Is It Just Me, or Is This One of the Best Proenza Schouler Collections in a While?

Looks from Proenza Schouler's Spring 2022 collection.

Photo: Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images

It's an undeniable fact that "the boys" at Proenza Schouler — Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who, at nearly two decades in the business, are really much more men than boys these days anyway — are behind some of the most anticipated runways at New York Fashion Week season after season. Sure, there have been misses here and there, but nothing so bad as to put a dent in their reputation as one of the city's tentpole labels. So it's really saying something, I think, to posit that the Spring 2022 collection may just be one of their best in a while.

Shown at the newly-opened Little Island park on Wednesday evening, Hernandez and McCollough continue the through line that's dominated over the past few years — think the kind of louche, slightly-oversized pieces rendered in neutral tones that would naturally sit on a rack alongside the likes of Phoebe Philo's Céline or The Row — and add in bright shades of lemony yellow, traffic-cone orange and acid pinks. This is a tropical vacation, Proenza Schouler-style, complete with simplified floral necklaces roped around model's necks or dangled over bags.

There's really no other word to describe it than "fun." The spring garments have plenty of movement, from fringed bike shorts to long beaded ropes hanging from sleeves. Of course, there are plenty of structured pieces, too, like an orange and blue zebra-printed coat or a leather pant (this is still Proenza Schouler, after all), but every combination feels fresh and perfectly thought-out.