Darren Spaziani

If, like us, you’ve been lusting after Proenza Schouler’s debut accessories collection then you probably want to know a bit more about the man responsible – Darren Spaziani.

His story so far includes a serious amount of globe-trotting; Born in Canada and raised in South London, Darren moved to Italy with his family as a teenager and began his fashion studies at Accademia di Costume i di Moda, before promptly relocating back to London and taking up residence at the London College of Fashion. Such was his talent that, in his second year, he was fast-tracked on the Menswear MA course, graduating at an impressively young 21.

Since then he’s racked up yet more air miles – he travelled to New York and landed stints at Byblos and Calvin Klein’s Ck, he spent two years at Polo Ralph Lauren-owned Club Monaco – and then came his first foray into accessories. Darren threw himself into the deep end, bagged a job at Helmut Lang and fast realised that accessories design was his vocation. He has since spent three seasons in Paris at Louis Vuitton and held the coveted post of head of the accessories studio at Balenciaga, working alongside Nicolas Ghesquiere – in fact we think you should thank him for some of the most sought after accessories of the last few years.

His current incarnation is as accessories designer at Proenza Schouler, teaming up with Lazaro Proenza and Jack Schouler. His first collection for the label was the talk of last September’s New York Fashion week; fashion editor’s and buyers alike were transfixed by his modern take on the gauntlet glove, his sculptural and futuristic-meets-ladylike chic handbags and the shoes featuring serious pieces of hardware as heels – all striking the perfect balance between imaginative and stand-out pieces while being decidedly wearable. We can hardly wait to see what he has in store for autumn…

Click here to see Proenza Schouler’s spring collection in ELLE’s Accessories Report…

By Emma Sells