August 15, 2016

Essential Evolution:
Georgia Lazzaro Takes the Helm at Protagonist

Written by Stephanie Murg
Photographed by Hanna Tveite
Portrait by Alexandra Nataf

Serene industriousness prevails at the Protagonist studio. Or is it industrious serenity? Either way, the bright and airy space is a world away from the Garment District that bustles eighteen floors below. Perched between a wall of sketches and a massive steel cutting table is Georgia Lazzaro, a fine-boned, strong-willed Australian blonde with a talent for translating diverse references—Dior’s New Look, a Renaissance nude cropped into anonymity by artist Hans-Peter Feldmann, the pioneering practicality of fashion designer Bonnie Cashin, Louise Bourgeois’s fiery “Insomnia Drawings”—into garments that are as desirable as they are refined. Her effortless-looking designs are the product of intense and nuanced work.

Lazzaro wears Protagonist’s signature white shirt as she refines the fit of the v-back Sade dress, part of the fall 2016 collection.

Born and raised in Australia, Georgia Lazzaro moved to New York City in 2010. Before joining Protagonist, she interned with and then worked for Narciso Rodriguez and Calvin Klein Collection under longtime women’s creative director Francisco Costa. “What’s so wonderful about Francisco is that he encourages teamwork,” says Lazzaro. “He is so skilled at getting the best out of the people around him. His eye is incredible.”

“I was drawn to Protagonist by its essential quality—the idea of wardrobe necessities or the perfect shirt,” says Lazzaro, who was appointed design director of the New York-based label last December. “The thinking and the workmanship that goes into that appeals to me.” The first Protagonist collection under her leadership encompasses those foundational concepts and much more, offering a feminine fusion of functionality and sensuality for fall.

Among Lazzaro's priorities at Protagonist is “building out a library of silhouettes”: a vocabulary for the three-year-old label. “That way, as we’re designing into the future of the brand, we can return to core shapes—touching and tweaking the nuances rather than reinventing the wheel.”

Protagonist Coat 10 Rampling Coat, Manolo Blahnik Carolyne Slingback, Cartier Love Bracelet

We’re a team of women. In fittings, we look at garments and ask a lot of questions, including ‘Would you really wear that?’ Georgia Lazzaro

Uniting the democratic ideals of classic American sportswear with sculptural volumes informed by vintage couture, the fall 2016 Protagonist collection is an evolution from lean, masculine proportions to eased shapes that highlight the waist.

An admirer of the iterative elegance on which Protagonist was founded, Lazzaro learned the importance of “taking away things to get to a more pure place” while working for Narciso Rodriguez and Calvin Klein. She has approached her new role with the desire to “soften it up a little bit, and add some dimension,” all with signature Protagonist subtlety. “For fall, I really thought about flattering silhouettes,” she says, “and how to work with more masculine classics to make them more accessible for different body shapes.”

Lazzaro and her all-female studio team set out to define Protagonist’s formal vocabulary but ended up developing a clever continuum, one that spans couture-volume flourishes and workwear details, luscious double-faced crepes and pure cotton canvas. For every alignment—liquid slipdresses, tailored-to-perfection trousers, plenty of black—there is an innovative juxtaposition: a satin bomber, prim portrait collars paired with plunging backs, a print that nods to the poetic scrawls of Cy Twombly. “If you’ve got two exciting things to vacillate between, that helps push everything forward. And it makes you question every decision,” explains Lazzaro. “The minutiae of that is very appealing to us, and we love figuring it out.”