Vetta Makes Getting Dressed a Game of Mix and Match
The five essential and versatile pieces in Vetta’s first capsule collection include a blouse, culottes, a dress, a tunic, and a long vest. / Courtesy Photos
It’s the lament of every woman you know: “I have nothing to wear.” To the untrained eye, a closet filled with fringed skirts and peplum tops might seem sufficient to pull together an outfit, but it’s not about an actual lack of clothes. The problem stems from trying to create a look with trend items long past their “sell by” dates.
That struggle is what inspired Boston designer Cara Bartlett, a Parsons School of Design graduate, and her best friend, Vanessa van Zyl, to create Vetta’s “capsule”: a wardrobe of five interchangeable pieces that, when mixed and matched, produce a staggering month’s worth of outfits. “We start with a list of the five things we absolutely want to wear that season, the pieces we would want to wear every day for a week,” Bartlett says.
Launched with a successful Kickstarter campaign, their chic and minimal spring collection—made in the U.S. from eco-friendly salvaged fabrics—debuted in March, featuring a dress, a vest, a tunic, a pair of culottes, and a blouse. It quickly sold out, but Vetta’s fall collection is already in the works. Slated for September, it will likely include an oversize sweater, a long-sleeve dress, and a feminine blouse, among other versatile autumn essentials. After that, the up-and-coming duo—who won Saks Fifth Avenue’s Emerging Designers award this year—will create an exclusive spring 2017 collection for the department store.
While the five-item format is the cornerstone of Vetta, Bartlett has a few more ideas up her sleeve. “We’ll always be a capsule collection,” she says, “but we would love to add shoes next season.”
While the e-commerce collection is available globally, Bartlett thinks women in Boston make for the ideal customers. “There are a lot of people here who have a classic and simple style,” she says. “We’re designing for the everyday girl that wants to wake up and throw on something that makes her feel comfortable and beautiful.”
