There’s a fabric in this Proenza Schouler collection that’s a real marvel. “We’ve never seen anything like it before,” Lazaro Hernandez said, during a preview. “The sequins are baked into the actual yarn itself, so when you knit it up, they’re all embedded. It looks like Lurex, but it’s a beautiful, spongy piece of knitwear.” The two column dresses they made with the stuff are just about the most elegant things we’ve seen all season. Eveningwear is a neglected category at the moment. Possibly that’s a lingering effect of the pandemic. But the columns’ elegance is matched by their ease. “We love that they’re basically just T-shirt dresses,” Jack McCollough added.
In the pre-seasons, the Proenza Schouler duo leans into experimentation. A scroll through these images makes it clear that they’re strongly attracted to texture and hand-feel for resort. In addition to that spongy sequin knit, they used silk velvet for slip dresses and matching sets, a three-dimensional ribbed knit for coordinating cardigans and flares, and a short hair shearling on a belted coat. The saturated colors of the velvet and shearling especially added to their appeal.
After texture, their other preoccupation here was shape. It’s tempting to see 1940s proportions in nipped-waist jackets and full skirts whose sculptural hems were reinforced with horsehair. Dior’s 1947 New Look was a repudiation of years of wartime restraint and sacrifice. We haven’t dealt with deprivation on that scale, but designers are determined to conjure an upbeat mood and exuberant volumes are one way to do it. The track pants and frilly ankle socks paired with a different nipped jacket are another, cheekier way to go about it.
On the subject of shape, they revisited the corset tops that were the building blocks of their earliest collection. “Old Proenza vibes,” Hernandez said, but updated in suiting fabric for a touch of surprise.
