Since launching back in 2011, Vaquera has attained cult status thanks to its brilliantly offbeat designs – who could forget last year’s Handmaid’s Tale-inspired collection, or the Saints and Sinners of AW18? That was then, though, and this is now: this afternoon, as part of the penultimate day of New York Fashion Week, the trio of designers behind the brand – Patric DiCaprio, Claire Sully, and Bryn Taubensee – presented their vision of SS19. Here’s what went down.
The show was held at a school on New York’s Lower East Side, and the audience took their seats on classic purple and blue plastic chairs (or, in some cases, on the floor, like in a proper school assembly). Placed on each seat were the show notes, which also featured yearbook style messages: “Hey sis, good luck. I know you’re going to shine!” said one, while another asked us not to forget that good girls, bad girls, and cowgirls alike all go to heaven. The after-party invite was a detention slip – perhaps the first one we’ve ever been happy to receive.
THE COLLECTION RIFFED ON SCHOOL UNIFORMS
...with deconstructed pleated skirts, scribbled-on cropped polo shirts, football jerseys, and skewed school sweaters all reimagined in Vaquera’s inimitable style. Elsewhere, standard school stereotypes were dismantled, as cheerleaders’ pom-poms became shoulder pads, while floral dresses and were blown to enormous proportions, like you’d just inherited your older sibling's cast-offs. T-shirts printed with ‘Power, Money, Fame’, ‘High Standards’, and pictures of garlic (as modelled by NY Times style writer Matthew Schneier, who swapped the FROW for the runway) also featured, styled by Dazed’s Emma Wyman with cut-off denim skirts and loose, cropped trousers.
THE VAQUERA ‘ICON’ PRINTS WERE BACK
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Last season, the label immortalised personal icons including Martin Margiela and Raf Simons on oversized cotton shirts. Carrying the idea through to SS19, this time around one model wore a long-sleeved top illustrated with all your fave 00s teen hearthrobs: Gossip Girl’s Chase Crawford, Robert Pattinson, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, and another slightly less obvious choice: Draco Malfoy.
IT ENDED WITH A GRADUATION
When it came to the end of the show, the designers cranked it up a notch. Taking to the catwalk in a huge blue satin gown and an oversized cap, one model also clutched a gold-framed school portrait in his hand. Final year students take note: if you’re planning on shutting down your graduation ball next May, this is how you do it.