Proenza Schouler is a womenswear and accessories brand founded in 2002 by designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Proenza Schouler is derived from

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also use ...

s of the two designers' mothers: Proenza is the maiden name of Hernandez's mother, and Schouler is the maiden name of McCollough's mother.

History

McCollough and Hernandez met while studying at Parsons School of Design, collaborating on their senior thesis, which would eventually become their first collection as Proenza Schouler. The collection was bought in its entirety by

Barneys New York Barneys New York Inc. is an American luxury brand founded in New York City in 1923. It has introduced major designers including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Ermenegildo Zegna to the US market. Barneys ...

. In 2008, Proenza Schouler introduced its first shoe collection, licensed through

Giuseppe Zanotti Giuseppe Zanotti is an Italian luxury footwear and fashion designer known for his sculptural, jeweled heels, luxury sneakers, handbags, jewelry, and leather ready-to-wear. His wholly owned company, Vicini S.p.A., manufactures his eponymous label, ...

, Vicini SpA. Later that year, Proenza Schouler launched its first

handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse or pocketbook in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. Purse, handbag or pouch The term "purse" originally referred to a small bag for holding coins. In man ...

, the PS1, a satchel that has become the brand’s signature. In 2012, Proenza Schouler signed a new

license agreement A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

with Onward Luxury Group to produce their footwear collections. The brand expanded into swimwear in 2014 when they signed a

licensing agreement A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

with Swimwear Anywhere to produce and distribute swimwear. In June 2015, Proenza Schouler signed a licensing agreement with L’Oréal for the development and creation of fine fragrances. In 2017, Proenza Schouler announced their exit from the traditional ready-to-wear calendar to align with the

couture Couture may refer to: People * Couture (surname) Places Belgium * Couture-Saint-Germain, a village in the municipality of Lasne, Belgium Canada * Couture crater and Lac Couture, an impact crater and the lake that covers it in Quebec, Canada ...

calendar. This switch changed the location of their runway shows from New York to Paris, and merged their main and pre-collections, only showing twice a year. In November 2017 the brand launched a "sister" collection of casual basics like

denim Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been p ...

and

T-shirts A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are generall ...

called White Label.

Investors

In 2007, the Valentino Fashion Group bought a 45% stake in Proenza Schouler. In 2011, Proenza Schouler announced a

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

with a group of investors, including Andrew Rosen, and John Howard. Castanea Partners acquired a

minority interest In accounting, minority interest (or non-controlling interest) is the portion of a subsidiary corporation's stock that is not owned by the parent corporation. The magnitude of the minority interest in the subsidiary company is generally less than 5 ...

in the brand, appointing Judd Crane as CEO in the process, in 2015. In the last quarter of 2018, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez together with the help of private investors have bought back their company's shares from Castanea Partners reclaiming full ownership of the label.

Collaborations

Proenza Schouler launched its first collaboration in 2010, when they created an exclusive collection of hand painted denim with

J Brand J Brand is an American denim clothing company founded in 2005 in Los Angeles, California. Origins J Brand was co-founded by Jeff Rudes in 2004. In 2005, J Brand officially launched at the Ron Herman Melrose Denim Bar in Los Angeles, California ...

. In the same year, they collaborated with filmmaker Harmony Korine on their first original video
''Act Da Fool''
featuring the Fall 2010 collection. In 2013, Proenza Schouler celebrated their 10th anniversary by releasing a limited reissue of its Fall 2003 collection for

. The following year, in 2014, the designers collaborated with MAC Cosmetics on a limited-edition makeup collection. The same year, the brand partnered with Parisian department store

Le Bon Marché Le Bon Marché (lit. "the good market", or "the good deal" in French; ) is a department store in Paris. Founded in 1838 and revamped almost completely by Aristide Boucicaut in 1852, it was one of the first modern department stores. It was ...

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 3-D cub installation. The following year, they collaborated with Harley Weir and Jen Brill on an

original video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the Art release, release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial movie theater, theatrical release or Television film, televisio ...

''Legs Are Not Doors''
featuring the 2015 Spring Collection. Proenza Schouler once again collaborated with Harley Weir and Jen Brill in 2016 on their second

together
''PS I Love You (Ithigi Lithigove Yithigou)''
featuring the Pre-Fall 2016 collection.

Awards and honors

Awarded with the inaugural CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund award in 2004. Proenza Schouler has been honored with a total of five CFDA awards. In 2003, they were awarded with the Swarovski Award for Ready-to-Wear, and in 2009 they were honored with the Accessory Designer of the Year Award. In addition, they have been awarded the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year award three times in 2007, 2011, and 2013. In 2014, they won the Designer of the Year award at the Accessories Council’s annual ACE awards. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez were honored as the special guests at the 4th edition of the

Pitti Pitti, also known as Pakshipitti (''pakshi'' meaning "bird" in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil), is an uninhabited coral islet in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. Geography It is located at about 24 km to the north of Kavaratti, ...

W_Woman Precollection event in Florence. The following year, the designers were honored with the Fashion Star Award at the

Fashion Group The Fashion Group International (FGI) is a global, non-profit, professional organization founded in 1930 in New York City to benefit the fashion industry. FGI currently has over 5000 members in the fashion industry including apparel, accessories, b ...

International’s Night of Stars Gala. In 2013, the duo was honored at their alma mater,

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...

the New School for Design, at the university’s annual Fashion Benefit. Proenza Schouler was awarded the Best Fashion Film at the Fashion Film Festival Milano for their

, Legs Are Not Doors, in 2015. In 2016, Proenza Schouler had the honor of being featured in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

’s exhibition Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.

Points of sale

In 2012, Proenza Schouler opened its first store, designed by architect

David Adjaye Sir David Frank Adjaye (born 22 September 1966) is a Ghanaian-British architect. He is known for having designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D. ...

, at 822 Madison Avenue in New York. The following year they opened their second store at 121 Greene Street in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

. Proenza Schouler is sold in more than 350

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

ers worldwide, including

Bergdorf Goodman Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son, Andrew Goodman. ...

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...

, and

Lane Crawford Lane Crawford (HK) Limited () is a retail company founded in 1850 with speciality department stores selling luxury goods in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Its headquarters are in , Wong Chuk Hang. Lane Crawford is a part of The Lane Crawford J ...

References

External links

Proenza Schouler website
{{Authority control Clothing brands of the United States Clothing companies established in 2002 2002 establishments in New York City Companies based in New York City Valentino Fashion Group