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Proenza Schouler S/S 2010

Art / Architecture / Design / Fashion

Proenza Schouler

Spring/Summer 2010

Through color, pattern, delicate detailing, and feminine silhouettes, designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler took a break from the brand’s neutral palettes and sophisticated separates, opting instead for a fun, sporty aesthetic perfect for summertime.

Posted June 20th, 2019 By Colby Mugrabi

The brand’s spring/summer 2010 collection drew inspiration from surfing and skateboarding, offering a youth-oriented vision of casual and colorful dressing. Surfing, which has had a strong association with teenage culture since the Frankie Avalon Beach Party films of the 1960s, was given a high fashion overhaul. Rash guard scuba shirts, racerback tanks, and built-in jackets tied around the waist as skirts – adding elements of casual-cool and esteemed craftsmanship – all contributed to the brand’s psychedelic, sporty look of the season.

The entire collection, in fact, seems aimed at the “cool girl” clientele the brand has fostered since it’s founding in 2002, with delicate detailing and tailored blazers elevating everyday sportswear from relaxed to chic. Adding to the season’s youthful glow were the silhouettes, short and asymmetrical in most cases, oftentimes decorated with colorful trims, each look had definitive notions of modernity and cheer. The brand’s signature bra cup bodices made an appearance, acting as bikini tops in some cases and, when combined with hiked-up skirts, morph into flirty, babydoll dresses in others.

Most striking about the collection, however, was the season’s vibrant palette and innovative patterns. Animal prints were translated into colorful, tie-dye Rorschach tests, while others were cleverly book-matched and embellished atop with feathers, ruffles, and sequins. Furthermore, the collection employed batik, an age-old method of applying dye-resistant wax to the fabric before dying in order to create patterns, which originated in Indonesia. To finish off each look, models strutted atop sky-high, colorful woven wedges, while their natural makeup and beach-y waves added to the show’s elevated, suffer girl aesthetic.

Overall, the theme of spring/summer 2010 was summer fun. Despite associations with the 1960s, from beach movies to mod dresses, the collection represented a modern vision of youth: one that needs not to choose between sporty and sophisticated, girly and chic, day and eveningwear. Proenza Schouler’s collection projects the message that, at least in 2010, women can be all of these things at once.