The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund: Melitta Baumeister and Henry Zankov on Doing It Your Way

• Born into a family of tailors in Germany, Baumeister studied tailoring and fashion from an early age.
• Zankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and arrived in the US at the age of nine. Growing very close to New York City in the ’90s, his first interactions with English and the West were mediated through MTV.
• Launching his own label in 2019, Zankov was interested in creating a recognizable visual language unique to his perspective after working as a consultant for years.
• To Baumeister, production difficulties are “finding the right people to work with; being so many positions in one, from the production manager to the pattern maker to handling sales; understanding even how wholesale and fashion is working.”
• Zankov speaks about the need to “reset” how we consume, living slower and more intentionally curated lifestyles.
• Regarding the tension between fantasy and commercial viability, Baumeister says her solution—at the intersection of artistry and sales—is “all in the fabric.”
• Zankov starts with a concept every season, aiming toward a curious customer with inner soulfulness and wisdom.
• Both designers cite the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund as an incredible support for their creative practice.
• Baumeister notes that wholesale gives more reach and territory, while direct-to-customer sales offer more constructive feedback and relationship-building opportunities. Zankov highlights the importance of using both, though DTC allows him to make more accessible garments.
• Zankov sees fashion’s ability to express intention as what’s contemporary now, while Baumeister sees “being concerned about the future” as the zeitgeist.

‍Notable Quotes:

• “Other children would fill in colors into picture books, while I was curious about tracing garment patterns from the How to Sew magazines.” —Melitta Baumeister
• “I think organizations like the CFDA are extremely crucial If we want to support design, independent fashion businesses, and especially if we want to support innovation; I think those are the key moments where CFDA is extremely important.” —Baumeister
• “I was always more looking for bold shapes, so using materials that have a certain shape on their own was always very exciting for me. It was never really looking at sculpture and wanting to make that as a garment. It was more the expression of a garment that doesn’t really need a body anymore, where something is with a shape that defines your body, rather than you defining that shape of a garment.” —Baumeister
• “You have to bring your attitude to wear the clothes.” —Baumeister
• “It was really important to me to build relationships with local manufacturers, actually knowing who and how your garments are made, avoiding so much waste.” —Baumeister
• “It’s not trendy. It’s well-made.” —Henry Zankov
• “For me, it’s about quality, and it’s about really good design, and it’s about resetting the way people think about how they consume, and so for me, for both of us, I believe that you. Quality is so important.” —Zankov
• “Who are those people who will resonate with what we do? And for me, it’s always about somebody who, again, does not follow trends. Somebody who really moves through life in their own way and really, they can be a chef, they could be a musician, they can be a lawyer, but they think in a creative way.” —Zankov
• “I don’t need to explode. I don’t want a huge business...For me, it’s really just about finding the right audience and really being able to maintain and to share and create with everybody who appreciates it.” —Zankov
• “New York has this very special attitude towards entrepreneurship. On most days, it feels everything is possible.” —Baumeister
• “What I really love about teaching [at Parsons] is that—I teach senior thesis, so it’s the final year of the student’s fashion course. And I really love being surrounded by a young generation and having that kind of discourse and having the conversations and we learn so much from each other. I learn a lot from them.” —Zankov
• “It’s so important to be curious about so many things and not to be stuck. And, as, especially as everyone gets older, like you just get so used to doing things in a certain way. And I think that being open and being curious is part of the process. And I think we have to be as designers.” —Zankov