Proenza Schouler Fall Winter 2023 Collection
“Hello Friends,
Here we are, at the beginning of a new decade doing the thing we love doing most, the thing that fills our life with passion, with purpose, with direction, the thing that has mostly kept us out of trouble, and yes, the culprit of the occasional headache. Being independent all this time hasn’t been without its challenges, but we have been fortunate to have you by our side, cheering us on, pushing us forward, despite of course the occasional knock that is oftentimes difficult to hear but ultimately fuels our desire to push forward and persevere. We do what we do because of our love for the women in our lives. The new and old friends who fill us with curiosity and amazement, who challenge our ideas, inspire new ones, confound us with their complexities, their similarities and differences, and their abilities to juggle the nuances of life with an elegance and aptitude we can only dream of possessing. The women in our lives fascinate us, empower us, and this show is dedicated to them.
This is possibly our most personal collection in that it feels truest to what we personally love. Devoid of theme or a specific visual narrative wrapped up in a neat silhouette or shape, it is simply a collection of clothing we find compelling and essential right now, a complete wardrobe. This is what we place value in, what we find beautiful and pertinent. In a moment when nothing feels permanent, when everything seems fleeting and ephemeral, the sense of things rooted in codes that are lasting and enduring feels vital today. The collection started and ended with a bank of images of women who we personally know and have felt connected to in one form or another over the years. A series of simple portraits that somehow came together in our minds as evocative of “the woman”, a character study. As we have grown up over the years, in front of all of you, so has she. She is an adult, a professional, she is engaged with the world at large, passionate about the challenges we as a culture and as a nation face and is determined to somehow find a quiet space within it all to live out her dreams, achieve her innermost goals, and along the way share some of what she’s learned with those who come after.
The show is a day in the life of this woman told 40 different ways. It is a portrait of an attitude, a feeling, a sensibility, a way of dressing, and ultimately of a woman herself. Besides clothing and her external appearance, we felt compelled to dig a little deeper. What goes on inside? What are the thoughts that consume her everyday life? To that end, we asked Ottessa Moshfegh to create a series of fictional journal entries, titled February 11th 2023, about this woman that explore her inner monologue. In it she writes about the things that matter to her most: her family, her relationships, her work, her grievances, but also the joys she finds in her everyday life. Sometimes mundane, sometimes profound, always deeply personal. We asked Chloë Sevigny to record these journal entries. Chloë has always been one of those women who we look up to and respect deeply. Her continual drive to experiment artistically and to push personal and professional boundaries has been a deep source of creative inspiration to us over the years, not to mention her enduring friendship and support. From there, Arca took the recordings and arranged a musical composition to accompany them. Arca represents a new kind of feminine energy that feels utterly essential and representative of social freedoms and identities that past generations might have only dreamed of. Proof of culture moving forward, and of the successful pioneering work done by those who came before us. Her voice represents a new, vital energy in the contemporary cultural discourse.
Together, these three women, in collaboration, across oceans and time zones, create a piece that we believe adds a layer of depth, of emotion, of complexity and nuance, to the clothing you will see today. It is our hope that together it all somehow forms a more complete picture of the woman we love, the woman who lives in our imaginations and hearts when we pick up the pencil to draw a new collection every season. It was both a group effort, and a deeply introspective and personal one that somehow creates a portrait of the Proenza Schouler woman today…February 11th 2023.
Thank you for taking the time this Saturday morning to share this moment with us.”
With Love,
Jack and Lazaro
You May Also Like: Designer Collections
You May Also Like: Fashion Models
