blanket and its ruggedness.
Concept and Inspiration Example
This is another great example of inspiration for Preonza Schouler' s fall collection. The blanket to the left is composed of deep reds, rich forest greens, and burnt golden yellows. This same color palette was illistrated on the is runway garment. The prints on the designer's skirt is more intricate then the blanket; however, both include gemoetric variations of lines, t-shaped patterns, and various other geometric shapes. Once again the heaviness and thick form the blanket is associated with is reinforced in Proenza Schouler's design via the chunky knit sweater, which successfully fuses the homeade feel of the blanket and carries it over to the garment.
Concept and Inspiration Example
Concept and Inspiration Example
This dress is also another example of McCullough and Hernandez's inspiration for their fall 2011 show. The blanket on the left exudes the same deep oranges, blood reds, goldens, and light emeralds as their dress on the right does. The blanket and dress also share the same deep midnight-black background color. The dress also features similar geometric patterns to the blanket. The various forms of lines, dots, and shapes on the dress can easily be seen as being inspired by the blanket. The blanket also shows imperfections in pattern and symmetry, which reinforces a handmade and authentic tone. This also applies to the dress, whose intricate folds and construction cause the pattern to be slightly off, which successfully carries over the handmade rugged feel from the blanket to the dress.
This dress is another example of how Proenza Schouler found inspiration through Native American and Southwest textiles, rugs, and blankets. The rug on the left has a large array of colors from dark salmon, vivid teal, violet, and burnt orange. These same colors also appear on Proenza Schouler's dress. The geometric patterns on both are also very closely associated with each other. The thick rows of salmon are accented with triangular shapes of violet and lines of teal with accents of orange. The rug also folded slighlt in the upper-right hand corner, which is reminiscent as well in the folds below the waist and on the hips of the dress that create a new variation of a peplum.
Concept and Inspiration Example
Concept & Inspiration Examples
This is a great example of a source where Hernandez and McCullough found inspiration from. On the left is a Native American blanket. The pattern of diamonds growing in size and dimension, and increasing outwards via colors such as moss green, orange-red, light grey, and red are all also found on this dress displayed on the runway. The dress has the same basic diamond pattern and uses basically most of the same colors. This blanket is an obvious direct inspiration for the designers. They also refrenced the orange and green from the blanket to design the strappy sandals paired with this dress.
Highlighted Element
The designer's behind the Proenza Schouler brand used all four elements so boldly with every peice of their fall 2011 collection, which made it very difficult to choose which exactly made the largest impact. However, the element that was truly displayed to the largest degree was that of line. They accomplished this by displaying multiple arrays of patterns and by intricately cutting tops, jackets, dresses, skirts, and pants. The patterns are what really shone through. All of the different colors, shapes, and geometry used to mix and match various prints created interesting one-of-a-kind lines that were the highlight and focal point of their collection this season.
Line
Highlighted Element
Examples of Line
Line is truly the dominant effect in Proenza Schouler' s fall collection. Here are more examples of how Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez incorporated this element into their collection. Most notably is through the use of print. From velvet diamond patterened souchy trousers, h orizo nta lly color- striped long- sleeved shift dresses accented even more so via vertical zig-zags, and intelligently detailed velvet pixilated dresses, are all great examples of Proenza's precise use of line. Another technique that demonstrates their use of line is the cut of their garments. Intricately cut leather tops and precisely cut architectural coats all give form and work to expose Proenza Schouler' s smart, precise, and bold use of line throughout the collection.
Proenza Schouler Customer Profile The Proenza Schouler woman is hip, cool, independent, urban, and not afraid to take risks with her personal style. She enjoys being in the spotlight, and likes to surprise her peers with her wardrobe. She is professional, fun, and vivacious. She has an element of mystery and aventure to her. She is a hardworking, self-motivated, go-getter who enjoys her job and life. She is intelligent, quick on her feet, and a social butterfly. She enjoys experiencing new and adventerous things. She takes pleasure in the luxurious things in life, but also enjoys the peace and quiet of her urban apartment. She is a fashion maven and the world is truly her oyster.
The Proenza Schouler woman is between the ages of 25 to 35. She is urban, hip, cool, and not afraid to take risks. She has a college education, and makes over $75,000 annually. The Proenza Schouler woman works in a competitive and lively field of work, and works in an environment that allows her to express her creativity and personal style around the office. A few areas of work she might work in would be in fashion, public relations, advertising, or communications. She is typically single or in a realtions hip, but usually not married.