Proenza Schouler’s spring 2024 show brought guests uptown to the Phillips auction house for a collection that re-evaluated the concept of art as fashion. “We’re talking about art and commerce—and where’s that line for us?” Jack McCollough, one-half of the Proenza duo with Lazaro Hernandez, stated backstage after the presentation.
The collection opened with the oversized, polished suiting that has become a signature of the brand, before diverting to lightweight dresses in shades of beige that had a unique sort of sculpting and weightiness to them. “I think it’s the first season where people are coming into the showroom and looking at the clothes and they’re like, ‘this is so light,’” said McCollough. “Some of the dresses just weigh nothing.
A bit of a play on styling through design was present, too. Faux waistbands peeked out of other waistbands, sheer bags displayed little leather cardholders inside, and some sleeveless dresses had the arms of an imaginary sweater draped around the collars . “We’re art school kids,” added Hernandez. “We’re very experimental and wild, and that’s our soul. Now we’re grown up and we sell clothes. It’s about making real clothes—with a soul of artfulness and value and heart—for real people.