PROENZA SCHOULER will be the special guest at the fourth edition of the Pitti W_Woman Precollection event, taking place in Florence on 16-19 June 2009. The event is held concurrently with the Pitti Immagine Uomo 76 fair.

Launched in New York in 2002 by the designer duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Proenza Schouler will take the stage in a special event in Florence, at a unique location, to celebrate the opening of the spring/summer 2010 season. This will also mark the very first time that Proenza Schouler will show their collection in Europe.

The designers are among the biggest names in the international fashion scene, and the Proenza Schouler brand, named after the designers’ mothers’ maiden names, has quickly become a key player in New York Fashion Week. Known for creating a style that explores contrasts in poetry and pragmatism, their collections blend a variety of disparate influences from 1960’s American art to post-minimalism, Richard Avedon and Irving Penn to Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, always reinterpreted in their striking, contemporary vision. 

The performance will exemplify the spirit of creative experimentation and understated luxury that has become the Proenza Schouler signature. An important event for the city of Florence, this also proves once again that the Pitti Immagine trade fairs are the platform of choice for the best fashion brands, with worldwide launches and other events by the biggest names in fashion today.

Quotes for Proenza Schouler:

“Jack and Lazaro have established a signature…they have an incredible talent and a real sense of how their generation wants to dress, they have a great sense of proportion; they’re in tune with what’s happening in fashion globally.” (Sally Singer, Vogue USA, Summer 2008 issue of 10 Magazine)

“Proenza Schouler has, from the start, represented sharp-edged contrasts: an uptown sensibility but with a raw energy and dense decoration contained in a taut silhouette”. (Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune, September 9, 2007)

“Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, of Proenza Schouler, represent the next generation of American talent.” (Cathy Horyn, New York Times, September 9, 2008)

More cool people from Carrie Mundane’s Cassette Playa performance and party for Pitti Immagine at Pitti Uomo 2008. 

Where you there too?

Heather tells us all about The Cloud, the interactive art installation created by the MIT Mobile Experience Lab expressly for Pitti Immagine and Pitti Uomo 74 / 2008.

Last Thursday 19 June, London designer Carri Mundane took her Cassette Playa crew to Pitti Immagine for an exclusive live video jumpdance installation at Colleggio of the Poggio Imperiale, a beautiful location up in the hills overlooking Florence. 

Carri Mundane and her 50-strong crew from London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York, took over the Colleggio’s gymnasium, with indoor and outdoor performances including Carrie’s new silk digital collage Utube Utopia Tees, projected on three huge screens located in the gardens of the Colleggio. For more detailed info on Carri Mundane, please visit our website.

The Cloud - from mitmobileexperiencelab on Vimeo.

Pitti Uomo 74 is inspired to the topic of environmentally sustainability mobility, where the lead player in Free Cycle – Free Mobility is the bicycle, a constantly stronger symbol of a daily aesthetic, a cult object for a worldwide clan and also the key element in a series of global “trends”, from the New York Bicycle Film Festival to Critical Mass, to the repair shops in Brussels or the British attempt to redesign London with cycling paths to slim it down and combat obesity among the population.

At Pitti Uomo 74 the bicycle is everywhere: an impressive installation, a series of enormous pictures specially designed by Oliviero Baldini, and bicycle parts that became graphic elements throughout all the sections of the fair – and, of course, the newly launched city bike line by Pitti Immagine.

One the the Pitti Immagine bikes presented at Pitti Uomo 74, the Bike Number Zero of the limited, numbered edition, is now auctioned for charity on Ebay, with profits benefiting the Meyer Children Hospital of Florence, a pioneer in child care and treatment in Italy.

Click this link to visit the Ebay charity auction - get the hottest city bike around while doing some good. Buy on Ebay with confidence, and bid with your heart!

Diane von Furstenberg with a glamour event for the preview of the Cruise/ Pre-Spring Collection 2008-09, Walter Van Beirendonck with a Men’s Fashion Project event for Pitti Uomo, and Cassette Playa with London designer Carri Mundane and her international posse of artists, musicians and performers from London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York.

More action with the Boss Orange Fashion Event, Dirk Bikkembergs at Stazione leopolda, Stefano Ricci with the “Stefano Ricci Heritage Trophy”, the photo installation “Golden Dream”, Sundeck’s 5o Anniversary Party, Mason’s “Backstage performance”, Roy Roger’s “Flower party”, the sport-focused “Superhuman Performance” exhibition at the Museo del Tessuto di Prato, and a calendar full of talk shows, openings, cocktails and parties, including 44° L’Altro Uomo Party, which brings each year in Florence the coolest dj around.

A complete calendar of events is available on the Pitti Immagine site – mark the dates down and try not to miss some among the top cultural and fashion events of this year!