Currently reading : An editorial and conversation about Vejas with the designer and their stylist.
An editorial and conversation about Vejas with the designer and their stylist.
6 March 2015
Author : reba
VEJAS is a new young designer who recently showed their F/W15 collection at New York fashion week. Vejas’s stylist Marcus Cuffie alongside photographer Benjamin Bibriesca have created this editorial exclusively exhibited on Sang Bleu using this particular collection. And to go alongside this Vejas and Marcus have had a conversation about the morals behind this progressive and optimistic fashion brand which you can read below.
Marcus Cuffie
well the first question is
how did we meet?
that’s easy
tumblr
but lets just say “online:”
ugh I have to start making up a lie for this answer
we met….in the Mykonos I was with my ex husband then
tho the first first time we met irl was I think when u gave me that um…wool top
.. we don’t speak of that “wool top”
in your retrospective in 20 years I will
wear it and tell everyone this is the first thing u made
u betta not!
we met…
lets see next question
why is it important to cast people you care about
at the fall of the Berlin wall, you spray painted the margiela number label on the wall and then I showed you my margiela number tattoo on the back of my neck
lmao
uh,
ugh you messed up the order!!!!
ill let you answer first cuz I was talking to myself all day so I have my answer anyway
its important for me to cast people I care about because I want to see my friends beauty represented and legitimized and also to ground the clothes in the idea of their wearability in terms of being placed on “regular” people I guess
but the first part more so
right also I think at this point in like
our career
I hate saying career cuz I don’t make any money but anyway at this point I feel like the best thing about working in fashion at a young age is the strong sense of community
like I feel pretty supported by all my friends and I support their endeavors so it seems super natural to me those would be the people to walk the show, because those are the people who I would look to for some kind of confirmation anyway
also I always think the idea of friends walking is really nice in fashion like when elfie semotan would walk helmut or even like the muses karl drags in it makes things a little less stiff
right, and also from a marketing perspective, the idea of a brand being part of an intersecting creative community rather than existing in a vacuum makes the product more desirable to buy into, as one is being into a culture and a narrative rather than just some pieces of cloth.( I mean basically Margiela or Helmut’s early strategy now followed by HBA and Eckhaus Latta)
don’t quote me on that last part
well I’m not quoting ANYONE but that is really true
there’s that ed that has all the like helmut gang lined up or w/e and I think that makes or at least made helmut that much more alluring like
buying into family or something
like when you wear something and you see someone else wearing it that bond is a little like family
fashion is integrally capitalistic and often exploitative but the bond that is shared between complete strangers after the spark of recognizing a brand like CDG or Helmut Lang being worn by the other is perhaps slightly redeeming.
this is a lead in to the next question basically
what is the importance of community to both of you
community is a family outside of one’s biological family and is equally if not more important to sustenance of mind body and soul
if im gonna be sappy bout it
I love sap… but yeah I think what I said before is true again
It’s just like
support
I mean even like my ability to work now is like based on just like opportunities others extended to me
and like looking ahead I only really think of success as like
having some platform to help people around me like they helped me
in terms of getting work out in the world
right, its taking care of each other and wanting to use ones own successes to help others achieve or gain visibility
I guess that’s slightly different than community tho…
or like we didn’t directly answer it in some way
but I also think of a community or of the one i’m apart of now as like
the people I turn to for judgment and I mean that like artistically but also like
in terms of checking myself and what I think and do I think that’s important
ok cut that message out
and yep exactly what you said
Ugh I fainted I was so tired from work
cuz there’s like two more questions
What like you actually fainted
That’s dangerous
Take it easy today please..
I didn’t eat all day so I was like REALLY hungry cuz I forgot to eat while working
I guess it could be fainting
same all I had were some eggs yesterday at like 9 and then didn’t eat anything till 10 and almost fell over
we are so damn
dedicated
Or just poor
true cuz I didn’t eat cuz my paycheck didn’t clear yet…
I was arguing last night with someone who was saying that having 2 black girls is like gonna change everything and how he’s realizing black people exist so it’s all good, and they were talking about a certain designer
Right and that’s literally not enough
And I’m like wait why y’all so readily accept the small crumbs that the yt euro fashion world gives you??
like
right like it’s tiring to get excited over like
4 black girls at a show
and that’s not even taking note of the fact we basically only see asian or black models and no other race
like
fashion so horribly underrepresents other races and people are willing to overlook it but at this point for me it’s like something I cant really anymore
But you know its hard because like
ofc I like clothes
ofc I like the clothes that are on an all white casts
and this is a problem that you face if you are not white but you have an interest in fashion
I feel excluded
and it feels like a slight
that needs to be solved
oh wait this is a good lead in to the next question
ok so im switching two questions cuz we’re on this anyway
where do you think diversity in casting can go in the future
Well start with getting rid of the idea that tokenistic casting is ok
End PARIS
That’s a good start
But
Forreal,
but I like…paris….the shows not the city
I mean
the future is that diversity isn’t even an issue or something we’d question because the runway starts to feel like
a real representation of the fashion community
which just means like
include more than 3 races
like loosens restrictions on height and weight
Forreal I don’t know where casting is going to go, I mean Benetton really took the lead with that years ago and their company kind of flopped
it flopped cuz with Benetton it was kind of a gimmick I guess
which I think was the danger and is still the danger of pushing a non “standard” cast
you get attention but it feels like a gimmick
and what that points to is like the fact people only expect tall white girls
which is like
cool I love the fantasy I love a blank doll but its not realistic and at this point its pretty boring to see
It was a gimmick but the imagery was still powerful and I would assume exposed a lot of regular people to imagery they wouldn’t have otherwise seen or thought possible to exist in the realm of fashion
I guess
right
what really needs to happen tho is a real commitment to diversity not just this
flimsy back and forth
where one season half a cast is women of color
and the next is back to like two black girls and one asian girl
It’s just like there are no excuses left for casting directors and houses to give us to justify it
Nothing legitimate
I mean I guess part of the question also has to breach the topic we’ve had to talk about for a while
which is also casting of trans models
which to me is like a no brainer
Right
I think we mentioned we casted friends but beyond that
it just felt natural? these are women I know and find beautiful of course they should walk
and ideally that’s how it would be in some utopic fashion landscape but we know the politics of fashion run deeper than that
I mean I think it’s important to cast trans models as long as the reason for them being casted doesn’t revolve around transness, because diversity for the sake of diversity can often feel like a shallow gesture, it has to be sincere
I mean I think there is some room for purposeful exposure though which maybe wasn’t our intention but
it is important that trans models and people be seen in different context constantly
because then the idea of being trans no longer feels like a special circumstance
and it becomes less possible for people to be used as a gimmick at that point
Right
in the same way that
idk there’s that thing where
they’ll send 4 black girls in a row
in the same colors
like oh this part of the show
this is the part for black folks or like oh here’s our quota
now back to normal viewing
which it me is twice as offensive as just putting two in-between to just make a section for “us”
That makes the inclusion feel slightly sarcastic and begrudging, like “oh, here you go, that was painful but at least it was over quickly”
right like
oh we appeased the audience
so we are both a little upset so next question is
what upsets you both in fashion
is what you do a reaction to this
so its two parts I guess
I mean I think what angers me more than these practices of ignorance is
the way fashion tricks people into accepting them
and logicizing them
like I had a friend tell me its all right that dior at one point only had white models because
that was just the vibe like who else would you imagine in a show like that
as if that is somehow a realistic answer but
like people really do that a lot
like justifying things that you should just say no to
because fashion is big and beautiful
What upsets me truly besides casting is… The sheer amount of brands and clothing being churned out with no purpose or thought behind them.. It’s all about this bland pseudo modern minimal complacency in luxury at the moment, “aesthetic”, and to me it’s like numbing
right
and it’s a clear marketing move
because its an easier sell but its so spiritless
like how many brands do we need that do a comfy oversize fit their needs to be like
a new proposition within fashion at this point, which I think in a lot of ways there are from still young designers
and we as in like our generation are paying closer attention to younger designers than say the old guard major houses
It’s like neo-liberal in the sense that it’s clothing with no geographical marker, it’s apolitical, apathetical, and people buy into it so easily. The Adidas sneaker paired with jeans and a tan wool coat is the outfit of homogenization and globalized terror and hiding in safety
I mean maybe that’s aggressive to what people feel comfortable in but its just like
the normcore thing
then fashion tried to capitalize on that and make it this concrete style
and then they just threw like
adidas sliders on with a full runway look and were like “COMFORT”
I mean I feel like normcore was about erasing difference in physical appearance in order to reach some kind of notion of equality but erasing difference ends the market for innovation and creates cultural stagnation
Ok maybe exaggerating a bit
But idk
I feel like things like that get co-opted so fast that idea of equality are irrelevant
but then the second part is do you feel like
what you design is reactionary to what you dislike in fashion
I rephrased it a bit
Yea whatever I design is to fill the void in what I want to see existing versus what currently exists
Or at least that’s the idea
But then it has to get bogged down with realism and like I actually have to sell this stuff
So then I think more like ok if this stuff actually has to sell in order to make this business sustainable then it can’t be too crazy or unwearable, so I was thinking about what’s already comfortable and recognizable as clothing to most people and then changing the shape of it but not the elements, so that it becomes still recognizable but also kind of alien
I mean I like the idea of things selling tho I don’t want to see a bunch of walking sculptures on
every runway clothes should
accommodate a body and offer like a proposition
I mean we can’t all be comme, and even comme when in stores finds its way to being wearable
and we certainly don’t want to be j******S
NEXT QUESTION last one but I reversed the order
Like taking a grey sweatshirt and making it into this layered mess of coils or making a bomber jacket into pants or a baseball glove into a dress.. It’s still recognizable as its original object so I think there’s a subconscious part of one that feels comfortable to wear it
*nods*
is vejas about creating a world that you want to live in
which I think is funny considering our theme was like final girl or escape
(Off the record I feel like the designing for a dystopic existence thing is pretty strongly embodied by eckhaus already so I dun want to be too similar)
But I think
No it’s not about creating a world I want to live in because the theme was final girl and that would be a nightmare but I think of like, some writing by Arabelle Sicardi and the notion of clothing as terror and beauty as terror really stick with me, that like clothing can be about negotiating with what makes you uncomfortable and what makes the viewer uncomfortable, so I guess the point of the brand isssss
Projecting something recognizable but alien, self-actualization grounded in resilience, and like… Yea
yea I think
protection is important too
I mean I guess some people WERE topless but we hope they felt protected
yup protection too
and as a person who is living in these clothes rn
I have to say I feel pretty protected
like navigating this cruel ass capitalistic world
I mean nothing can get through that heavy of a rib knit
we should become a lifestyle brand though
vejas towels
but out of like…
sheepskin
vejas coasters
out of bone
future huntress vibes
doesn’t rick owens already make those
I don’t think he makes coaster we can corner that market
god why he always one step ahead
hmm once we get that licensing deal we can just live off the bone coasters and vejas perfume
All clothes by VEJAS
Photographs by Benjamin Bibriesca
Styling by Marcus Cuffie
The model is Louis Bubko
Follow them on Instagram here
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An editorial and conversation about Vejas with the designer and their stylist.
