Proenza Schouler RTW Fall 2022

The industry may be buzzing about streetwear, but Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are having none of it. “We want fashion, we’re tired of streetwear,” Hernandez said backstage.

Bring it on.

For fall, they had a New Look moment, proposing a return to formality by experimenting with such feminine tropes as peplums, corsets, drop-waist silk dresses, lady coats and brooches. But make no mistake, it was through an American lens, playing with the throwback hourglass silhouette but with knitwear, soft construction and ballet flats instead.

Over the past few collections, the designers have been having a love affair with stretch and this was yet another chapter, pushing into geometry, color-blocking and volume to create body definition and freedom of movement.

For example, using new knitting machines that knit sideways rather than up and down, they created dresses with sculpted bodices that flared at the waist, almost like a ruffle and were hung with bias-cut circular skirts seamed together to create a lantern shape. They looked great, as did the sculpted knit top on its own worn with leather trousers and the bicolor lantern skirts with sequined turtlenecks.

For several season they’ve also been honing their version of a waist-cinching jacket, draped and fastened to one side. “It’s about finding beauty in chaos,” the designers explained of the sensuality they see in the pulling of the fabric across the waist, which others might interpret as too much lunch. Sweater knit tube wraps were waist-cinchers that required less of a commitment.

On the inspiration behind their latest body obsession, the designers name-dropped surrealist artist Meret Oppenheim, famous for her anatomical style, hence the red animal print dress with skeletal scarring that seemed like a bit of a tangent. Patent ballet flats molded to the toes were groovy, though, like barefoot-running-shoes-gone-high-fashion runway.

Fresh takes on the designers’ button-sleeve dresses and pleated jersey gowns in hot colors like ultraviolet, red and yellow; hooded peplum sweaters like the one worn by Bella Hadid and fluid pants were commercial sure things. Fussy and unflattering bubble hem peplum jackets and tops were less so. Those were ideas, perhaps, still in the beginning stages.

Launch Gallery: Proenza Schouler RTW Fall 2022