Proenza Schouler

Fashion Designer

Proenza Schouler is a fashion brand headed up by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who met on the fashion course at Parsons School of Design, New York. The label's name is taken from the maiden names of the designers' mothers. Their break into commercial fashion happened when Hernandez spotted American Vogue editor Anna Wintour on a Miami-New York flight, and decided to slip her a note. There soon followed internships for both designers at Vogue, as well as the beginning of a close working relationship with Michael Kors. Proenza Schouler's senior year collection at Parsons won them high acclaim, with the entire line being bought by Barneys in New York.

Awarded with the inaugural CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund award in 2004, Proenza Schouler has gone on to receive industry acclaim, winning subsequent CFDA Awards including the Swarovski Award for Ready-to-Wear (2003), Accessory Designer of the Year (2009), and Womenswear Designer of the Year (2007, 2011, and 2013). In 2014, they won the Designer of the Year award at the Accessories Council’s annual ACE awards.

2009 saw Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez welcomed as special guests at the fourth edition of the Pitti W_Woman Precollection event in Florence. The following year, 2010, the designers picked up the Fashion Star Award at the Fashion Group International’s Night of Stars Gala. In 2013, the duo were honoured at their alma mater Parsons at the university’s annual fashion benefit, and in 2016, Proenza Schouler were featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.

In 2017, Proenza Schouler announced their exit from the ready-to-wear calendar to align with the couture calendar, changing the location of their runway shows from New York to Paris, and merging their main and pre-collections to only showing twice a year. After two seasons in Paris, the brand returned to New York for Spring/Summer 2019.

In 2007, the Valentino Fashion Group bought a 45% stake in Proenza Schouler. In 2011, Proenza Schouler announced a partnership with a group of investors, including Andrew Rosen, and John Howard. Castanea Partners acquired a minority interest in the brand, appointing Judd Crane as CEO in the process, in 2015. In the last quarter of 2018, founders McCollough and Hernandez, together with the help of private investors, bought back their company's shares from Castanea Partners reclaiming full ownership of the label.

Proenza Schouler launched its first collaboration in 2010, an exclusive collection of hand painted denim with J Brand. In the same year, they collaborated with filmmaker Harmony Korine on their first original video, Act Da Fool, featuring the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection.

2013 saw the brand celebrate their tenth anniversary with a limited reissue of its Autumn/Winter 2003 collection for Barney’s New York. The following year, in 2014, the designers collaborated with MAC Cosmetics on a limited-edition makeup collection, and Parisian department store Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, for a capsule collection and exhibition. The exhibit allowed consumers to explore the world of Proenza Schouler through a display of 80 looks from past runway collections, a documentary about the brand, and an interactive 3D cube installation.

The following year, they collaborated with Harley Weir and Jen Brill on another original video, Legs Are Not Doors, featuring the Spring/Summer 2015 collection. The video went on to win Best Fashion Film at the Fashion Film Festival Milano 2015. The brand collaborated again with Weir and Brill for their Pre-Fall 2016 collection video PS I Love You (Ithigi Lithigove Yithigou).

Proenza Schouler is a fashion brand headed up by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who met on the fashion course at Parsons School of Design, New York. The label's name is taken from the maiden names of the designers' mothers. Their break into commercial fashion happened when Hernandez spotted American Vogue editor Anna Wintour on a Miami-New York flight, and decided to slip her a note. There soon followed internships for both designers at Vogue, as well as the beginning of a close working relationship with Michael Kors. Proenza Schouler's senior year collection at Parsons won them high acclaim, with the entire line being bought by Barneys in New York.

Awarded with the inaugural CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund award in 2004, Proenza Schouler has gone on to receive industry acclaim, winning subsequent CFDA Awards including the Swarovski Award for Ready-to-Wear (2003), Accessory Designer of the Year (2009), and Womenswear Designer of the Year (2007, 2011, and 2013). In 2014, they won the Designer of the Year award at the Accessories Council’s annual ACE awards.

2009 saw Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez welcomed as special guests at the fourth edition of the Pitti W_Woman Precollection event in Florence. The following year, 2010, the designers picked up the Fashion Star Award at the Fashion Group International’s Night of Stars Gala. In 2013, the duo were honoured at their alma mater Parsons at the university’s annual fashion benefit, and in 2016, Proenza Schouler were featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.

In 2017, Proenza Schouler announced their exit from the ready-to-wear calendar to align with the couture calendar, changing the location of their runway shows from New York to Paris, and merging their main and pre-collections to only showing twice a year. After two seasons in Paris, the brand returned to New York for Spring/Summer 2019.

In 2007, the Valentino Fashion Group bought a 45% stake in Proenza Schouler. In 2011, Proenza Schouler announced a partnership with a group of investors, including Andrew Rosen, and John Howard. Castanea Partners acquired a minority interest in the brand, appointing Judd Crane as CEO in the process, in 2015. In the last quarter of 2018, founders McCollough and Hernandez, together with the help of private investors, bought back their company's shares from Castanea Partners reclaiming full ownership of the label.

Proenza Schouler launched its first collaboration in 2010, an exclusive collection of hand painted denim with J Brand. In the same year, they collaborated with filmmaker Harmony Korine on their first original video, Act Da Fool, featuring the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection.

2013 saw the brand celebrate their tenth anniversary with a limited reissue of its Autumn/Winter 2003 collection for Barney’s New York. The following year, in 2014, the designers collaborated with MAC Cosmetics on a limited-edition makeup collection, and Parisian department store Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, for a capsule collection and exhibition. The exhibit allowed consumers to explore the world of Proenza Schouler through a display of 80 looks from past runway collections, a documentary about the brand, and an interactive 3D cube installation.

The following year, they collaborated with Harley Weir and Jen Brill on another original video, Legs Are Not Doors, featuring the Spring/Summer 2015 collection. The video went on to win Best Fashion Film at the Fashion Film Festival Milano 2015. The brand collaborated again with Weir and Brill for their Pre-Fall 2016 collection video PS I Love You (Ithigi Lithigove Yithigou).

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