The Proenza Schouler boys are tired of leggy. For Spring, they went lady, or at least that was the initial impression at today's delightful, inventive show. The first look out was an ivory tweed jacket in the Chanel mold worn with a skirt hand-dyed from lavender silk in the traditional shibori style the duo experimented with for Resort. The models' simple pumps were about as far away as you could get from the hyper-designed platforms and wedges the designers have favored the last couple of seasons.
"We wanted it to be a little more polished," Jack McCollough said backstage, before Lazaro Hernandez jumped in: "So we took all these feminine codes—the embroideries, the flowers—and mixed them up in our own way. We wanted to do something without any obvious references."
Their way meant a salmon matte crocodile coat with oversize hook-and-eye closure; bold, oversize, arts-and-crafts-y necklaces; and slipdresses flounced with ruffles and worn over retro bras and briefs (side note: It's nice to see that some designers can make pretty, yet practical answers to sheer). It was as over-the-top colorful as it sounds and loaded with sensory details.
By the end, the models weren't ladies anymore. With their loose tank dresses made from guipure lace in hot, sulfur colors and flat sandal-boot hybrids, they were simply cool Proenza Schouler girls. As the ecstatic scene backstage after the show confirmed, McCollough and Hernandez had given everyone a very welcome end-of-week boost.
