Luxury fashion brand Proenza Schouler has named CFDA award-winning designer Rachel Scott as its new creative director. The designer of cult New York label Diotima will succeed Proenza Schouler founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez — the duo, who built the label while studying at Parsons School of Design, replaced Jonathan Anderson at Loewe earlier this year.
Proenza Schouler has named Rachel Scott as its new creative director.
Rachel Scott will take the reins as Proenza Schouler’s creative director on Sept. 2, with her first collection, Autumn Winter 2026, set to be shown in February 2026. The fashion brand’s Spring Summer 2026 collection, a collaboration between the fashion brand and Scott, who joined as a consultant earlier this year, will “serve as an intimate preview of her perspective,” according to a statement by the brand.
The Jamaican-born fashion designer is set to take over ready-to-wear, accessories, and the in-house White Label. She is joining Proenza Schouler at a pivotal time for the luxury fashion brand.“Rachel brings a fresh and female perspective to a brand built on the spirit of the modern American woman,” said Proenza Schouler CEO Shira Suveyke Snyder in a statement. “Her profound understanding of Proenza Schouler’s brand codes, paired with her exceptional ability to marry craft with innovation, made her the natural choice to lead the brand forward.”
“It is with great excitement that I join Proenza Schouler, a brand at the heart of American fashion, and one I have long admired,” said Scott in a statement. “I hold deep respect for the beauty and world Jack and Lazaro so brilliantly crafted, and I look forward to bringing my perspective in dialogue with their legacy.”
Her appointment also brings a refreshing new name into the mix of industry heavy hitters at top luxury brands, most of whom are are men. Proenza Schouler has long since represented a distinctly New York woman, making its mark with accessible-but-chic silhouettes and coveted It bags like the the PS1 satchel. Now, Scott has the opportunity to bring a fresh and feminine point of view—something of which the team feels acutely aware, with Snyder adding that she looks forward to Scott expanding on the brand’s core spirit.
Who Is Rachel Scott?
The Jamaica-born designer is recognised for a sensual approach that’s rooted in a reverence for craft and nod to Caribbean culture, and grapples with issues of race, gender and our relationship to work and labour. The fashion brand’s Autumn Winter 2025 collection examined historical representations of Black women, with The Cut’s Cathy Horyn describing her as “one of the few designers who took real risks.”
Scott launched Diotima in 2021. Her first show the luxury label will take place on 15 September, following Proenza Schouler SS26 in New York, which Scott developed with the design studio after joining the label as a consultant earlier this year. She won Council of Fashion Designers of America Womenswear Designer of the Year Emerging Designer, and Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2023 and 2024.
This year, she was honoured with the Fashion Trust U.S. ready-to-wear award. Scott was a finalist for the 2023 LVMH Prize and for the 2025 Woolmark Prize. She also won Frazier Family Foundation x CFDA Empowered Vision Award in 2024 and Fashion Trust US award for ready-to-wear earlier this year.
Prior to Diotima, Rachel Scott worked as an assistant designer at Costume National in Milan, then moved to New York, where she spent four years at Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s Elizabeth and James and seven years at Rachel Comey, becoming VP Design.
Proenza Schouler
New York based womenswear and accessories brand Proenza Schouler was founded in 2002 by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. The duo met while studying at Parsons School of Design, eventually collaborating on their senior thesis which became their first collection as Proenza Schouler. Named after the designers’ mothers’ maiden names, the collection was bought in its entirety by Barneys New York.
Proenza Schouler makes luxury fashion for the discerning urban woman. The work is defined by the use of fine luxury materials and high quality. Awarded with the inaugural CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund award in 2004, the brand quickly carved a niche in the industry. Proenza Schouler has won five CFDA awards, including the 2003 Swarovski award for Ready-to-Wear, 2009 Accessory Designer of the Year Award, and Womenswear Designer of the Year Award in 2007, 2011, and 2013.
Proenza Schouler launched its first handbag collection in 2008. In 2012, the brand launched their footwear collection which completed their luxury accessories portfolio. Proenza Schouler has also collaborated with leading brands, including L’Oréal, Birkenstock, and Mercedes-Benz. In 2019, Proenza Schouler White Label was launched and derives its aesthetic from elements found throughout the history of the main line, but rendered in a more casual, accessible style.
Per Harpers Bazaar: ‘They took the uptown polish of legends like Donna Karan and Calvin Klein and gave it their own downtown edge. Their catwalk looks proposed infinite ways to think about everyday dressing, particularly for the American woman. They paired futuristic, bustier maillots with belted Bermuda shorts and bright bandage tops with classic pleated A-line skirts – elegance and glamour smashed together with kink.’
Proenza Schouler has a flagship at 121 Greene Street in New York, and is sold in over 350 stores worldwide, including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Harrods, Galeries Lafayette, and Printemps. The brand is available on its official website and through e-commerce retail partners.
Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country’s advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
