Just last week, Proenza Schouler revealed Rachel Scott will be the new creative director of the New York-based brand. As the industry speculated on who would take over since Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez announced their departure in January, Scott has been busy collaborating with the design team, consulting before taking on her newly appointed role. While her debut collection is slated for fall 2026, Scott’s imprint on spring is undeniable.

Backstage at the presentation, Scott reflected on her experience entering the world McCollough and Hernandez have built over 23 years. “I almost felt during the development that I was in someone else’s house, and I was really learning about the previous inhabitants. I looked at the tailoring really deeply. I looked at their use of color, I looked at their use of print and pattern. And I think some of the things I really held onto was sharpness of silhouette.”

That sense of structure carried through to the collection. Fabrics chosen for their ability to hold shape were cut into classic Proenza Schouler forms, such as a gray tailored blazer, but were given the subtle Scott treatment with frayed edges along the shoulders and lapel. So was a jacquard white suit, inverted to display the floats, usually unseen, adding texture and dimension.

There were experimentations with color, playing off the signature reds and blues and yellow with shades that were paler, diluted or a bit more acid. One that stood out was a sea glass green with blurred chrysanthemums printed on a silk dress, slightly off-kilter but utterly polished.

“I’m thinking about their clothes, but thinking about ways to use my love of artisanal handwork and craft and reinterpret it a bit,” explained Scott, who later this NYFW will show the spring 2026 collection for her own label, Diotima.

The designer’s skill lay in honoring the house codes while infusing them with her own visual language, a balance clearly visible in this collection. It marked just the beginning of what’s to come as the brand evolves under Scott’s creative direction.