Nabys Vielman: Designer of Innovative and Timeless Style Gears Up for Fashion Week

As August fades into September, Nabys Vielman is not bemoaning the end of summer, but looking ahead to one of the high points in a fashion designer’s calendar: New York Fashion Week. 

“I’m featuring my spring/summer collection on September 8 at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum as part of the Latin Ignition Show, an event presented by Consuelo Vanderbilt and Emilio Estefan,” Vielman said. “Then, on September 13, I’ll feature again the collection for a private group of buyers.”

The native Venezuelan was inspired by his aunt, Evangelina Araque, a talented dressmaker who raised him when he was orphaned at a very young age. 

“She started in fashion when she was 15,” Vielman said. “And she’s still helping me.” 

From One Piece of Leather, A Designer is Born 

As a child, Vielman had always expressed an artistic side, painting and sculpting whenever he could, even winning some awards along the way.

“But I never thought about being a fashion designer,” Vielman said.

In fact, Vielman’s design career began as somewhat of an accident, when, at 19 and studying journalism at the university, one of his brothers gave him a piece of leather.

“I saw that leather. It was a rectangle. I thought maybe I could do belts,” he recalled of his budding inclination to create fashion from raw materials.

The next day, Vielman went to a shop where they sell materials to make handbags and belts and spent a few hours with the owner to learn how to fashion them. 

“I invested $20 and bought a few materials and the next day, I created three beautiful belts and I sold each of them that day at my university for $100. So, I made my first $300 in one day!” 

Three months later, he would complete an order for 367 belts and buy his first car – in cash.

From there, Vielman went on to design handbags and before long, was tasked by the owner of an important boutique in his native Maracaibo with designing a complete collection of couture.

Though he was confident in his taste, Vielman was stumped. 

“I told myself, ‘Nabys you don’t know anything about fabrics, about design.’”

Following his instincts to learn the trade – various fabrics, draping, embroidery and other aspects of clothing design – Nabys went to one of the better fabric stores in his city and asked to spend time there. 

“It was like a master class for two or three days,” Vielman said.

From that first collection, Vielman, with an assist from Aunt Evangelina, opened his first atelier in his native Maricaibo in 1987 and went on to develop a ready-to-wear collection under his name.

His collection was well received at fashion shows and by 1990, Vielman revamped his boutique into an exquisite showplace for his work,  finished his studies, and re-opened with a men’s collection. 

Since 1992, Vielman has consistently presented collections: in 1995 at Bogota Fashion Week, the same year he opened a showroom in New York. Over the years he has opened boutiques, put on numerous shows, dressed prominent artists and politicians, collaborated with Mercedes Benz, Mont Blanc and Santa Teresa rum, and in 2015 left Venezuela and its political and economic turmoil to start a new life in the United States.

Unique Style, Timeless Elegance

From the start, Vielman’s designs have achieved a unique, contemporary look, but one whose aesthetic stands apart from other designers. 

“My work in fashion is inspired by contemporary art,” Vielman said. “My aesthetic is based on personal visual codes. Sometimes my creations are more of a work of art than a dress itself.” 

Inspired by minimalistic concepts and kinetic art, Vielman’s designs become architectural pieces, with a  focus on geometric cuts, exquisite draping, and noble garments of the finest Egyptian cotton, Italian wool and silk. At the same time, his work is based on functionality, comfort and sophistication, with snappy style and innovative forms.

Naturally, over the course of his long fashion career, Vielman’s design style has evolved. In the beginning, his designs were neo-baroque, with prominent embroideries and appliqués of leather arabesques. 

“However, the simplicity of pure lines has always been present throughout my work,” he said. “In the late 90’s, I accentuated my geometric lines and minimalism. In the last five years I have returned to the past, creating Moroccan-inspired prints and other calligraphic-inspired ones.”

After spending time in Miami, and showing his “Chromatic” and “Chroma” lines, both inspired by bold colors and geometric art, Vielman decamped to New York five years ago, eventually setting up shop on Madison Avenue. 

For his show during New York Fashion Week in 2019, Vielman drew accolades as models walked through the midtown streets in his vibrant colored outfits, sauntering past New York Public Library, along Bryant Park and through Times Square.

Now, as he gets ready to reveal his latest work, he is confident it will be received as new and inventive, yet definitively distinguishable as Nabys Vielman design.

“There is certainly a style based on my history over more than three decades,” he said. “Nabys Vielman is a style that is recognized. It is timeless.”

As an artist by nature, Vielman always seeks to be both innovative and transgressive.

“Each season implies creating something new, powerful, impressive,” he mused. “That’s what fashion is all about: constantly evolving guided by the signs of the times.”

For now, Vielman will continue to work where most of his clientele is: in New York and Miami, and he expects to see his collection in New York stores soon.

“My project is to launch my brand internationally in the luxury area,” Vielman said. “It’s an ambitious project that I’ve been working on for years.”

Until then, we have New York Fashion Week to look forward to.