PARSONS
SCHOOL OF DESIGN
Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough
The phenomenal success of recent Parsons School of Design graduates
Jack McCollough (B.A., 2002) and Lazaro Hernandez (B.A., 2002) is
a true New York story. Discovered on the
runway
of the 2002 Parsons Benefit and Fashion Show, Jack and Lazaro sold
their senior thesis collection to Barney’s New York before
they had even graduated. Since then, the founders of Proenza Schouler
(an amalgamation of their mothers’ maiden names) have become
two of America’s most talked about designers, receiving praise
from top fashion editors, winning numerous high-profile awards and
dressing celebrities such as Demi Moore for the cover of
Vogue.
Raised in Miami, Lazaro spent much of his time in his mother’s
salon, where fashion imagery captured his eye and stayed with him.
A pre-med student at the University of Miami, Lazaro did not enter
the fashion world until 1998 when, on a visit to New York City,
he met some designers and began to seriously consider a career change.
Jack, from Montclair, New Jersey, caught the design bug early and
began to lay the groundwork for his future with a sewing machine
he received from his mother on his 10th birthday. Eventually Jack
found himself at Parsons as a transfer student from the San Francisco
Art Institute. Jack and Lazaro crossed paths at Parsons, where they
discovered
they shared an aesthetic and an ambition to become world-class designers.
During their years at Parsons, Lazaro landed an internship with
Michael Kors and Jack with Marc Jacobs, and by the time the two
joined forces for their senior thesis they were unstoppable. Named
Designers of the Year at the Parsons Benefit and Fashion Show, they
began their remarkable rise in the fashion industry. Since then,
there has been no end to the Proenza Schouler story. The brand and
its founders have been featured in
Women’s Wear Daily,
People,
Town & Country and
New York
magazine, as well as other publications worldwide.
