At the ripe age of 32, Proenza Schouler designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough may not still hold the trophy of New York's youngest designers, but they're definitely its most sizzling. Since starting their business 10 years ago, they've cornered the market on cool, complex fabric development that may be logistically torturous, but also ensures that no one else's runway looks anything like theirs.
They have gone to corners of the earth - underwater in Bora Bora, in the backseat of a car in Texas, and a recent road trip through New Zealand - all in the name of refreshing their eyeballs and jumpstarting an original collection inspiration.
Back home in New York, they've channelled their ideas into a signature coterie of custom-brewed materials, pushing their fabric and embroidery suppliers into new territories.
Here we've handpicked some of the most mind-bending and headache-inducing fabric techniques from Proenza Schouler's past collections.
From their first runway collection that featured home-made rubber sequins, embroidery has been a Proenza hallmark. Having graduated to the big leagues, the designers now whip up more intricate fare, like these two regal peacocks coming to life as thread embroidery on a quilted silk satin dress from A/W 2012. The skirt-half, meanwhile, is like a walking bathroom floor with its gold metallic tiles, hand-woven with black and teal leather ribbon
The weaving of unlikely and un-malleable materials is a favourite studio past time. For A/W 2012, the designers patched together a grid-front jacket from woven leather stripes and quilted leather arms. The top, featuring a laquered, heavy lace embroidery, is paired with a woven leather skirt inspired by karate-chopping Kendo uniforms
The Gerhard Richter-inspired jacquards for their latest S/S 2013 collection yielded impressive layers of high-tech texture. Artwork scanned onto computers was woven on a jacquard loom using both boucle and silk yarns. The jacket features goatskin pockets, and a leather grid of teal and black strips, while the skirt is leather-bonded to double-faced duchesse satin that has been perforated and then photo-printed on top
Left: From afar, this dress from S/S 2012 looks like it might be a frolicking print. Only up close does one realise the entire pattern is constructed with intricate clusters of floral bead, crystal and threadwork embroidery on tulle
Right: The workmanship hit its zenith with the designers' S/S 2013 collection, where a photo of a public pool was printed onto a double face silk satin patchwork and then, for a double dose, was also printed onto half the strands in an asymmetrical woven leather skirt. 'Those were banal photographs we just found off of the internet,' explains Hernandez. 'They had nothing to do with anything. We wanted something urban, and nature and a mix of both. So we found an urban pool'
-
New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 highlights: Tory Burch to Michael KorsWallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss selects the best of New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 in our ongoing round-up, from a reinvention of sportswear at Tory Burch to Michael Kors’ Italian escape
-
This season’s womenswear channels freedom and escapeThese S/S 2024 womenswear looks promise an escape from the everyday, and are photographed amid the otherwordly landscapes of the Canary Islands for the March 2024 Style Issue of Wallpaper*
-
At home with Proenza Schouler founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro HernandezProenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, part of the Wallpaper* USA 300, talk creative process, current inspirations, and escaping to The Berkshires
-
Byborre launches Textiles, its first-ever line of ready-to-order fabricsAmsterdam-based Byborre launches new ready-to-order scheme that allows creators easy access to the textile studio and fashion label’s sustainably-minded knitwear designs
-
New York Fashion Week S/S 2023: Proenza Schouler to Tom FordFrom a raft of homegrown talent to star-studded international imports, Wallpaper* presents the highlights of New York Fashion Week S/S 2023, reported by our editors in the city
-
Valentino’s ‘Narratives’ series captures this season’s literary moodOn World Poetry Day, a new series by Valentino invites 17 celebrated writers – André Aciman, Leïla Slimani and Mieko Kawakami among them – to contribute extracts on the theme of ‘love’
-
Textile innovator Byborre empowers creators to cut waste‘We developed a new process that allows creators to innovate,’ says Borre Akkersdijk, co-founder of Dutch textile innovation studio and clothing label Byborre
-
Meet the ethical cashmere brand supporting Mongolian communities
