Vaquera: "Clothes Were How We Moved Ourselves Forward"

"When you're interested in fashion, you're always thinking about the future. Growing up far from the industry, clothes were how we moved ourselves forward, how we accessed the selves we hoped might exist. We were living in our pasts in New York, but moving to Paris gave us a necessary reset. It wasn't always easy to believe in the future. There were times when the brand looked bleak - no money, second jobs, a fake investor who vanished, no space to show, and the two of us at a tiny table saying for the first time, 'Maybe we should close Vaquera.'"

"But something in us refused that ending and having each other made moving ahead feel possible. We try to be honest about the future now - not overly optimistic, just clear, and we are shaped by the past. As Yohji Yamamoto said, 'With my eyes turned to the past, I walk backwards into the future.' That feels right. We don't feel hopeful about a lot of things in the world, but we do feel hopeful about our future. And sometimes that's enough."

"Vaquera was founded in New York in 2013 by Patric DiCaprio. Initially a solo project, it developed into a small collective before settling into a partnership with Bryn Taubensee, who joined in 2015. Together, they developed a label intent on skewering American dress codes through a dada-inflected logic, where uniforms, prom dresses and luxury symbols are exaggerated, distorted and worn with a knowing smile."

"Support from Dover Street Market came in 2020, providing greater stability without sanding down Vaquera's edges and allowing the label's self-described 'fashion fan fiction' to develop with increasing technical confidence. Now based in Paris, the brand had just relocated to a new studio when this portrait was taken - across the street from a gay bar with nude shower shows. 'A dream come true,' according to DiCaprio."

Fashion interest centers on imagining what could exist, using clothes to move toward hoped-for selves. Living in New York carried the weight of the past, while moving to Paris provided a reset amid financial strain, missing space, and setbacks including a vanished investor. The possibility of closing Vaquera emerged, but refusal to end the project and reliance on each other kept progress alive. The future is approached with clarity rather than optimism, shaped by past experience. Vaquera began in New York in 2013, evolved from a solo project into a collective, and became a partnership with Bryn Taubensee in 2015. The label satirizes American dress codes through exaggerated, distorted, dada-inflected styling, supported by Dover Street Market in 2020. The brand relocated to a new Paris studio near a gay bar with nude shower shows.

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