VENA CAVA

BRANDS AND FASHION DESIGNERS,  V

VENA CAVA

2021-11-14

VENA CAVA: LABEL CREATED BY TWO NEW YORK DESIGNERS, LISA MAYOCK AND SOPHIE BUHAI

Vena Cava is a label created by two New York designers, Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai. Their own personal vintage garments and elements of nature inspire their collections. The attention to detail and the elegance of the materials, the feminine cut of dresses, skirts and T-shirts, the easy-and-chic style are the hallmarks of this brand.

Sophie Buhai and Lisa Maycock

One of Vena Cava’s great successes was the way it promoted the conversation about fashion around graphic design. In addition to their dazzling printed dresses and witty T-shirt designs, former Parsons classmates Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai experimented with art direction by publishing zines and curating a blog, Viva Vena Cava, which explored, among other visual stimuli, vintage typography and magazine layouts that reflect their subversive sense of humor.

THE CLOSURE AND THE POST VENA CAVA CAREER

The brand definitively closed in 2014. However, the two designers continued to work in the fashion industry. Buhai returned to her native Los Angeles, and launched an instant-classic jewelry line.

Sophie Buhai Jewellery

Together with her husband and fellow designer, Jeff Halmos (formerly Shipley & Halmos and, before that, Trovata), Lisa Mayock returned to design in 2016 with Monogram.

Monogram is a direct-to-consumer T-shirt brand, but it’s so much more than that. Almost all supersoft silhouettes, cut to size, are decorated with graphics or slogans, some inspired by vintage magazines from the 60s to the 90s.

Jeff Halmos and Lisa Mayock