The Café Forgot Founders Are Launching Their Own Clothing Line
Introducing Forgot, bringing their distinctly New York edge to the everyday wardrobe.
After nearly a decade of finding the pieces you didn’t know you were looking for, Café Forgot founders Vita Haas and Lucy Weisner are making some of their own. The duo is launching Forgot, a new line of pared-back, playful essentials that brings their distinctly New York perspective to the everyday wardrobe.
Since opening Café Forgot in 2017, Haas and Weisner have built a cult independent fashion institution around emerging designers, unexpected finds and the art of getting dressed. Now, they’re taking everything they’ve learned from the shop floor and putting it into their own label.
Forgot reworks avant-garde ideas into clothes designed to actually be worn, think fold-over pants, adaptable layers and a hoodie that can double as a dress. The pieces are shaped by years of watching customers experiment with clothes, from the necklines they gravitate toward to the color combinations they keep coming back to.
That tension between fashion fantasy and everyday reality also runs through the campaign. Inspired by the early reality TV shows they grew up watching, complete with internships, drama and wildly impractical outfits, Haas and Weisner wanted to capture the less glamorous side of working in fashion, too. “The dream and the indignity are always happening at once,” they explain, recalling everything from cleaning up customer vomit to dressing Sky Ferreira in the same week.
It’s a fitting concept for clothes designed to move through real life. The pieces are made to take you from “schlepping boxes to a party,” bridging the gap between fashion’s fantasy and everything that happens behind the scenes. The inspiration for the collection is just as personal, pulling from the founders’ own wardrobes, Café Forgot’s staff, interns and loyal customers, alongside references ranging from Petit Bateau and agnès b. to Fiona Apple, Cory Kennedy and Mazzy Star.
Launching in late September, Forgot is essentially the answer to a question Haas and Weisner have heard countless times in store: “What pairs well with this?” This time, they’ve designed the answer themselves.
Head to the brand’s website for more updates.
In other news, check out our favorite shows from Milan Fashion Week.
