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Proenza Schouler: Figure Skating Fashion

If any design label kicked their oeuvre up a few notches this season in New York it was Proenza Schouler, whose tropical, dainty take on ice-skating was a major departure for the brand.

“Skating, surfing, sports,” commented Jack McCollough after the show, presented Wednesday, Sept. 16, to considerable acclaim in Milk Studios, the well-frequented hipster show space and photo studio in the Meatpacking District.

Though there was not one blade in the collection, ice princesses did stream down the catwalk, with micro short skirts that looked like training jackets wrapped around the hip, worn with boyish blazers. There was a sense of athlete returning from the sports stadium about many looks – running track pants in high tech nylons and taut chemises, ideal for gymnastics - and a chic lunch.

McCollough and partner Lazaro Hernandez – the design duo that launched the label six years ago – also reinvented their famous corset silhouette. Gone were the laced bustiers; in came colorful athletic bras.

The pair carefully avoided any too literal an interpretation of active sports, especially for evening, when they raised the tempo with a delightful series of tropical print skirts and dresses, though again cut as wrapped around the waist. They even added feathers, sequins and ribbons to some fabulous curvy minis and drew gasps from many members of the audience with a final trio of sexy dresses in hues worthy of tropical Balinese fish.

All the models had shaggy, blond, split in the middle Courtney Love hairstyles, and the rock singer herself sat front row, clearly pleased with the stylistic recognition. Love and pretty much everyone raced backstage post-show to compliment McCollough and Hernandez, as well they should, for this was the most original, and in many ways the coolest collection we’ve seen in Manhattan this week.

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