This year, designers Lázaro Hernández and Jack McCollough said they broke away from their typical creative process.
Most of the time, “we get wrapped up in a narrative, a theme or a vibe,” Hernández said after Saturday’s show.
“This season (…) we literally started with photos of the women in our lives that we admire and respect on a personal level, on a stylistic level.”
Those women included American actress Chloe Sevigny, who opened the show in a long leather skirt suit, a material widely used in the collection.
A brand long characterized as conceptual and avant-garde, Proenza Schouler has evolved in recent years to envision a more pragmatic wardrobe.
This fall-winter 2023 collection seems to be the culmination of that trend.
“We’re tired of all this fantasy and Instagram clothing,” Hernandez said.
Characterful but less pretentious pieces make up the collection, which includes several relatively classic trouser suits and plenty of below-the-knee skirts, paired with tall boots, often in leather.
Still, Proenza hasn’t abandoned sophistication.
Flowing dresses that opened in multicolored petals as models walked the runway, a bright yellow suit that featured a wide neckline that fell past the shoulders, or an asymmetrical gown whose lapel fell down one arm.
The designers showed that they know, with light details, how to subtly transform a silhouette.
The 20th anniversary collection opened “a new chapter for us,” McCollough said.
“It’s like the start of something else, something maybe more adult. We’ve grown up in front of all of you. It’s time to grow up and be an adult,” he added, considering Proenza’s new way of thinking about her clothes as “sexy” and “liberating.” “.
“Just think about individual garments and the spirit of a woman.”
