F  L  A  U  N  T

In the age of the internet, social media has become a playground for us to find our niche—a community that we feel a sense of belonging to. For many young, New York-based creatives, that’s Café Forgot. The community hosted by Brooklyn natives, Vita Haas and Lucy Weisner, was in reaction to our current fashion climate. In an effort to slow things down, the duo curates ephemeral shops with one-of-a-kind pieces and a “quasi-punk” ethos. Intersecting art, fashion, and lifestyle, CF continues to grow and inspire its self-built family. In conversation with Vita and Lucy, we spoke about it’s past, present, and future:

How did you meet and eventually form Café Forgot? 

VITA: Lucy and I went to high school together, and we were both in a fashion club that I started with my friend Marland. I guess that was really the beginning of my relationship with Lucy. But the fashion club itself was hilarious— we were sort of the weird girls in high school. We read magazines and talked about our interests mostly. 

I went to Reed College in Portland, and Lucy ended up going as well. I set her up with my roommate, and we all started to spend a lot of time together; that's when we got close. We worked on some art projects in school and always worked so well together. Around two years after I graduated and one year after she graduated, we were like, 'maybe we should pursue this and see what happens.' We came up with a business model that answered: 'what can we do with the fact that we have no money or space?' People often ask, 'how did you guys think of the pop-up idea?' but that was literally our only option at the time. 

How would you describe the community you’ve created at CF? 

VITA: Its people less interested in fashion trends, in the traditional sense, and more interested in personal style, sustainability, and art. A lot of our customers are pretty young and attend art school. What's great about this community is that our shop encourages people to start making their own clothes and accessories. 

LUCY: I think it's pretty diverse as well. What's exciting to me about the community, like Vita mentioned, is that many of the customers begin to create their own pieces inspired by our shop. 

How do you choose which designers and brands to include in each pop-up? 

VITA: We always add new designers for each shop because there's limitless talent, especially in New York. The other day I was on the phone with my mom, and she said, "Well, what happens when you run out of new designers?" But that will never be an issue! Lucy and I have a list of people we would love to include down the line. 

As far as the criteria for who we include, it's very intuitive on some level. It's often what we like and what we'd want to wear— that's dictated the general style. But as we've been doing this for over two years now, we also look at what sells well. But, when someone conveys that they love Café Forgot and email us or come to the store, and we talk, it's pretty self-selecting. We like to have as much of a relationship with our designers as possible, even if they don't live here. I feel so much tenderness towards all of our designers. 

Which brands have been with you since the first pop-up?
VITA: We've always had Marland Backus, who is my friend from high school. We've always had Piera Bochner— she's actually Lucy's best friend from high school and was also in the fashion club with us. We consistently work with Tropical Rob, Anna Pierce, Claire McKinney, and Sophie Andes-Gascon as well.  

The concept you created is the antithesis of the fast-fashion model. Do you envision this as the future of our industry or as a continuation of a sub-genre in fashion? 

VITA: I definitely think fast fashion is dying. There is that desire to shop online and want things immediately, but the alternative is to have a much more personal retail experience and connection with your garment. And sustainability is super important right now. Fashion is headed in a new direction, and I see this as a part of it. 

LUCY: The start of Café Forgot was kind of our response to fast fashion and the accessibility of e-commerce. I think more people are encouraged to make one-of-a-kind pieces, and there is a movement for fashion to slow down in general. Where we step in, designers don't even have to produce a whole collection. Designers make individual pieces and engage with their work as more of an art practice. Its very much about the interpersonal relationships created with the garments. 

What can you tell us about your upcoming pop-up in February? 

VITA: There will be a bit of a Valentine's theme going on. We have a lot of Japanese designers that I'm super excited about, and there’s going to be a larger focus on accessories. We're also getting amazing corsets by all is a gentle spring, and these beautiful magnetic paper dolls by an artist in Canada, with all of her favorite clothes at Café Forgot. 

When the pop-up isn't running, what other programs take place in your East Village space? 

LUCY: We're hosting a designer, Renea LaRiviere and she's creating this exhibition called "Dream Room." It's largely inspired by her grandmother, her artifacts, and old photographs. Renea's line is called Zepherina. The dream room is a domestic interior space where the character Zepherina lives. So the installation is a whole room for this character, including the brand's garments, which contextualizes the pieces with the artifacts that inspire them. 

VITA: In the off-hours, we're often doing some healing workshop, natural dye workshop, or figure drawing class. Right now, we're doing a breath-work series with our friend Luke Simon who runs a healing center in Greenpoint called Maha Rose. And in March, we're doing a few workshops with 69herbs. 

LUCY: It's a great way to engage people that can't necessarily buy the clothing in our pop-ups but still want to be a part of the community. 

How has CF evolved over the past two and a half years, and where do you envision it taking you the next two and a half? 

LUCY: We'd love to do a pop-up in LA at some point. Although we're a pop-up model now, we'd like to have a permanent space in the future. I see our evolution as focusing on other projects that we want to work on in addition to the store. The store grounds and focuses these other projects and allows us to expand creatively. I often think of brands like Eckhaus Latta that take on more of an art-world route but still operate with a fashion business model, and where we would fit in to that sort of spectrum. 

More than patrons of fashion and the arts, at the end of the day, you're both entrepreneurs. What's next? 

VITA: We're working on Café Forgot ‘s own line of accessories and garments and a fragrance which we will be releasing very soon! 

LUCY: And a documentary! Our friend Cyrus is working on a documentary with us. He's been filming our shops and the whole process with our designers and everyone involved— it's very exciting! 

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All photos courtesy of Café Forgot

Photography: Christian DeFonte

Model: Eryen Powell