Europe’s heatpocalypse, which has people shedding, rather than donning clothes, works in favor of Lazoschmidl’s revealing spring collection, focused on the brand’s best-selling category, undies (Y-fronts and Speedos). Even if the temperatures had been more mild, Josef Lazo and Andreas Schmidl approached this season with a bit of a “You wanna piece of me?” attitude. “We were like, ‘Okay, they call us an underwear brand… we’re going to do it the way we want to do it,” said Lazo. Underwear “is an iconic garment… and no one wants to talk about that basic garment; it’s always this niche topic,” added Schmidl. “It’s something you should not be shy about or hide, and we can still bring it into the fashion context.”
Ironically, the situations in which undies become the main narrative are ordinary in-between times in which you are neither fully dressed or undressed. Like when you are watching TV in boxers and you need to grab what’s close at hand to answer the door for an unexpected delivery; or when you’ve brewed coffee, realize you are out of milk, and pull on some pajama pants for a bodega run.
One of Lazoschmidl’s main propositions for spring was a two-piece set, a tank and briefs in place of a jacket and pants. In this lineup the garments became accessories to undies. The selection was limited but varied in type, with the focus on polo-like tops, such as a zip-front in red, green and blue stripes and snap-front shirts, one sheer, another in pink lace. There were logo sweats and pull-on pants in a giraffe print. Robes were the main garment category and these came in floral and patchwork prints, terry cloth, and a towel-like waffle material. The most opulent one featured sequins in a diamond pattern.
Camp is part of the Lazoschmidl DNA; for spring its presence was more conceptual than visual. Schmidl said the collection was “subconsciously inspired by sitcoms of the ’80s, especially Golden Girls, which is something that Josef has been watching forever; he has seen the whole series maybe 10 times minimum.”
“It was not actually the inspiration for the collection, but in hindsight we realized that it has a lot to do with it and there are elements that feel very Golden Girls,” added Lazo. “I would say 90% of that series is them in their dressing gowns or bathrobes eating cheesecake, and that also became a talking point in the collection.”
“We put a beefcake in the cheesecake,” Schmidl quipped.
