Proenza Schouler First Collection Barneys Window
Sometimes the best way to bring new life to a brand is, oddly, to reissue the old, er, we mean classic. Bands have been doing it for years with albums dedicated solely to hits, so why shouldn’t fashion do it as well? Well, they are and in a big way recently.
Big brands love bringing back the classics — there’s no better way to fête a milestone — and shoppers love being able to get their mitts on something they missed out on the first time around, so what we have here is a wearable win-win for everyone. Downtown babes can now get their perfectly manicured mitts on Proenza Schouler’s first collection (the senior thesis turned Barneys exclusive, remember?) and girly girls can snag favorites from the last two decades at Anthropologie. But our favorite has to be Victoria Beckham, who is offering a few of her most iconic pieces exclusively at her new E-tail venture. Whatever your style, these reissued collections show that what’s old is definitely something worth wearing all over again.
Proenza Schouler First Collection
The Proenza Schouler story is one for the books: Two friends graduate from Parsons together, their senior thesis becomes a best-selling line at Barneys and the duo goes on to win three CFDA Awards. It’s hard to think that all of this happened in just ten years now, since the once-fledgeling label is now practically a household name. They’ve spun their fashion cred into a collab with Target, a capsule collection with Shiseido and a fashion empire that ranges from must-have handbags (the PS1 schoolgirl satchel is still a best-seller) and shoes to a gleaming Madison Avenue flagship. Teaming with Barneys, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have reissued the very first collection in a capsule collection aptly named First Collection. The bustier tops, slouchy T-shirts and bold structural outerwear remain timeless and the bold print mixing and colors seem like they could have walked the runway just this season. Along with First Collection, the designers are issuing a few other favorites from the archive too, showing that after just ten short years, their oeuvre is anything but a flash in the pan.
First Collection will be available exclusively at Barneys New York locations nationwide, but the special window installations appeared only at the department store’s Manhattan flagship. Meant to resemble a laboratory, select pieces were highlighted to showcase the brand’s signatures, such as intricate embroidery, proportion play and innovative silhouettes. Like the actual first collection, we expect these pieces to sell out in no time at all.
Victoria Beckham Icon Polo Fitted Dress
Victoria Beckham Colo Block Cap Fitted Dress
Though her label is just half as old as Proenza Schouler’s, Victoria Beckham is no less of a fashion force. Since 2008, she’s carved a niche for herself in the fashion industry, creative sleek and sophisticated clothes that garner both critical acclaim and actual sell-throughs on the department store sales floors. Though it’s a bit of a trek to find her pieces, shoppers go the distance to find their favorite pieces as soon as they’re released. To celebrate the debut of E-commerce on her Web site, Beckham decided to reissue a “best of” collection, calling it the Icon collection.
The Icon dresses are all recognizable. Not only has Beckham herself been spotted (and snapped) in many of them, they’re the dresses that have gained the strongest celeb following. Remember Eva Longoria in her wiggle dress on Letterman? Jessica Biel wearing the rugby striped dress in Cannes? Jennifer Hudson’s black body-skimming stunner? They’re all part of the collection. Beckham says that she’ll be rotating the inventory and offering just a limited number of each dress with every release, so if you see one you can’t live without, we say click, charge and wear with pride. Posh would have it no other way.
Antropologie Archival Collection Dotted Dress
While we’d all love to wear designer duds every day of the week, even editors and the flashbulb set mix in more accessible brands for real life and red carpets alike. Young Hollywood has always had an affinity for Anthropologie, and so do many ladies we know! It’s hard to resist the brand’s perfectly shabby stores, curated mix of home goods and wear-anywhere clothes. To celebrate 20 years in the business of giving girls just what they want, the store is issuing 20 of their favorites looks in the Archival Collection. Click through the selection and you’ll probably recognize a few of the dresses, cardigans and skirts that the brand has chosen to release. The collection, like the store it represents, has something no matter what the occasion: work-to-play dresses, casual cocktail frocks, cozy knitted sweaters and quirky-cool skirts. The collection is available for pre-order on the store’s Web site, but check your favorite store, too. The collection will be sprinkled in with the normal stock, so even on the most routine shopping trip you might just stumble onto a gem.
Images courtesy Victoria Beckham, Barneys and Anthropologie
