Those who rely on art to eat will, sooner or later, negotiate the art.

In the fashion industry, gatekeeping is an unspoken rule. Which sets many up for failure, burnouts, or debt. If you’re extra lucky, everything combined. This closed-door policy is a cynical paradox, considering fashion lives off the public. And yet, we are all guilty of spreading glittery narratives, differing from the notably less sparkly reality.

Ultimately, Proenza’s fortunes unravelled for many of the same reasons so many of its peers are no longer in business: misallocation of funds, disagreements with investors, seismic shifts in the industry at large, and a fashion ecosystem that did a poor job of preparing young designers for the realities of entrepreneurship.