Bridget Foley’s Diary: Proenza Schouler CEO Touts ‘Limitless Potential’ for the Refocused Brand

For Kay Hong, signing on as chief executive officer of Proenza Schouler was all about her belief in the superior talent of the brand’s founding designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. That — and chemistry. “I said to the Mudrick team, ‘Look, if there’s not a great chemistry between Jack and Lazaro and me in terms of how we view the business and what we think the opportunities are, then this isn’t going to work,” she recalled in a conversation last week that dovetailed with the designers’ exclusive interview with WWD. She referred to Mudrick Capital Management, which specializes in distressed investments, and is the lead investor in the designers’ buyback of their company from parties including Andrew Rosen, Irving Place Capital ceo John Howard and private equity firm Castanea Partners, with which Ron Frasch was involved. A couple of marathon days spent getting to know the designing duo and their business convinced her to go for it, and Hong succeeded Judd Crane, whose two-year tenure ended with the buyback. She marked her one-year anniversary in the position earlier this month. It’s been a busy year. Hong arrived from outside the luxury sector, her prior work focused on small-box specialty retail with companies including

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