Designers behind Proenza Schouler find fresh inspiration on a road trip from L.A. to West Texas

Introduced in the early 2000s, the Proenza Schouler label has gone on to win awards and critical acclaim for its fashion and accessories collections, which are sold at retailers including Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Net-a-Porter.

The New York-based brand also has dressed its share of celebrities, among them Charlize Theron and Selena Gomez as well as the actress and soon-to-be royal Meghan Markle.

However, there was one thing that eluded Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the couple behind the Proenza Schouler label, and that was having a fragrance deal.

“It’s every designer’s dream to launch a fragrance,” said Hernandez, sitting in a Beverly Hills living room filled with priceless art on a rainy afternoon last month during a luncheon celebrating the launch of the new fragrance. (The luncheon was co-hosted by Vanity Fair, and guests included Emma Roberts, Karolina Kurkova and Nina Dobrev.) “And we were told that if we were ever going to do it, it should be with L’Oréal. But we had to wait for them to call us.”

A couple of years ago that call finally came.

Fast forward to the March launch of Arizona, a fragrance contained in a hefty crystal bottle the color of a pallid-pink sunset. The designers settled on the look, feel and scent of the product, which is available in two sizes for $100 and $130 at Saks and on the label’s website, while road-tripping from Los Angeles to Marfa, Texas, on a mission to study land art.

“After every show, we go on vacation for inspiration and to disconnect and detox,” McCollough said. “During that trip through the great Southwest, we lost reception. There was no internet. It felt like such a blissful and romantic experience — like we were off the grid and disconnected from the world. The concept of the perfume stemmed from that.” The name of the fragrance, he said, is about “that state of mind, of getting back in touch with some core important things.”

It has been a watershed year for the brand. In commemoration of its 15th anniversary, Proenza Schouler also launched its Re Edition Collection of 15 reissued runway pieces based on the label’s signature designs over the past years. Pieces available in the collection include high-waisted black culottes for $895 and a cobalt blue and black animal print long-sleeve tee at $325.

The luxury and exclusivity that imbues the Proenza Schouler name — must-have dresses are in the $3,000 range — informs the notes in Arizona; the fragrance is accompanied by shower oil, dry hair and body oil and body lotion. The designers are said to be the first to use Trichocereus (called the torch cactus) as the base of the fragrance. Turns out the cactus blooms briefly just one night a year. Other notes come from orris root blended with patchouli; its inherent headiness is tempered by the freshness of jasmine.

The designers said they approached the creation of the fragrance, which is made in France, as they do their collections.

“So much of what we do is about innovation, craft, nature,” Hernandez said. “We wanted to bring that experience to the fragrance.”