After a sartorial sabbatical or sorts, Proenza Schouler returned to their brilliant best last September with a much lauded Spring Summer collection. If that was their comeback, then consider yesterday’s show their sophomore collection, designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez offering a sharp, sexy take on comfort dressing.
In a canny game of reveal and conceal, flashes of skin proved the unexpected hero with exposed shoulders starring. Via deconstructed sweater dresses, leather dresses and oversized coats, shoulders were purposefully and perfectly revealed, while the rest of the body was covered up in typically wintry garb like delicious slouched boots and stockings.
But despite this sexy burst of skin, traditional notions of winter style were also explored. In fact, the entire collection began with the season’s defining object: a blanket. The design duo gifted their stylist Camilla Nickerson a blanket for the Christmas just past, and with true stylist sensibilities, she ended up wearing it as scarf (of course!). This kind of “blanket” dressing was manifest throughout the collection; more overtly in puffy throw-like shawls, which were lined with plush velvet and draped eloquently over one shoulder (as per the collection’s theme), and more subtlety via gentle folds and wraps. “She’s blanketed in a protective layer of strength and confidence,” Hernandez told Nicole Phelps backstage.
Other highlights included flowing knitted suits, puffy padded shoes, crescent clutches in shiny chrome and a play on the choker, which was partly concealed, worn both underneath and atop coats (the season’s must-try styling trick, perhaps?).
As McCollough mused backstage, “it’s about finding beauty in a world that’s unraveling.” And what better way to remedy the madness than wrapping yourself up in Proenza Schouler’s cozy – and very comforting – Fall collection.
