Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Vinash.
Hi Alex, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story has never followed a straight line, and I think that is exactly what made me the designer I am today.
I was born in Argentina and began my creative life in a completely different world: figure skating. I became an Argentine national champion and later traveled the world performing professionally. Those years taught me about movement, performance, discipline, costumes, and most importantly, how to create an emotion and an experience for an audience.
Eventually that creative energy brought me to fashion. After years living in Europe, I moved to New York and built Alex Vinash from the ground up. I started designing and creating pieces myself, and over time my work found its way onto red carpets, magazine covers, celebrities, and clients who became part of my extended family. I have had the opportunity to dress people including Billy Porter, Martha Stewart, Katharine McPhee, Paris Hilton and Kate Walsh, with my work featured in publications including Vogue, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, L’Officiel and The New York Times.
But Alex Vinash has never been only about clothes. I love creating a complete world around people. That naturally expanded into hospitality, interiors, branding and creative consulting, working on hotels, restaurants, bars and other spaces where I could bring together design, atmosphere and guest experience.
Today I have my atelier and boutique in Southampton, New York, where I continue designing one-of-a-kind pieces while developing new creative projects. I also recently launched MonoMonkey, a more playful lifestyle brand inspired by my years in the Hamptons, travel, friendship, humor and all the places and experiences that have shaped my life.
When I look back, the connection between everything is actually very simple: I love transforming things. A piece of fabric, a room, a brand, an experience, or an idea. I want people to feel something when they encounter what I create. That has been the thread through my entire story, even when I had absolutely no idea where the story was taking me next.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road, but I think the difficult parts are what gave my work its identity.
I moved countries, changed careers completely, and built my life in New York from the ground up. I came from Argentina, spent many years traveling and living in Europe, and arrived in New York without the traditional path or connections that usually come with the fashion industry. I had to create my own opportunities.
Building an independent brand is also very different from simply being a designer. You are the creative director, salesperson, problem solver, accountant, stylist and sometimes the person sewing something at midnight because a client needs it the next morning. I have experienced financial ups and downs, projects that worked beautifully and others that taught me expensive lessons, and the constant challenge of competing with much larger companies while remaining authentic.
There were definitely moments when starting over would have been easier than continuing. But I have always been very resilient. My years as a professional athlete taught me that falling is part of the process. You get up, adjust, and try again.
I think that is probably my biggest strength today. I am not afraid of reinvention. Every difficult chapter has pushed me toward something new, whether it was fashion, hospitality, interiors, my Southampton store or now MonoMonkey.
The road has been anything but smooth, but I wouldn’t exchange it for a perfectly straight one. It would probably have been much less interesting.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a designer and creative director, but I have never wanted to define myself by only one category.
I started in fashion, creating the Alex Vinash brand in New York and eventually opening my atelier and boutique in Southampton. My work is very hands-on: I design, drape, sew, embellish and often transform existing pieces into something completely new. Over the years my designs have appeared on red carpets, magazine covers and people including Billy Porter, Martha Stewart, Katharine McPhee, Paris Hilton and Kate Walsh.
What I am most proud of, though, is that my creativity has grown far beyond fashion.
I have designed and helped develop hotels, restaurants, bars and other spaces, working across interiors, branding, visual identity, guest experience and the overall feeling of a place. Projects have included American Beech in Greenport, Aqua Hotel in Aquebogue, Pink Palm Hotel in St. Thomas and Black Llama Bar in the Hamptons.
I think what sets me apart is that I don’t just design an object or a room. I think about the entire experience: what someone sees when they arrive, how the space feels, what the staff is wearing, the music, the lighting, the branding, the details they photograph, and ultimately what they remember after they leave.
More recently I created MonoMonkey, a lifestyle brand born in the Hamptons that lets me explore a more playful side of design through travel, sport, nostalgia and humor.
Whether I am designing a dress, transforming a hotel or building a brand, my approach is essentially the same: I want to create a world around it. Something recognizable, emotional and memorable. That ability to move between fashion, interiors, hospitality and storytelling while maintaining one creative point of view is probably what defines my work best.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is connection.
I have spent a big part of my life moving: from Argentina, traveling the world as a professional skater, living in Europe, and eventually building my life and career in New York. Along the way I realized that places change, careers change, success comes and goes, but the people you love and the relationships you build are what really stay with you.
That is probably why connection is also at the center of everything I create. I don’t design simply because I want something to look beautiful. I want it to make someone feel something. I love seeing a woman put on one of my dresses and suddenly feel incredible, or watching someone enter a space I designed and immediately feel comfortable, curious or inspired.
Family and friendship matter enormously to me. So does having the freedom to keep creating, traveling, discovering new places and reinventing myself. I never want success to mean becoming disconnected from the things that originally made me creative.
At this point in my life, I am much more interested in experiences than perfection. A beautiful dinner with people I love, discovering a tiny hotel somewhere unexpected, laughing with friends, making something with my hands, or having an idea that keeps me awake at night.
For me, a meaningful life is really a collection of those moments and the people we share them with. Everything else is decoration.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alexvinash.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexvinash/
- Twitter: https://monomonkeys.com
- Soundcloud: https://monomonkeys.com
