BY MARYANNE GRISZ

Designers: Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow

Public School New York showed its second collection since returning, LIVING PROOF, on Thursday, September 10. Designers Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow framed Spring 27 as the follow-up to a homecoming — if Fall 26 was the return itself, this season surveys the surroundings the brand has come back to. They describe the collection as a dialogue in modularity, a wardrobe built to hold both childhood memory and what they call volatile times ahead. The fabric story leans into that readiness, moving from natural wools, baby ribbed cotton, yarn-dyed cupro, viscose and cashmere cottons into washed synthetics and ripstop nylons. The palette stays deliberately narrow, navy, black, greys and stone, mixed for versatility and for the specific purpose of blending into the city rather than standing out in it.

The clothes read as an argument about what a uniform means once school becomes the world. Shoulders are broad and built out, holding Public School’s signature structure while suggesting an extra layer of skin against wind and rain. Waterproof galoshes cover shoes with an exaggerated toe spring built for forward movement, and woven shirts pair with soft jerseys worn as body wraps, layers that peel back to reveal underpinnings with movement and shape. Hardware-less belts run throughout, doubling as cross-shoulder straps for carrying whatever the wardrobe requires. The styling is effortless, as the designers put it, but also a means of vigilance.