11.4.13

Proenza and Schouler and Divola and Dance, Together

Boy, they sure ain't kidding when they say fashion moves fast. Not a month since New York Fashion Week this Document Journal editorial springs up, influenced by Proenza Schouler's F/W2013 Collection. To be precise it's not exactly influenced by the collection, but by Jack and Lazaro's own influence for the collection (which is somewhat dubiously related to the resulting clothes), photographer John Divola's Zuma series.









The menacing mood, surreal lighting, and the state of disrepair of the location have all been toned down for the editorial, but a sanitized spirit of Divola's California-in-decay still remains. In the hands of a lesser stylist the concept could have seemed derivative or gimmicky, but as usual stylist Stevie Dance manages to capture - or create - the spirit of the times while producing something that looks and feels completely unique. Dance is exceptional for her ability to make high fashion look, if not "street" exactly, less like the wardrobes of bankers'-wives and more creatively and culturally relevant - as well as oddly wearable.

Unlike those editorials which literally re-present entire looks from a collection, in the exact same spirit and narrative of their show, Dance reinvents the context and attitude of clothes so that it's harder to pinpoint which designer or collection a look comes from. Essentially Dance has unusually great creative influence for a stylist, she influences how an audience interprets clothes rather than merely offering them up for view.

But back to Divola, better not forget Zuma itself:




But referencing the Zuma series is all pretty controversial at the moment. Divola himself is a little miffed by the extent to which his work keeps "inspiring" shoots like these. Before the Zuma series was an influence for Jack and Lazaro's Winter 2013 Collection, it was directly riffed off for the Spring 2013 Campaign. So this editorial is a little stupid on Document Journal's behalf - or not of course, they could have already known about the controversy, and any press is good press yadda yadda.



Document Journal editorial from Fashion Gone Rogue
John Divola images from his website
Proenza Schouler campaign from the depths of the web

2 comments:

  1. John Divola's work is so much more interesting than its expropriation here, presuming that this was without his permission?

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  2. This editorial work is parasitic. What a shame they can get away with what should be copyright infringement.

    ReplyDelete