In less than twenty years, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have succeeded in turning their ready-to-wear brand into an American fashion staple. Stemming from the new wave of New York designers, they created Proenza Schouler (the maiden names of their respective mothers) in 2002 and quickly established themselves as the brand to follow across the Atlantic. Well-known for their cutting-edge collections, attention to detail, and iconic PS1 bag, the former Parsons students never cease to amaze. Passionate about contemporary art and pop culture, the two designers are inspired by the world surrounding them, from the streets of New York to the landscapes of Massachusetts. Today, Proenza Schouler is partnering with L’Oreal to create its first fragrance, Arizona, a symbol of longevity for the brand, which will now offer an accessible object that will last over time. We met up with Jack and Lazaro to discover a bit more about this project.

How did you find yourself involved in perfume-making and what was the concept behind Arizona?

Jack: How we initially started was when we took a road trip after one of our shows. This was right before we had our first meeting with L’Oreal. We went out west to go see some land art. There are a bunch of artists out there that we’re really into, like James Turrell, Donald Judd, and Walter de Maria. As we were out there, we kind of lost our cellphone service and the office couldn’t get in touch with us. We weren’t distracted by any emails or news. Even Instagram was out of the question. We really properly disconnected and that was such an amazing feeling. We really felt that landscape and got into that spirit. I think it’s something that connects with everybody: the spirit of escape, going back to basics, and getting back in touch with nature. We wanted to evoke all those feelings in this fragrance. We were also collecting all these crystals during the road trip. We brought all those crystals back and showed them during our first L’Oreal meeting. We immediately thought about turning them into a bottle.

Lazaro: They’re such beautiful objects.

Jack: I think that with a bottle of perfume, you not only want to smell amazing but also carry a beautiful object, that you can keep in your bathroom, on your shelf. We wanted to create something that we always enjoy looking at.

Are you very spiritual persons or are the crystals just aesthetically pleasing?

Lazaro: The crystals were just beautiful to us, they have amazing shapes and crazy colors. It’s just fascinating that Earth creates these insane weird shapes. We like the sculptural aspect of them, it’s more on that level than on the spiritual energy aspect. They’re just beautiful sculptures made by Earth over billions of years… A human can’t design something as beautiful as that. So we started with the crystals for the bottle, designing something related to the spirit. Then, when we were out there, we were looking at cactuses and for us it was a beautiful symbol of femininity. The hard edge with the toughness of the spikes, but also the fragility and the beauty of the white flower growing on top of it. It represents what modern femininity could be. All the things we saw out there tied into the story we were trying to tell. Like Jack said, it was all about disconnecting from the daily noise and tuning in to something a bit more real.

Do you personally feel tied up in the fast pace of new technologies and social media?

Jack: Yes, all the time! It’s intrusive but we’re all susceptible to falling into that weird rhythm of being on our phones all the time. But I think this idea of escape and going back to these basic principles that we’re talking about is something that is universal. No matter where you’re from, it has to speak to you. Everybody feels like they have to get away at some point, take a break.

Lazaro: You have to, for your own sanity. As a creative person, some things can really suck creativity from you. We have to kind of be in our heads, be alone, be able to breathe and look at the world, explore… That’s when ideas come. A lot of people that we know, especially in New York, are feeling stressed by technology and desperately need a break. Just make a conscious effort to divorce yourself from the noise and be creative: write, draw, or do whatever makes you feel good. That’s exactly what we wanted to evoke in our fragrance.

Jack: Something that you put on and smell and it takes you back to a specific place.

Do you have a happy place?

Lazaro: We all have a happy place. (laughs)

Jack: We’ve got a farm up in the country in Massachusetts that we go up to a lot of weekends, we built a little studio up there. We design all of our collections in that place. Anything where it’s just the two of us and we don’t need our team, we’ll go to the farm and get in our heads, try to disconnect. We didn’t have cellphone service when we bought the house, which was nice. Then, all of the sudden we had full bars which kind of changed the spirit, but we do try and turn our phones off up there and remove ourselves, that’s when we’re the most creative.

Did you have a muse in mind while creating the fragrance?

Lazaro: It wasn’t one person, especially for a fragrance, it’s too limiting. We did the opposite actually: what’s the common element that we all have? That’s the inspiration rather than one specific woman. What’s humanity about today? (laughs)

Did you get to be involved in the perfume-making process?

Jack: Yes! We’ve seen at least twenty different versions of the product before we landed on the final one. You start kind of honing in on a vibe and then you tweak it, make changes, add things, and take things away. It’s like chemistry or cooking, even a bit like painting. It builds organically. Like painting, you can just keep going if you want to but there’s always that perfect point where you have to stop. It’s hard to describe but you just feel it.

Lazaro: We were very involved in the project, from the scent to the bottle design, to the advertising. Tyrone Lebon made the advertisement, which we love.

Jack: There’s no hair and makeup, she’s kind of undone and it’s not super retouched. It feels real, kind of like the women we know. We don’t know that woman from Versailles, covered in gold… She’s not our friend. (laughs) Tyrone went in and painted on the actual negatives of the film so it’s all hand-done and it’s got a weird trippy quality.

Was it Tyrone Lebon’s first perfume campaign?

Jack: Yes, he had a really fresh take on it, nothing too old school.

Lazaro: He didn’t have a prescribed way of doing that kind of job. He gave us his angle and was willing to experiment.

How does it feel to have your own perfume?

Jack: It feels surreal. We kept seeing test bottles hand-carved in plastic. It’s not until you make the final decision of the shape that they make the molds. When we first saw the actual glass bottle with the name on it and the finished box, it was an amazing feeling!

Lazaro: It’s a real perfume! (laughs)

Since you’re always creating pieces that only sell during three months, how did you approach making an object that will last forever on store shelves?

Jack: It’s definitely difficult. You have to look at it in a very different way. With our collections you can be very in the moment and then move on to something completely new the next season. With the fragrance, we had to create something that speaks to people, not only for right now but for years to come.

Lazaro: The timelessness was really important, as well as speaking to the moment we live in. We’d like to be current, but also transcend that. It was an interesting project on that level.

You said in an interview that fashion didn’t have to be exclusive to be relevant. With this perfume, do you feel like you’re offering an object that can reach a broader audience?

Lazaro: Yes, exactly. That’s one of the reasons that we were interested in this project to begin with. With fashion it’s very exclusive, it’s a very niche audience and quite narrow. Over the years, we’ve done accessories, which have opened up a conversation to a wider audience. I think the perfume is the next level. We want our friends and family to be able to buy what we make, but sometimes things are a little prohibitive in terms of cost. Today, we can offer a product that speaks to a lot of different kinds of women.

You made the decision to change your show schedule and present your collections in Paris during the Haute Couture week. Why that choice?

Jack: The idea was to merge pre-collection and main collection into one larger collection, and just show twice a year during the couture season, so a bit earlier. Basically, we pour all our heart and soul into these collections, but they deliver and go on sale a month later. That was kind of sad for us to see.

Lazaro: It was also a creative endeavor for us. It’s been a while that we’ve been doing shows in New York and sometimes you get kind of stir crazy. We wanted to try something new and keep it interesting for ourselves. We’re experimenting, trying new things, and never letting anyone pin us down.

***

Interview by Alice Butterlin.

Photographer: Marc Pritchard