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[Images via Second City Style]
1.) Second City Style: "Something about Proenza Schouler's show seamed vaguely familiar. That's because I felt like I lived these styles in the late 70's into the early 80's...the last days of disco. Oddly, I liked the interpretation more than the actual time (I was young, but I remember). For Spring, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez got Dynasty tough. Think of Joan Collins (aka Alexis Carrington) wielding her stealth shoulder pads and belted waists and there you have it. Remember parachute pants? The duo brought them back along with jumpsuits, dolman sleeves (which I have always secretly loved) and disco ball mirrored glitzy gowns. I even loved the severely side-parted hair (think Jerry Hall in her Jagger days)! Goodbye seventies. Hello spring!"
2.) Jezebel: "If you're feeling nostalgic for Nancy Reagan chic, you've come to the right place, baby, cause Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez , the minds behind Proenza Schouler, were feeling 80s power in a major way. Yes, you've got the shoulders, the glitz, the jumpsuits. But there's also a major nod to the 'eccentric art patron great-aunt type - you know, the one in the huge glasses with 'avant-garde' tastes."
3.) ShinyStyle: "With more money to throw into their collection this season, risks were taken where the boys have previously played safe. The result was a mixed show of everything from 80s jumpsuits to slinky silk dresses. There were some stunners, but there was also a leather crop top..."
4.) The Fug Girls: "The most dramatic celebrity, however, was Kanye West. (That's probably true more often than not.) As we loitered around the Armory after the show, we noticed that Kanye was waiting for his car all by his lonesome. No one was talking to him. No one was taking his picture. He was just standing there in his houndstooth suit, glasses, and backpack, looking like a very well-dressed kid whose mother is running late picking him up from school. At one point, his ex-fiancée, Alexis Phifer — also attending the show, awkward — asked him if he wanted to share her ride. And she was summarily, and curtly, denied. Drama!" (OK, so it's not actually about the show exactly, but the Fug Girls are never really there for the runway.)
5.) Fashionologie: "Alice Dellal may have been a special guest at Alexander Wang, but she was there in spirit at Proenza Schouler — the sideswept wavy hair, red lip, leathers, zippers, and crop tops shown were all reminiscent of her look. She may have been a starting point, but the collection had a downtown refinement that you would never seen in Alice — she revels too much in the grunge. All I have to say is: So many fun, billowy jumpsuits, so little time."
6.) WWD: The 80's "archetypal power babe got a new look at Proenza Schouler, where Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez rendered her in all her tough chic, fetishistic glory, but in ivory as well as the expected black...Among the strong pieces: the strappy-back silk jumpsuit that opened the show (it came out again late over a big-shouldered blouse); some terrific engineered knits; a cinch-waist skirt with port-hole embroidery at the hem....Then, suddenly, the collection switched gears...it seemed as if Hernandez and McCollough wanted to hedge their bets, because suddenly the mood shifted. It was still Eighties, and still editorial in its way, but looser, safer, slouchier, more tony domesticated diva than dominatrix."