Proenza Schouler SS23 The collection like a waterfall: pure joy

Can it be almost 20 years since fashion first swooned for Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez? Many highs, some lows, and lots of fashion later, on Friday, the Proenza Schouler duo delivered a gem.

The designers sought to combine two primary elements – the sensuous Latin flair Hernandez suggested they hadn’t explored deeply enough over the years and McCollough’s American pragmatism. The result was a single, splendid whole with elements of flamboyance, artisanal intrigue, and what one might call decorative minimalism.

No one (or two) can design for 20 years without developing and evolving certain motifs. McCollough and Hernandez drew on multiple signatures – craft, graphic contrast, flamenco – in a collection that worked a summer travel vibe. This mood started with the set – mesmerizing, sky-high projections of waterfalls all around the room – and plenty of skin-revealing silhouettes. Thoughts of water thus inspired movement. Hence the yen for fringe, in variations from the long, swingy white version that played midriff peekaboo with a causal black tank and bubble skirt, to the short, beaded fringe of a metallic gold knit dress that clinked merrily as it passed by.

Within an overall message of chic sensuality, the designers offered plenty of range. Looks with cutouts revealed skin gracefully, while bodycon knits hugged curves. These included some alluring crochets crafted by artisans in Bolivia, who were employed on the project for six months. Yet there were also cutting-edge machine knits, indicative not only of the designers’ long-held interest in integrating technology into their work but also of their maturation as businessmen. During their Paris phase years ago, they went through an intense artisanal phase that focused heavily on handcrafted work, a direction that was ultimately not sustainable.

As for that minimalist current, it wasn’t at all plain, but an alluring play of restraint against ebullience. For example, simple shirts came in vibrant Irish lace, some paired with pants or skirts in deliberately off-color combinations of mismatched acid yellows or blues, some as shirtdresses with gleefully tricked-out sleeves. And the glorious Latin flourish appeared as exaggerated ruffles on otherwise spare silhouettes: a lime green minidress with mile-long, undulating sleeves; an authoritative, bright white pantsuit with demonstratively flounced bellbottoms.

Backstage, Hernandez offered that his yearning to explore his Latin heritage was encouraged accidentally by his father. As he ages, the elder Hernandez seems more willing to express emotion, something Lazaro noted Latin men are often not comfortable doing. Observing that evolution, he said, “is beautiful.” Here, the designers demonstrated complete comfort with their material, as one emotion rushed through this collection like a waterfall: pure joy.