On their website, Lazoschmidl designers Josef Lazo and Andreas Schmidl describe their fashion (somewhat tamely, considering) as conceptual and nonbinary. But as their fans well know, they’re not above chewing the scenery every now and then—their first collection showcased their fascination with bodily fluids. This season is their let-them-wear-cake moment. Some of it is rich indeed, down to the last sequined crumb.
On a Zoom call from Stockholm—“the Vegas of COVID,” Lazo quipped—he said the fall collection sprang from throwback moments, thinking of lost things and memorable outfits from high school, for example, “when your mom forced you to wear a weird sweater your grandmother knitted or you sported corduroy nonstop.” That naturally led to comic-style unicorns, dinosaurs, and revisited paisley prints contributed by California-based artist Humberto Cruz, drawn from his own memories. There were also poured-on, shiny PVC wrestler suits and separates, and the duo’s signature butterflies, now delicately laser cut in leather. Almost lost in those flights of fancy were ’70s-redux corduroy pants that made a solid case for hip to be square.
Things got truly saucy when sartorial flashbacks conflated with late-night, adults-only content. A second collaboration with artist Scott Csoke, who does cake paintings with statements on them, offered food for thought on the one hand and an eyeful on the other. Transposed into knits and mixed with various hand embellishments, one sweater cake said, “Gay art isn’t just about sex or a naked guy on a bed.” A pair of (very brief) briefs simply showed a sequined, embroidered cake on the crotch. That may be catnip for the Lazoschmidl base—and it may prove a novelty hit—but there comes a point where someone should just leave the beefcake in the bedroom.