Proenza Schouler's Fall Runway Featured This "Undone" Styling Trick

While Proenza Schouler show-goers settled into their seats before the Feb. 10 show, the idle chatter in the room centered more around excitement, rather than exhaustion — a Fashion Week attendee’s favorite complaint. And it’s for good reason: Despite the late time slot — 8 p.m. on a Monday — Proenza Schouler’s Fall/Winter 2020 runway show is still one of the week’s hottest tickets.

If designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez last season took inspiration from the woman in their offices, this season, they fast-forwarded a few hours and looked more toward what she’d wear to after-work cocktails, which happens to be mostly black, white, and camel. That meant that this time, the design duo swapped out the white trainers for something a little less practical, and instead of sharply tailored suits punctuated with oversized carry-all bags, we saw draped-off-the-shoulder knits and jackets.

“The Proenza Schouler woman steps into a new, unpredictable decade for the Fall/Winter 2020 collection,” a press release read. “She is outfitted in elements codified with familiarity and classicism yet is never beholden to dated notions of formality. She revels in insouciance, celebrates the beauty of the undone, and leads with courage and a spirit of adventure.”

Twenty-five of the 35 total looks featured an element of asymmetric styling, whether it was a double-breasted wool jacket that slung off one shoulder, or a cape that deliberately shifted as she walked to reveal more of the model’s right side than the left. It takes a certain kind of woman to let her jacket sashay off her shoulder, laying there just so. It takes someone with intention and deliverance — and the Proenza Schouler woman has it.

“The delicate balance of generous volumes twisted and wrapped around the body fastened by a single closure calls to mind the tension of control and release that dominates many a Proenza Schouler collection,” the release continued. “She is an urban, thinking woman whose sartorial choices consistently personify both her and the collective consciousness of any given moment.”

Though there wasn’t a complete lack of color — a fire-engine red leather tunic with a matching mini skirt was paired with opaque black tights, and Gigi Hadid gave life to a similarly hued oversized double-breasted blazer coat, one lapel folded in to lend an illusion of asymmetry — the entire collection felt like quintessential Proenza Schouler.