Patric DiCaprio, Bryn Taubensee and David Moses turned a SoHo art-school project into the loudest, weirdest, most quotable label in American fashion.
Vaquera was never supposed to be a brand in the traditional sense. It started as a collective — Patric DiCaprio, Bryn Taubensee and David Moses staging shows in basements and gallery spaces, treating runway as performance art and treating fashion as a fan letter to the things they love.
A decade later, the label is one of the most influential voices coming out of New York: an LVMH Prize finalist, a Paris Fashion Week regular, and a permanent fixture on the moodboards of every art-school kid in the city.
Fan Fiction as a Design Language
Vaquera's clothes work like fan fiction. They take cultural objects — a Tiffany shopping bag, a Disney princess silhouette, a wedding dress, a quilted Chanel — and rewrite them. Sometimes literally three sizes too big. Sometimes inside out. Always with the kind of devotion that only obsession produces.
“We're not trying to be subversive. We're trying to be honest about how much we care.”
— Patric DiCaprio
Why Vaquera Matters Right Now
- They proved you can build a brand from New York without a Calvin/Ralph/Marc apprenticeship.
- They made oversized, ironic, hyper-romantic dressing feel like a thesis instead of a costume.
- They turned the LVMH Prize spotlight into a Paris show schedule slot — and kept the original DIY energy.
If you want to understand where the next generation of American designers is borrowing from, start here.