Fashionista

Tuesday September 4th, 2012

My Fashion Week Nightmare…with Vena Cava
Fashion Is Fun

My Fashion Week Nightmare…with Vena Cava

Anyone who works in the industry has had ‘em: A fashion week related nightmare. We asked designers, editors and stylists to share theirs with us, and then we asked our friend (and super talented artist) Mara Sprafkin illustrate them. Don’t be scared… We’ve heard about Simon Doonan’s model-humping pup and Rebecca Taylor’s animated dress forms. Read more →

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Published at 4:15 PM

Monday April 9th, 2012

Struggling Label Vena Cava Gets a New Investor, Plans Expansion
Designers

Struggling Label Vena Cava Gets a New Investor, Plans Expansion

Good news for Vena Cava fans: The struggling label has found a lifeline.

After reports surfaced last winter that the label had lost a key investor and was laying off employees, things were looking pretty grim. WWD was reporting that the financial state of the company was “drastic” (whatever that means). Today Vena Cava announced their partnership with LF USA, the US subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Li & Fung Limited. Designers Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai “will continue to oversee the creative vision for the brand,” a press release reads, “while LF USA will contribute its extensive global resources and deep retail relationships to support the growth of the brand.”

So what does this deal mean for Vena Cava, LF USA, and for us as shoppers?

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Published at 11:44 AM

Thursday November 17th, 2011

Report: Vena Cava At Risk of Going Under

Report: Vena Cava At Risk of Going Under

Vena Cava, the label designed by indie fashion darlings Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock, might shutter, a source tells us. Though the label garnered a cult following among a certain set of Brooklyn girls since its debut in 2004, the loss of a major investor has reportedly put the label at risk of going under. This probably also explains why Vena Cava didn’t put on a spring runway show this September as they have in seasons past.

According to a source close to the situation, the label moved out of their Soho headquarters this week and laid off a lot of staff. Vena Cava hasn’t shuttered yet–they’ve moved their offices home–and we hear a deal with TJ Maxx is still in the works. Still, things seem grim, which is sad news to hear about a label we’ve always been fond of.

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Published at 7:00 AM

Friday February 25th, 2011

Vena Cava to Collaborate With Uniqlo

Vena Cava to Collaborate With Uniqlo

Vena Cava‘s Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock announced Wednesday at Fashion Group International’s panel on entrepreneurship that they will be collaborating with Uniqlo. It’s a juicy little tidbit of news that we nearly missed because the designers mentioned it so offhandedly (luckily Fashion etc., didn’t and reminded us).

Collaborating with brands is nothing new for Vena Cava. They’ve partnered in the past with Gap, Aqua for Bloomingdale’s and Converse.

The Gap collab was a struggle, Sophie said, because “Vena Cava is not a khaki brand”, and she and Lisa are “pretty far from preppy.” The design duo went on to weigh out the pros and cons of doing collaborations–one the one hand, lower-priced collaborations with big brands are a great way to reach the mass market and a new audience, and bottom line, make money, but they would never want work on a collaboration that wasn’t true to their brand.

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Published at 11:34 AM

Wednesday August 11th, 2010

Mayor Bloomberg Talks Fashion’s Night Out While Anna Wintour, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Other CFDA Members Stand There
Fashion Shows

Mayor Bloomberg Talks Fashion’s Night Out While Anna Wintour, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Other CFDA Members Stand There

After living here for a while, you sometimes forget how many amazing people live and work in New York City. When we walked into City Hall for the Fashion’s Night Out kick-off press conference today, we went through security with Lisa Mayock from Vena Cava.

Then, we saw Anna Wintour walking ahead of us and Alex Wang suddenly appeared behind us. A few minutes later Marc Jacobs, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez walked in. After we were seated inside the press conference room, the following people (in addition to the aforementioned) surrounded the podium: Prabal Gurung, Zac Posen, Phillip Lim, Tracy Reese, Kenneth Cole, Donna Karan, Carolina Herrera, Tommy Hilfiger, Thakoon Panichgul, Marcus Wainwright from Rag & Bone, Francisco Costa, Vera Wang, Tory Burch, Steven Kolb, Linda Fargo, the Mayor…and after a few moments, we noticed tiny Mary-Kate Olsen peeking her head out behind Marc.

Then, unfortunately, we died and are thus unable to report anything else about Fashion’s Night Out.

Just kidding – sort of.

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Published at 6:00 PM

Thursday April 22nd, 2010

Wednesday April 7th, 2010

Tuesday November 10th, 2009

People We Like

Save Fashion Must-Haves

Save Fashion returns this week and if today’s Luella news is any indication, there’s still a lot of saving to be done in this fair industry of ours. But what to buy? Here’s advice straight from some of the participants: –”I’d say the one must-have item from VC at Save Fashion is our leather leggings. Read more →

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Published at 4:01 PM

Friday September 11th, 2009

Fashion Shows

Vena Cava: Worth the Confusion

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Published at 8:23 AM

Thursday June 11th, 2009

A Vision in Khaki

We’ve been anxiously awaiting the new CFDA Design Edition khakis at the GAP. Not as much as the white shirts, but still we’re excited. Even better, we just learned that GAP’s Patrick Robinson along with designers Alexander Wang, Albertus Swanepoel, and the Vena Cava girls Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai will all be at the Read more →

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Published at 2:01 PM