In fashion sportswear, or at least the inspiration to it, is a concept that never ceases to be gutted. In the catwalk of Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez however pushed the idea beyond the usual limits. The one proposed by them, according to the designers themselves “our version of the American sportswear”, goes at the roots of casual, and uses the codes of sportswear to transform them into something never seen before. The look is a mere affirmation of what, in the most immediate, is considered cool: extreme geometries, androgynous inspirations and that touch of menswear that, more than in masculinity, translates into the contemporary state of being of a metropolitan life, softened perhaps by innovative games of fringes of the eveningwear. The construction is complicated but successful: overlapped layers take turns to a patchwork of different textures and strong materials, such as the vaguely 80 ‘s blazer that mixes the traditional Prince of Wales check to a more modern black smooth wool. More aggressive are the ensembles that pull off different types of python, proposed in electric blue, but also in red and in a warm shade of orange. Leather, strong presence in suits or trousers, seems to deviate a bit from the spring season for which the collection is created, but in hindsight is maybe the material that above the others gives lightness to the outfits, in chastened frocks that in fluttering reacquire frivolity. An American Sportswear, yes, but in the most luxurious and well-thought out way imaginable.
