Launched in 2016 and collectively designed by Patric DiCaprio and Bryn Taubensee, Vaquera is the beloved and critically lauded NY-based brand that has been breathing new life and reinvigorating the New York fashion industry and culture at large. Vaquera is modern punk, it is fashion as fan fiction, it is both ends of the lasso – carefree D.I.Y passion and a deep reverence and engagement with fashion as well as social issues. Vaquera started in 2013 as fashion fan fiction, a way for founder Patric DiCaprio to explore his obsession with clothing. Since 2016, with the addition of Bryn Taubensee and now in partnership with Dover Street Market, that fantasy has become much more real. Vaquera means cowgirl in Spanish, after a nickname Patric was given while washing dishes. The name now represents a New York collective making garments for the characters of their city, both actual and imagined, and their very real customers across the world. What began to explore American tropes of dressing has become a signature look in itself. Since its conception, Vaquera has staged shows across the city, whether in boxing gyms, the subway or the East Village’s Ukrainian National home. The label’s designs have been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of both Camp: Notes on Fashion and In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, a night of Vaqueraoke was staged at MoMA PS1.

Vaquera’s FW24 collection dives into the concept of money through a countercultural lens, reflecting the meditation around money, late-stage capitalism, nepo babies and how these subjects are translated into contemporary society. The most literal interpretation of the theme is the seasonal dollar bill print covered with Eiffel Tower illustrations, heart stamps, lipstick kisses and “Fake” lettering on second skin tops, leggings, pointed collar shirts and hiked up dresses. As a New York based brand that shows during PFW, there is also the visual representation of the collection that comes out as the comparison between French and New York styles, where New York represents the “masculine” side and Paris the “feminine” side. This comparison creates a conversation between the two cities and has been translated through ironic, pop culture-informed graphics.

Their Fall Winter 2024 'Money' collection is available now, exclusively in Melbourne Australia at distal phalanx.