Although the advent of September (sigh) signals the inevitable ending of summer, it’s also the time of year when fashion’s biggest season kicks off. If the summer heat is gently receding, then the fervor of New York Fashion Week—with all its runway presentations and showcases—is only beginning.
To ring in the sartorial month in style, Vogue Club (our private community which brings fashion enthusiasts together with designers and industry professionals) hosted a NYFW-special Meet The Founder with Devon Lee and Sydney Lynn Carlson of Wildflower Cases at The Standard Hotel, East Village. Meet The Founder—hosted by British Vogue’s Fashion Features Director Julia Hobbs—brings top talent from creative industries together to discuss their journeys to the entrepreneurial summit.
As New York’s golden hour drenched skyscrapers in an ochre hue, Vogue Club members toasted the beginning of the city’s fashion fantasia from the hotel’s penthouse. In the preamble to the main event, conversation among partygoers was kept alight with genre-bending, house-influenced R&B (along with a little Chappell Roan) spun by DJ Isan Elba of Les Filles.
“Do I have everyone’s attention?” Hobbs then asked the partygoers, who crowded together for the panel discussion. From there, Devon and Sydney Carlson divulged details of the success of the female-led, family-owned Wildflower Cases. From its initial inception (when Devon and Sydney’s mother Michelle used to hand design cases made of clear gel as teenagers) about a decade ago, the brand has grown to 40 employees and now sells, on average, 800,000 units globally each year.
A pivotal moment for the development of Wildflower Cases came when the duo, out for dinner with their parents in California, had a chance encounter with Miley Cyrus in a restaurant restroom. As the two snapped pics with Cyrus, the pop star noticed how cute their phone cases were—and after learning that they had turned something practical into a chic accessory, she turned to the Carlson family and said: “You guys need to start a company!” Within 24 hours, they came up with the name Wildflower Cases and put up a website, with their first two cases selling out within minutes.
Devon and Sydney prompted listeners to consider what they were most passionate about—and then to pursue it—or to, as they said, “make everything cute!”
This, combined with the duo’s always-on attitude, has helped grow their business from their bedrooms into a global brand that works with the likes of Charli XCX, Gracie Abrams, Emma Chamberlain, Sandy Liang, and more.
Following the jovial conversation—which Vogue Club members helped steer—partygoers enjoyed more music before opening Wildflower Cases gift bags (which included a Club-exclusive discount to the label) before heading down to The Standard East Village’s NO Bar to close the night.
See below for some of the best pics from the Vogue Club-exclusive night!
