“We’ve Focused on Creating a Through Line from Season to Season”: Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez on Steering Proenza Schouler Into the Future

When Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez arrived on the fashion scene in 2003, they were barely out of Parsons—but their career trajectory is now the stuff of fashion lore. As two 20-something students, they had their entire graduate collection bought up by Barneys New York and were instantly vaulted to star status. Now, 15 years later, plenty has changed regarding the pair’s brand, business, and relationship; and sitting down with Vogue Runway director Nicole Phelps, at Vogue’s Forces of Fashion conference, McCollough and Hernandez delved into the past, present, and future of Proenza Schouler.

The pair’s Spring 2020 collection was the jumping-off point for a conversation that spanned their new obsession with sensuous draping—inspired in part by a Lucio Fontana exhibit at the Met Breuer earlier this year—the women they admire and want to dress, and how they’re steering their brand into its second decade of existence. Read some highlights below, and watch the entire talk on Vogue’s Facebook page.

On the importance of continuity between seasonal collections

“In the last three of four seasons, we’ve really focused on tailoring and creating a through line from season to season—not bouncing around from one idea to a completely different idea, but really exploring who our woman is and continuing that spirit,” McCollough said, when discussing the brand’s shows since returning to New York Fashion Week for the Spring 2019 season. “Instead of it being a complete revolution every season, it’s more an evolution of a similar spirit.”

Hernandez chimed in: “There was a time when every season would be a brand new idea, we’d jump around. Whatever we were struck by, that was the thing we took for that collection. Sometimes we would go from hard and short to soft and long, and it became a bit—I don’t know, we were just bouncing around a lot. It’s really nice, and we’re really focused on continuing the woman season after season after season, creating this sort of evolution. That’s how you create a brand. The brands that are doing really well right now are the brands that stay consistent and have a consistent voice season after season after season, so we’re really focused on that.”

“I think it’s more important than ever,” McCollough added, noting that in the time from launching their brand to the present day, the number of designers listed on Vogue Runway—then Style.com—has increased from 50 to almost 500. “I think there’s more noise than ever, and if you don’t have a very clear, concise point of view about who you are, what you stand for, or who your woman is, then I think you get lost in the game.”

On working as a duo

As a couple that designs and owns a business together, McCollough and Hernandez are with each other almost every waking moment. “We’re business partners, but we’re also a couple, and we’ve been together for a long time. Anyone who works with their other half knows what that’s like. It gets hard to figure out where work ends and life begins,” Hernandez said. “That’s a very tricky thing that we try to figure out and manage. It’s very easy to wake up in the morning and talk about work immediately, but sometimes you have to, you know, talk about life, make coffee, or do other things and shut work off. That’s something we try to do, make time for our relationship because it could just be all work all the time. That’s obviously not healthy.”

When it comes to design, the pair work separately, taking 10 days each season to sketch out the entire collection at their farm Upstate. They sit at opposite ends of a long table and individually sketch out a collection that touches on shared references, bring the sketches back to their studio in Manhattan, and build out what will go on the runway from there. “At the end of the season, there are basically two collections happening at once. How do we figure out how to merge them? We draw more than what we need for a show, so whose stuff falls out and whose stuff makes it?” Hernandez said.

“That’s where a little pride can sometimes get in the way,” McCollough added, with a laugh. “To be honest, that’s where it’s really helpful having a stylist come in, having a third eye, someone who hasn’t been so in it, in terms of the process, and doesn’t know who did what.… Most of the time, it’s like an even mix [in the end].” The pair admitted that even though they sketch separately, they continually riff off each other, with a detail drawn by one picked up and reinterpreted by the other. “It’s a real collaboration in the truest sense of the word,” Hernandez concluded.

On the importance of setting up house codes

“We’re not working for another house with these vast codes that date back for a century,” McCollough said of staying inspired. “We’re really making this up as we go along. I think what we do is purely autobiographical, and we’ve got to carve out time to have experiences. That’s really the only thing we’re drawing from. We’re not pulling from the codes of Chanel or Balenciaga or whatever. It’s really about our lives and our experiences.”

Hernandez on a very fateful interaction

In the middle of the talk, Phelps brought up an anecdote she had heard involving a college-age Hernandez and Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour on an airplane. The full story: When Hernandez was a sophomore at Parsons, he was on the same flight from Miami, his hometown, to New York with Wintour. Before boarding, his mother implored him to speak to the editor before the plane landed. “I didn’t have the courage to talk to her, but I did have the courage to write a note on a napkin or something with a marker I had in my backpack from Parsons,” Hernandez began. “I basically wrote that I was a student at Parsons, and I was looking for an internship, and I didn’t know who to turn to. I just moved to New York, and if she would be so kind as to help me, I would really appreciate it. So I went up to her, I went to First Class where she was sitting. I don’t know if she was sleeping or ignoring me, but she had her sunglasses on, so I couldn’t tell. I tapped her, and she didn’t turn around, so I put the napkin under her water glass, and I kind of just left. I never saw her again [on the plane.]”

But that wasn’t the end of the story. “Two weeks later, I got a call from Michael Kors that Anna had given the note to Michael and that he wanted to meet me for an internship. So I went in, and I got my first internship because of Anna. Thank you, Anna!” The lesson? “It’s worth it to be ballsy, and listen to your moms!”

On the importance of internships

While Hernandez was interning at Michael Kors, McCullough was also interning at Marc Jacobs. Their advice for students in the audience was to stay in school, but also to supplement that experience with design internships. “School is fantastic; you learn how to sketch and the technical side of how to make a garment—but interning and going out and working for these design houses was such an important part in shaping what we did,” McCullough said. “You learn every little facet of what it takes to put together a collection, and the reality is that whether it’s a small house or a big house, when you’re interning, it’s usually quite a small design team, so it’s very hands-on; you’re working directly with the designer and their people.”

In addition to the practical knowledge, knowing and working with a more established brand had added perks too. “When we did our senior collection together, we then had resources from Marc and Michael. Michael donated some fabric, we got beautiful double-face cashmere for free, and Marc was producing a lot—I think he still does—producing a lot of his samples at factories in Midtown, so we started working with those factories to produce our [own] collection,” McCullough told the audience. “We got a lot of resources from those two jobs, and I think that’s crucial. But most importantly, I think going into the real world after one graduates, you’ve got to have a point of view. There’s more noise than there’s ever been, and if you’re not saying something that feels new and different from what everyone else is saying, I think you’re going to struggle. You’ve really got to have a clear concise point of view that’s purely your own.”

Go Behind the Scenes at the 2019 Forces of Fashion Conference

Originally Appeared on Vogue