As a child, Von Vonni spent his afternoons drawing sketches of possible ensembles for his mother and grandmother. Using his doodles as a blueprint, he eventually constructed the pieces from household materials, which, to his mother's dismay, included the living-room curtains. He put his creativity to more refined use while studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, where he created the concept for his signature convertible dress, the Transformer, for a school project. Now available online in a jersey or polyamide-lycra blend, the dress's straps can be wrapped in more than 20 different ways and adjust to fit the wearer's weight, height, and smuggled watermelon.