It's a new dawn at Proenza Schouler, a brand that has been defining the look of cool New York women for over two decades. In this new chapter, though, the designer doing the defining is a woman.
This is the first collection under the creative direction of Rachel Scott, who took over for founding designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez last September. (She consulted on the Spring 2026 line that debuted last New York Fashion Week, but was fully involved in this one.) She's already a beloved name in the industry, having worked behind-the-scenes at Rachel Comey before launching her award-winning label Diotima in 2021.
Wearing an "ICE OUT" pin on her blouse while talking to press backstage, Scott explained how it was important to her to respect what the brand has been and meant to customers for over two decades. "The legacy there is so strong and so beautiful," she said. At its forefront is "a really strong love of this incredible New York woman who's intellectual, who's tied to the arts." Her goal was to get closer to her using the design language Proenza Schouler has already established: "the use of color, the use of pattern, the sharpness, the precision, the tailoring, the fluidity of the dresses."
Scott has been preparing for this debut since the summer, when she first got to dive into the brand's archives. She then went out and met with actual Proenza Schouler customers to better understand not just who they are, but also what she could bring to their lives and wardrobes.
The overall inspiration for Fall 2026—and modus operandi for Scott—was moving away from an idea of perfection in favor of precision, she said. This was part of her goal of wanting to add "a bit more complexity and texture" to the Proenza Schouler woman: "Sometimes, she can be a bit more erotic. Sometimes, she can be angry. Sometimes, she's not quite so perfect, because, as a woman, I find perfection imprisoning. I wanted to give her that grace."
The result is an invitation for "self-authorship," as Scott put it. "It's not our expectations of her perfection—she can be as perfect or imperfect as she wants to be," she said. In the show notes, the brand painted a picture of a woman who seems "put-together, precise, deathly punctual," but is in a rush, and her clothes reflect that: fabric that looks worn-in and slightly wrinkled; irregular draping and lapels; buttons that are done up alongside some that have been abandoned. "She actually embraces that," Scott explained. "It's not about trying to mold to someone's vision about who she is."
Her smart separates, tailored pieces, and fine knits convey a confidence, refinement, and understanding in who she is and how she likes to dress. She doesn't need to give her dress one final steam before heading out the door, or triple-check her buttons are all aligned—she has places to go, things to do, and people to see. Her clothes aren't a distraction.
Another element of the brand Scott is beginning to play with—and will continue to in future collections—is "the new understanding of color" at Proenza Schouler. "There's no way for someone to use someone else's color language," she explained. "What Jack and Lazaro did was so beautiful, but it's their language. What I really thought about was more what the color language they had did. It was colors that reverberate. So I took that and put my language into it."
Scott's take is a touch moodier, with the occasional jolt of bright red and creamy white that immediately catches the eye. She incorporates texture in the finer details, like silver grommets and leather fringe, in a way that gives the collection a sense of continuity with the ones that came before.
Another thing remains certain in the Rachel Scott era: The Proenza Schouler woman is still the best-dressed person you know.
