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No One Does New York Cool Like Proenza Schouler

Even 20 years in, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are still setting the sartorial standard, presenting their “most personal collection” for Fall 2023.

“It feels good to be done. It’s a very calm energy this season,” Jack McCollough, one half of the design duo behind Proenza Schouler, told the gaggle of fashion press gathered backstage after the brand’s Fall 2023 show on Feb. 11. 

A Proenza Schouler show isn’t just your average show: It’s a gathering of some of the most influential, stylish tastemakers. It’s also where, for the past 20 years, we’ve seen the genesis of ideas that go on to define what “cool” is in fashion. If Proenza Schouler’s doing it, you best believe it’ll make its way into your closet, one way or another, eventually. The brand’s still setting the standard when it comes to what makes New York a breeding ground for trends, capturing that metropolitan sensibility and pulsing energy across ready-to-wear and accessories that feel elevated, even worldly. 

Though the brand is celebrating a big milestone, the Fall 2023 collection isn’t a retrospective, said Lazaro Hernandez — rather, “it was just stuff that we love.” 

“It all sort of lives inside of us in some way,” he continued. “And when we create, it kind of comes back out. It wasn’t like a conscious decision in any way.”

“There are definitely things that we carried forward from previous seasons,” McCollough added. “We had some tie dye — this new dying technique called ice dying, with big ice cubes [made] of dye, so the ice just melts over the clothes and dyes the whole garment.”

The duo explained that their design process made Fall 2023 “maybe our most personal collection,” per Hernandez, in that it spoke to “how we dress, how we live, how we look.” 

“It’s a reflection of the women in our lives,” McCollough shared. “It was the first season we made the mood board just out of head shots of the women in our lives. And then it’s: What’s their wardrobe? What are they wearing? What are their needs?” 

On that mood board: longtime friend and muse — and doyenne of New York cool — Chloë Sevigny, who not only opened the show, but also narrated the track that played over the runway, which was penned by Ottessa Moshfegh. “It was a collaboration across oceans, across time zones, across all these women,” Hernandez said. “It was, in that way, just very personal.”

Usually, the designers sketch out the full looks as they will appear on the runway. This time, though, they took a much more focused approach, honing in on the individual pieces that they imagined fit into their muses’ lives. Then, Camilla Nickerson came in and styled it all together, so it felt like a proper wardrobe. 

“We wanted reality,” Hernandez said. “We’re tired of all this fantasy and Instagram clothes and everyone not wearing clothes.”

Not having a theme was “freeing,” according to McCollough, because it gave them the opportunity to “just think about individual garments and the spirit of a woman.”

“It’s the beginning of a new decade for us doing what we do, so it’s the beginning of something new to us, something else — maybe more adult,” Hernandez said. “We’ve grown up in front of all of you guys. It’s time to grow up and be an adult.”

To which McCollough added: “I’m not sure if that’s ever going to happen.”

See the full Proenza Schouler Fall 2023 collection below.

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

Proenza Schouler Fall 2023. Photo: Courtesy of brand

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Source: Fashionista.com

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