Fashion design alum Raz Rasmussen, BS ’20, left, a customer and Nancy Volpe Beringer model looks from the Vault by Volpe Beringer. (Credit: Kyle Lindstrom)
Nancy Volpe Beringer followed an elaborate labyrinth to get to the couture catwalk, but the creativity she brought on the journey quickly propelled her into prominence as an advocate for issues and consumers the fashion industry often overlooks.
“Why I’m in fashion is really to give a voice to those not heard in fashion, says Volpe Beringer, MS fashion design ’16.
The Vault by Volpe Beringer, the online resale store she launched, has garnered recognition as the world’s first and only fully accessible luxury design platform to offer disabled consumers complimentary consultations and adaptable options like replacing zippers or buttons with magnets. By making high fashion accessible to users of wheelchairs, prostheses or chemotherapy ports, Volpe Beringer has become an ambassador of inclusivity. And by granting a second life to well-constructed luxury garments, she is nudging the fashion industry onto a sustainable track.
Whether working with tuile, African mud cloth or recycled wool, Nancy Volpe Beringer remains relevant through fashion.
Volpe Beringer’s pioneering business model won acclaim from the Fashion Group International, which named her a Rising Star for New Retail Concept in 2022. That year, she was invited to take part in a roundtable at the United Nations on women’s role in reshaping the global industry and was lauded on the NASDAQ billboard at Times Square as one of 10 women entrepreneurs in the world demonstrating innovation solutions for the industry and society.
That recognition came two years after Volpe Beringer became the oldest contestant ever to compete on Bravo’s “Project Runway,” advancing to Season 18’s final round and runner-up — at age 64. Winning her first challenge by designing an adaptable red carpet look for Para-Olympiad Gold Medalist Tatyana McFadden inspired her finale collection. Volpe Beringer showcased the most inclusive and sustainable zero-waste finale runway in the program’s history during New York Fashion Week.
The designer credits her age and experience for her rapid rise. Decades of teaching business skills at a vocational school and later managing an organizing team for New Jersey’s powerful statewide teachers’ union honed her work ethic and gave her the confidence to enter the demanding and competitive industry.
“The challenges I’ve overcome gave me the strength and courage to face the program,” says Volpe Beringer, who had been thrust into single parenthood suddenly and raised two children on her own while balancing multiple jobs. Ironically, a huge promotion she eventually earned at the New Jersey Education Association gave her the resolve to chuck it all and pursue her dreams.
“I struck supposed gold — I got the big job in management,” Volpe Beringer says. “I was secure. Life should have been great, and I was miserable because I couldn’t create anymore.”
Volpe Beringer represents a small but important student cohort at Drexel, which became the first Age-Friendly University in Philadelphia in 2019. The designation reflects the University’s commitment to including older students in academic programs and research activities, help them build second careers and facilitate intergenerational learning. In the fall of 2023, 176 students age 55+ were enrolled at Drexel, of whom 46 pursued studies on campus while 130 took classes online. In addition, the AgeWell Academy at Drexel’s Goodwin College of Professional Studies supports lifelong learning opportunities through professional certificates and non-credit courses geared to older students.
Juggling multiple responsibilities had prepared Volpe Beringer for a demanding master’s program, while her experience allowed her to welcome constructive criticism and challenges doled out by her professors.
“They enabled you to be authentic,” Volpe Beringer says. “There were things you had to learn, and you were tested, but in the end, they allowed you to become your own unique designer.”
A textile fanatic, Volpe Beringer relished the freedom to manipulate fabrics and experiment with unconventional materials. When a laser she was using to cut leather kept catching fire, she pivoted and used melted trash bags instead. Thrilled to have recreated a Dior gown out of distressed plastic, Beringer was initially stunned when Professor Genevieve Dion removed the pins, turned the garment upside down and directed her to “make it yours.”
“That was the best piece of advice,” recalls Volpe Beringer, who then converted the gown’s long train into an ornate collar. “It showed me the importance of keeping an open mind and exploring all possibilities during the design process.”
Earning her MS at 61 prevented Volpe Beringer from easing into the fashion industry gradually, as aspiring designers typically do.
“I didn’t have the luxury to go work for somebody else and continue that experience of just learning the business,” she says. “I had to go right out into it.”
Volpe Beringer wasted no time, nabbing an invitation from Philly Fashion Week to serve as a featured designer, winning a “Best of Philly” award from Philadelphia Magazine in 2019 and displaying part of her collection in the window of Center City’s iconic high-end boutique, Joan Shepp.
When Grammy-nominated Philadelphia rapper Tierra Whack peered into the Joan Shepp window while shopping for an outfit for the Billboard Awards, she spotted a Nancy Volpe Beringer original coat and bought it off the rack. Volpe Beringer had originally designed the rainbow-colored faux fur coat for a fashion show to benefit a nonprofit that empowers women with substance abuse disorders. Volpe Beringer went on to design a dress to coordinate with the coat that incorporates paintings of a cigar-smoking diva by adjunct instructor Liz Goldberg for Whack to wear to the Grammy Awards. Photos of Whack wearing the ensemble on the Grammy red carpet went viral and earned shoutouts from both The New York Times and Huffington Post.
A model wears a dress Nancy Volpe Beringer designed for Season 18 of Bravo’s Project Runway, where she was the show’s oldest contestant, finished as runner-up and debuted her inclusive, no waste and sustainable collection: “sus•tain•OUR•a•bil•i•ty.”
Nancy Volpe Beringer modifies a jacket for a model in a wheelchair.
Named a “Rising Star” by the Fashion Group International in 2022, Nancy Volpe Beringer’s portrait appeared on the Nasdaq billboard in New York City’s Times Square. (credit: Peter Pabon, courtesy of Fashion Impact Fund)
While continuing to market her original designs and wearable art as well as modifying made-to-last garments carefully archived in her vault, Volpe Beringer is content to sell items that don’t move at the speed of hotcakes.
“Especially with fast fashion, I think there’s enough out there,” Volpe Beringer says.
“If I can be a voice in fashion and try to stay relevant by speaking and inspiring other people…I think at my age, that’s where I belong.”