Congratulations are in order for 19-year-old Vejas Kruszewski as his line, Vejas, was awarded a special prize at the LVMH Prize ceremony last night in Paris. His winnings include a grant of €150,000 and a year-long mentorship with Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy. Here, we look back at our interview with the designer, which was featured in our Spring 2016 issue.
What inspired the cut and tailoring of your latest collection?
I wanted to develop and progress on the construction elements from previous seasons into lighter feeling garments.
Would you describe your line as genderless?
Clothing is genderless. It’s the business that separates clothing into binary categories of male and female. I guess that, on paper, I would describe my brand as a womenswear line, but we scale the sizing so the pieces can fit boys too. A pair of pants is a pair of pants, so I am thinking more of the shape of the body than gender when designing.
Some of your designs have evolved and carried over into your spring collection—especially the utilitarian trousers we shot for this feature. Would you say there’s a Vejas uniform? Does uniform dressing have a longer-lasting impact sartorially?
We like to think of every piece as a building block, and want to constantly evolve how we put those blocks together each season to create a familiar sense of fit for customers and a clear brand identity. Repetition breeds familiarity, so a uniform is like a calling card. People adopt and identify with things they’ve seen enough times to be comfortable with.
What are some goals you’ve set for yourself creatively?
In the future, I’d like to work on developing textiles, research, and investing in new fabric manipulation techniques.
What’s ahead for Fall ’16?
We are working with some new mills, so you can expect to see a higher calibre of fabrics this season. We are also working to expand our range of available styles for market, and to build on the construction techniques that we’ve touched upon in the past for a more distinctive silhouette.
We feel you represent a group of designers pushing contemporary fashion forward. What does contemporary design mean to you?
Challenging people’s minds, provoking curiosity through innovation and responding to the changing needs, desires, and lifestyles of the market.