Entrepreneur Spotlight: Vaughn Acquis

On Sunday, September 11, 2020, I had the pleasure of walking in the Model Experience fashion runway show for New York Fashion Week. There, I walked for Vaughn Acquis, a fashion designer from Chicago, Illinois.

I want to highlight Vaughn and his brand for my entrepreneur spotlight because working with him was a great experience. Also, his designs are very cool and worth checking out.

About Vaughn Acquis

As mentioned in my introduction, Vaughn Acquis is a young, up-and-coming fashion designer from Chicago. He designs clothing through his self-named brand. Primarily streetwear, he (along with his friends) designs unique and vibrant casual clothing for both men and women. He designs shirts, pants, hoodies, sweatshirts, jackets, and more.

About the Model Experience

Also mentioned in my introduction, I got to work with Vaughn Acquis during New York Fashion Week 2022 at a runway fashion show hosted by the Model Experience. They are an entity that provides up-and-coming models and designers with opportunities to participate in their fashion shows, which they host either on or within Fashion Week in both New York City and Los Angeles.

The barrier to entry into the Model Experience fashion shows is very low. That is why they are great for up-and-coming models to get their feet wet in the fashion industry and runway modeling. For fashion designers, TME is a good way to gain more exposure for their clothing brands.

Whether or not the Model Experience (and other model groups such as Runway7Fashion) are legit is debatable. I will explore that more in another post soon. However, I still have to credit them for providing me with the experience of walking on the runway in front of a huge crowd. They have also allowed me to meet Vaughn and other designers and models. To this day, I still keep in touch with some of the models I met there.

Working with Vaughn

I want to do an Entrepreneur Spotlight for Vaughn because his journey is both relatable and inspiring. Building a self-named brand is a challenging task. However, after getting to know Vaughn at the fashion show, he seems very driven to face the challenge head-on. Not only are his clothing designs excellent and worth checking out, but he’s also determined to raise awareness of his brand, even if it means traveling to New York City and other necessary places.

Despite not being my first runway fashion show, this was my first runway show in front of a large audience. At the same time, I still felt inexperienced at runway modeling because I had not been in enough shows to feel confident in my ability to walk the runway. As a result, I was nervous as hell, if you cannot tell in the included video of my walk.

However, Vaughn was great to work with. Not only was he professional, but he was also very encouraging and positive. He helped calm my nerves enough for me to successfully walk on, down, and off that runway.

What also helped me was that Vaughn gave me some excellent clothing to walk in. He had me in a dope khaki green sweatsuit. Green of any shade is a tricky color for anyone to wear. However, Vaughn did his thing with this sweatsuit. (Un)fortunately, the gloomy weather and the split indoor/outdoor venue all made this tracksuit perfect to wear.

Final Thoughts

First, I want to say that not every fashion designer who participates in the Model Experience has good-looking or quality clothing. However, Vaughn Acquis does, and I am grateful to have been assigned to him for the Fall 2022 show. He and his clothing helped make my first major fashion show a success. Working with him was indeed a pleasure.

I have meant to write about Vaughn’s brand for the longest time, hence the original publish date below. However, I have been holding this off because, for a long time, I have been struggling to figure out the direction to take my own brand and this website. As of 2023, I have a better idea of how to proceed and slowly take action. Part of that action includes circling back to old posts, such as this one, waiting to be published.

Since working with Vaughn on September 11, 2022, he, like many of us entrepreneurs, is currently regrouping and working on what is next for his brand. Even though his website is temporarily password protected, I highly recommend following him on Instagram and TikTok to stay up-to-date on him and his brand. I’m confident that his next unveil will be epic and worth supporting.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Entrepreneur Spotlight. Please subscribe to my website and follow me on social media to stay updated on my new content. Also, leave a comment below with your feedback. If you, or someone you know, are an entrepreneur who should receive the next spotlight, send me a message with more details.