Two's a Trend: Viva Cuba at Proenza Schouler and Stella McCartney

All the yuccies have been talking about Cuba these days (to say nothing of politicians and business folks), eager to get into the country as it opens up to Americans for the first time since the embargo started almost 60 years ago and before it becomes totally overrun with McDonald's and Starbucks.

Fashion people are no different.

Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler is Cuban-American and a recent trip to Cuba with his design partner, Jack McCollough, inspired the resort collection they're showing this week. Considered by many to be the most important label in NYC, the brand is never literal and never trendy so the influence was subtle. Some palm prints, some florals, some bare midriffs. They also continued using grommets, which they used in their Fall show and also in the incredible dress they designed for Kim Kardashian for the recent CFDA awards, the most talked-about look of the entire night.

Meanwhile in Nolita, Stella McCartney showed her resort collection in the Elizabeth Street garden featuring Cuban dancers on stilts and hunky waiters serving vegetarian Cuban sandwiches and chocolate cigars. The Cuban feeling was festive but didn't really influence the clothes -- the collection was full of Stella's signature well-tailored separates, bright colored comfy dresses and must-have cruelty-free accessories. But the party did feature a vignette starring look-alikes of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

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