A 10th anniversary can make even the most irreverent of designers turn contemplative. Vaquera’s Patric DiCaprio and Bryn Taubensee are on the precipice of that milestone, and have been thinking about what comes next. “We’re still very punk in our roots,” said Taubensee, “but we’re asking ourselves, how can we also make it easy for people to understand and wear, and easy enough for us to survive?” DiCaprio put it more bluntly: “Shooting ourselves in the foot isn’t really where we see the future for our lives and this brand.”
The challenges facing both emerging and established labels have been discussed ad infinitum this year in the face of contracting retail models and economic downturns. Vaquera, they give us the sense, hasn’t been immune to the difficulties their peers have experienced, but they’re charging forward anyway.
Their idea for spring was to zero in on essentials. Backstage they called them their “new basics,” pointing to a black bubble miniskirt with built-in bike shorts, bullet-bra tops (a surprise trend this season), and jersey tees with logos or other graphic treatments. Stretched around the arms, strapless bras gave button-downs a fetishy vibe; without them the shirts would make it in the straight world no problem, but is there any fun in that? In the end, these were not-that-basic basics, and that’s how their customers like it. DiCaprio and Taubensee have developed bankable signatures. A showgoer on the retail side reported that Vaquera consistently sells out on their e-commerce platform.
But look closely and it seemed like they were also playing with other brands’ signatures. The interlocking Vs on denim jeans and canvas bags, the oversize gold-on-black chain prints, and the striped rugby with the winged pegasus stamped on the chest reminded me of the kind of double-takes they sent down their early runways. They’re no longer designing giant Tiffany & Co.-blue dustbag dresses, as they did in their breakout collection for fall 2017, but their sense of subversion remains firmly in place. Only now that they’re growing up they’ve got new categories on offer alongside it, including kitten heel cowboy boots and pumps that rank up there with some of the coolest shoes of the season.
