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Proenza Schouler's Secessionist Safari

Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough are about as establishment as a pair of young designers can get. They won the coveted designer of the year award from the CFDA this year (a tie with Oscar de la Renta), did a line for Target and continue to dazzle and delight the fashion elite. This summer, the Valentino Group bought a 45% stake in their company. And they’re still under 30.

Their mastery of design, revelry in the details, grasp of luxury and thorough understanding of exactly what their customer wants was clearly on display at their Spring ’08 show on September 7 held at the Park Avenue Armory, and they proved once again why they’re still the crown princes of American sportswear.

This season, it was as though Viennese Secessionist Gustav Klimt went on safari, bringing with him models ornamented in sharp hemp linen layers of waistcoats that were neatly belted at the waist, jackets pieced together with panels of geometric patterns in graphic black and white, and crisp white poplin shirtdresses. There was hardly a pair of pants in sight, and skirts and dresses were kept short, but this is the kind of sportswear that their fans like: Somewhat edgy, and leaving the impression of intellectualism, but absolutely feminine.

But truly ingenious, and quite jaw-dropping, were the skirts and dresses made out of raw silk cut and dyed to resemble tiny feathers, like those of blackbirds or pheasants. But the pieces most likely to justify what will presumably carry very steep price tags? The “gold leafed” dresses with the aforementioned layers of feathery cut silk that took the concept of metallics to a whole new level: These pretty much looked dipped in liquid gold. If you want to send a clear message about your better-then-average financial status, this is the dress to don.

There were a few things that didn’t work quite as well, like the looks in a shade of marigold that seemed more appropriate for a sofa or lampshade. The bubble hem on a white shirtdress, used again on a wood beaded linen dress (worn by model of the moment Agyness Dean) also destroyed the otherwise crisp geometric lines prevalent elsewhere that made this collection so enticing.

Part of Proenza Schouler's popularity seems to stem from these two effortlessly giving the impression of downtown cool to clientele who can afford Oscar de la Renta, but are more adventurous and insider than that, the patronesses of all that's new and fresh in fashion. But at the end of the day, there's a reason that they're sharing the throne with Mr. de la Renta. They may be tattooed and party at Beatrice Inn, but they're really just the boys next door who know exactly the right things to design. And in an industry that eats its young (and even old for that matter) alive, that's exactly what it takes.

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