Exclusive: A Look Inside ‘Forgot’ by Cafe
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For nearly a decade, Vita Haas and Lucy Weisner have made a career out of finding the clothes you didn’t know you were looking for. Through Café Forgot, the duo has built a New York institution around rare and the one-off pieces of clothing. Now, they’re turning that eye inward with Forgot, their own line of playful, pared-back essentials, launching in late September.
Built from years of watching people get dressed — and dressing themselves — the collection transforms Café Forgot’s experimental sensibility into adaptable wardrobe staples: fold-over pants, layered separates, and a hoodie that doubles as a dress. The references move between the clean simplicity of Petit Bateau and agnès b. and the undone New York energy of Fiona Apple, Mazzy Star, and Cory Kennedy.
Ahead of the launch, we spoke to Haas and Weisner about nearly a decade of Café Forgot, the community they’ve built around independent fashion in New York, and what happens when two people obsessed with the unusual set out to make something for every day.
What makes a good 'basic'?
A good basic is something you wear a lot a lot. It’s something you can build everything else on top of. It’s the soft muted tank under a one-of-a-kind sheer top, but it also should feel good to wear alone. The texture, the fit, the way it falls is so important. The best ones can feel grunge, punk, sexy, and / or luxurious.
Who is the Cafe Forgot girl in three words?
True to herself !
The campaign imagery is amazing, what were your some inspirations that might not be immediately obvious from first look?
The obvious reference was reality TV, but more specifically shows from 15 years ago—The Hills, The City, Gallery Girls, NYC Prep. We were less interested in Y2K fun-trashy reality TV and more into that early-2010s moment when being a fashion intern somehow felt like the most glamorous thing in the world…and Teen Vogue was amazing. That’s also when the two of us (Lucy and Vita) met in our high school fashion club. It’s when we fell in love with each other and with fashion.
What references did you pull from when designing the collection?
We thought a lot about our interns and the girls who work in the shop. They wear the coolest clothes and have this really light, natural relationship to fashion. They’re true It girls and always inspiring. We also thought about these mystery garments we were obsessed with when we were younger—things that we loved and that had disappeared. We tried to recreate them from memory. We don’t even know where they were from, what happened to them, or if our memory of them is even accurate anymore. And then we looked at people like Fiona Apple and Mazzy Star, icons who are the opposite of basic, but rock a good basic in the best way.
Would you ever want the store to be solely your own brand, when you have a few collections under your belt? Why/why not?
No! The collection was actually designed to bolster what Café Forgot has always been about: bringing together the coolest designers and playing dress-up in glamorous, inspiring clothes by lots of different artists. We wanted to make a line that works alongside all the incredible designers we carry and complements what we’ve always stocked perfectly. That said, we’ll definitely be doing more collections. We’re completely in love with Forgot and really excited about this next chapter.
