Two designers. Ten years of evolution. One runway moment that brought it all together.
Some collaborations are calculated. Others are personal. The best ones are both.
When Sergio Hudson invited Vex to contribute to his 10-year anniversary runway show in New York, it wasn't a cold call. It was a reunion — two designers who came up together on Bravo's Styled to Rock, who spent a formative season experimenting, building, and finding their creative identities, now standing on the other side of a decade with something real to show for it.
That text from Sergio wasn't just an invitation. It was recognition. Growth meeting growth.
He didn't want just any latex. He wanted the lace.
Over ten years ago, our team began developing something that didn't exist yet — a laser-cut lace technique for latex that went far beyond printed surface effects. At the time, screen-printed lace patterns were the standard. They looked the part from a distance, but they were flat. Decorative. We wanted something with actual depth, actual structure, actual craftsmanship behind it.
So we engineered it from scratch.
Every piece of our lace latex begins as a fully digitized fishnet pattern — mapped, scaled, and laid into garment shapes with precision before a laser ever touches the material. The cutting itself is only half the process. Laser cutting leaves behind a melted film residue on every single piece that has to be hand-washed and cleaned individually. It's labor-intensive, time-consuming, and far from glamorous. But that's the cost of building something real.
Innovation rarely looks elegant from the inside.
Over the years, we've watched others attempt to replicate the technique. Diluted versions appear, borrowed aesthetics surface. It doesn't discourage us — it confirms what we already knew. When your work gets copied, you're leading. And the only response is to keep refining, keep elevating, keep protecting the integrity of the craft.
Because this lace isn't a print. It's architecture.
Two looks featuring Vex lace latex walked Sergio Hudson's anniversary runway — and seeing the material under those lights, held inside his sharp, power-driven silhouettes, was a moment I won't forget.
His tailoring is authoritative. Structural. Precise. Our latex is sensual, sculptural, engineered. The two aesthetics don't compete — they amplify each other. His architecture gave the lace a frame. Our texture gave his silhouettes a pulse.
Latex has always been more than what people initially assume. In the right hands, it functions as armor. It reveals form while maintaining total control. It can be provocative and precise in the same breath. On that runway — surrounded by press, celebrities, and a decade of momentum — it looked exactly as it should: strong, deliberate, unapologetic.
This collaboration wasn't a marketing play. It was a statement about longevity.
Twenty-five years into Vex, the mission hasn't shifted. We innovate within latex. We push the material into spaces it hasn't been. We keep it firmly in the realm of luxury — not shock, not novelty, not costume. Working with Sergio reinforced that commitment, because his trajectory mirrors the same discipline: build something with intention, refine it relentlessly, and let the work speak.
Two designers who met at the beginning, meeting again at a higher level. That's the kind of collaboration worth celebrating.
And it's only the beginning.
Credits
Photography: Harol Baez (@harolbaezstudio)
Designer: Sergio Hudson
Textile Innovation: Vex Latex
