Look around at the collections this month and you see a lot of Proenza Schouler-isms. If you recall, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez did tribal for pre-fall; half a year later, other designers are falling into line with ikats and ethnic embroideries. In fact, McCollough and Hernandez did a little riffling through the back catalog themselves, redoing the sold-out Baja jacket from last year's Resort line in a ropey yarn. They've definitely found a groove, delving into traditional textiles like last season's Navajo blankets and coming up with something hip and young, and yet quite couture in terms of the work involved.
For the collection they showed in their newly expanded showroom on Monday—all of those PS1 and PS11 bags take up a lot of space—they found a new vantage point, trading in the Santa Fe of their Fall collection for San Francisco circa the late sixties. Their new SF informed the earthy, mineral-y color palette, the swirling (just a shade shy of psychedelic) marble prints, and the patchworking, but the silhouette is pure Proenza Schouler—a cropped jacket over a buttoned-to-the-collar poplin shirt and a miniskirt that reads as shorts; a short apron dress with leather straps; a cardigan that skims the hem of a canvas smock. There was a lot of leg on display, the better to show off precipitously chic wedge sandals.
Accessories are no small part of Proenza's success, and the designers have duly paid a lot of attention to this season's PS1 bags; the ticking stripe trimmed in python looks destined to be a success. As for the handcrafted necklaces Jack and Lazaro made in collaboration with Alex & Lee (art jewelers who were big in the seventies and have enjoyed several fashion world revivals since), they were fabulous, and, because they will be produced in limited quantities, they'll be instant collector's items.
