The Jump Off: VFiles at NYFW

It’s that time of year again. When fashion’s elite flock to the great city of New York to see what the latest season has to bring. One that has proven itself to be the show to watch, and this being their fourth show to date, VFiles, definitely doesn’t disappoint.

For those of you unaware, VFiles is an online sub-cultural, street-wise network that plucks out relatively unknown designers and gives them a platform to excel and show their designs.   This is a user-generated runway show. And by that I mean, each season the VFiles crew holds a contest where hopefuls send their designs down a virtual runway. The winners…. you guessed it, show at fashion week. It’s nothing short of a fashion revolution….

Calvin Klein’s Menswear Design Director, Italo Zucchelli, acted as mentor for the newbies. This is his third season working with VFiles.   With the likes of Kesha and Orange is the New Black’s own Lea DeLaria in the audience, the show kicked off with a smattering of cool kids decked in the VFiles in-house line, zipping around on even cooler scooters.

From there, four mini-collections followed with Julia Seeman at the helm. Seeman got her start interning with Vivienne Westwood. Next, came Andrea Jiapei Li and Ximon Lee, both graduates of Parsons School of Design.  Last but not least, Australian label Di$count Univer$e, closed out the show.

“The kids are so brave,” said Founder Julie-Anne Quay, “They’re getting smarter and more confident. They’re really shaking things up. I’m so proud of them.”

Julia Seeman

Andrea Jiapei Li

Ximon Lee

Di$count Univer$e

Written by Jenny Kleinknecht