Founder of Vex Clothing. 26 years of handmade luxury latex from a small California studio. The American designer behind some of the most photographed latex moments of the last quarter century.
Laura Pulice founded Vex Clothing in 2000 from a single-room studio in California, with a sewing setup, a roll of imported English latex, and an obsession with a material almost no American designer was taking seriously as fashion. Twenty-six years later, Vex is the American luxury latex house: pieces are still cut, glued, and finished by Laura and her small team of artisans, in the same state, by hand, with no factory line involved.
She began in costume design, working on theatrical, music video, and editorial projects through the late 1990s. Latex pulled her in because nothing else moved the way it did on a body — and because nobody in American fashion was treating it like a couture material. She started learning the cut-and-glue construction methods of UK studios, sourcing 0.45mm sheet latex from England, and developing patterns for clothing that fit the body as if poured onto it. Vex was the studio she built around that obsession.
"Latex isn't fetish. It isn't costume. It's the most extraordinary material a clothing designer can work with — it photographs unlike anything else, it moves with the body, and a piece I made in 2005 still looks like new. I've spent my career proving that to fashion."
Laura's practice spans three lanes:
One-of-a-kind commissions for performers, collectors, and editorial. Starts at $2,500; most commissions land between $5,000 and $8,000. Sketched, patterned, and built specifically for the client.
Existing Vex designs cut to the client's exact measurements. Base price of the design plus 70%. The sweet spot between custom and ready-to-wear.
The Vex collection — catsuits, dresses, separates, accessories — designed, patterned, and made in the studio. Sizes XS through XL. The bridge into the brand for first-time wearers.
Every piece goes through Laura's hands. There is no factory tier, no licensed white-label, no offshore production. The studio operates the way a couture atelier operates — small, hands-on, with the designer signing off on every commission personally.
In 2013, Laura was selected as one of the design competitors on the Rihanna-produced Bravo series Styled to Rock. Across the season, she designed looks worn on stage by Kylie Minogue, Miley Cyrus, Carly Rae Jepsen, Nervo, The Band Perry, and Rihanna herself. The show put Vex's design language — sculpted, body-conscious, unmistakable — in front of an audience of millions.
The visibility from Styled to Rock opened the door. The two decades of handmade work that came before it is what kept Vex on the inside once celebrities walked through.
Across 26 years, Vex pieces have been worn by an extensive list of artists, performers, and public figures — for red carpets, music videos, tour wardrobes, editorial shoots, and personal commissions. A partial list:
Vex's design work has been featured in editorial and fashion press across more than two decades:
Vex operates from a private design studio in California. The space is small by industry standards — a working atelier, not a showroom — with cutting tables, glue stations, dressing forms, and walls of color samples from English suppliers. Laura works alongside a small team of trained artisans. Every piece is cut by hand, glued by hand, and finished by hand. There is no automated step from concept to delivery.
This is the central thing about Vex that most fashion brands cannot say: this product is made by the designer who designed it. When a client commissions a custom piece, Laura sketches it, patterns it, and oversees its construction from start to finish.
Latex cannot be machine-mass-produced in the way woven fabric can. There is no Vex factory line and there will not be one. Every Vex piece exists because a person cut a pattern, glued a seam, and made a decision about how it should fall on a body.
That is not nostalgia or marketing language. It is the literal production reality of the material. The price, the lead time, the longevity — all of it follows from the fact that a Vex piece is the output of human hands, in California, working in latex sourced from England in the same way studios have worked in this material since the 1980s.
The reward for that approach: pieces from the early 2000s are still in regular wear in their owners' closets. A properly cared-for Vex commission lasts 20+ years. The math works.
Laura takes a limited number of custom commissions each year. Each begins with an inquiry — a sketch, a reference image, a tour wardrobe brief, a one-off for a private event — followed by a quote, an approved sketch, measurements, and a 6–10 week build cycle. Made-to-measure orders move on a tighter 4–6 week timeline. Ready-to-wear ships within days.
If you have something in mind — for a red carpet, a tour, an editorial, a personal milestone — the way to start the conversation is through the custom commission inquiry page. Briefs go directly to Laura.
Custom Vex commissions are designed, patterned, and built under Laura's direct oversight from a California studio. Start the conversation below.
