Bryn Taubensee

Bryn Taubensee is a designer and co-founder of the New York-based fashion label Vaquera. As a key creative force within the collective, she has been instrumental in the brand's rise from a DIY art project to a presence on the international fashion stage, including its inclusion in the Paris Fashion Week schedule. Her work is a defining example of the experimental and provocative spirit that characterises the modern New York design community.

Taubensee is recognized for her ability to navigate the intersection of conceptual art and wearable fashion. Along with her collaborators, she has been a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, a testament to the brand's growing influence on the industry. Her career reflects a commitment to challenging traditional beauty standards and the hierarchical structures of fashion, advocating for a more inclusive and creatively liberated approach to garment construction and brand identity.

A provocation of traditional aesthetic values and a celebration of the 'un-chic' provide the foundation for a design language that explores the limits of taste and luxury. The work frequently utilises unconventional materials and oversized, often ungainly silhouettes to challenge established notions of gender and status. Campy references and a sense of 'visual noise' are used to critique the polished perfection often associated with high-end fashion.

Design signals are found in the use of dramatic, story-driven construction and the subversion of classic American archetypes. There is an emphasis on the 'rough' and the unfinished, where the creative process remains visible in the final garment. By prioritizing a radical expressive freedom, the output creates an aesthetic of rebellion that values the transformative power of clothing and its ability to provoke a visceral reaction from the viewer, moving beyond the purely decorative.