Among other things, the eighties gave fashion Hervé Léger and OP surfwear. Proenza Schouler's Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, children of that decade, brought the two together on their spring runway—it's not as unlikely a pairing as it sounds. "It's about elevating sporty," the duo said of the new collection. That meant reworking windbreakers as button-downs under almost-rustic hemp blazers; using the cut and seaming of an old-school surfer's wetsuit for sleek, rubberized linen dresses and knit leggings; and transforming a boxy tee into an evening piece with colorful, graphic sequins. The last was tucked into a teal silk-moiré skirt, a little A-line number that was cut above the knee.
Those proportions looked fresh and right. But proportions become a trickier proposition when you get to bandage dressing. Only the likes of front-row celeb Victoria Beckham could pull off the unforgiving pink-and-orange tube skirt. Still, the rest of Proenza's fans will probably be happy with the bra tops made from the stretchy stuff, and they'll love the racer-back tanks in swatches of Ellsworth Kelly stripes. This collection may not have been as tight as last season's, or as rich, but there was more than enough evidence that these designers are still on their game.
