WHO'S NEXT 2010: Michael Venker

 
Fashion—where the glamour never stops. “When I’m not designing, I’m sleeping. Actually, I’m watching The Wendy Williams Show and cat-sitting right now. It’s like looking into my future!” jokes Michael Venker, 27, creative director and designer of SoHo upstart Rochambeau, as we catch up with him in his Alphabet City apartment. “I love the creative process more than trying to get into the latest party with fashionable people. I prefer Eastern Bloc and Boiler Room.”
 
Well, when you’re winning awards from Supima Cotton and Parsons (the 2007 Golden Thimble) and landing lavish praise in Women’s Wear Daily, Surface, and Nylon as well as being part of Interview’s 40th anniversary vending machine at Art Basel in Miami, it’s understandable that social-scene laurels are the last place you want to rest. Formed in 2007, Rochambeau is the hope-and-a-prayer collaboration of Venker and fellow Parsons alums Joshua Cooper and Laurence Chandler, the business and marketing end of the platonic trio. “There are three of us and three elements to the game,” explains “scissors” Venker, referencing the Rock-Paper-Scissors game origin of his line’s name. “It’s also a game of chance, much like the fashion industry.”
 
Texan by birth and gregarious Midwestern boy by soul thanks to his army-brat-like upbringing, Venker’s easy charm is contagious, his democratic attitude towards fashion fueled by years of restarting in new locales. To Venker, individuality trumps even ridiculous attempts: “Expressing personal style is courageous to some degree. When I go home to Minnesota, I’m the freak whereas people wearing two collared shirts at once are normal. If you wanna wear a bejeweled Armani shirt and stone-washed flare jeans, I say rock it out.”
 
Not that you’ll see any of that in Rochambeau this season. Instead, with inspiration drawn from the Hmong tribe of Southeast Asia, think amorphous cotton jerseys paired with highly structured jackets, rustic yet western clothes overdosing on dimension. Driven by internships at Marc Jacobs and Helmut Lang, Venker’s mission is straightforward: design versatile, era-independent staples for men. It’s an approach that makes it easy to be a Rochambeau man, forward looking and chic without being too esoteric, all while staying on a budget (price points top out at $400 for jackets, around $130 for jerseys). It’s also an approach that’s profitable.
 
In a year when Anna Wintour set foot in Queens to help bolster a hemorrhaging industry, Rochambeau hit its stride sooner than expected, with more investors on the way. “I didn’t think we’d make it past our first year! I thought I’d be waiting tables by now,” admits Venker.
 
“But the big guys are tumbling down, leveling the playing field a bit,” he continues. “People are being urged to buy young American designers. It’s been jets of press, jets of sales. We started this project going into it bare bones. A year and a half later we’ve been in major fashion magazines, won a major competition, and have our items sold at some of the greatest men’s boutiques in the world. 2010 is ours!”
 
Visit Rochambeau.us.com for more info.