Mood Board July 2019: Softness

This month I’m trying something new with the blog and instagram. I’m going to be creating a mood board for the month’s theme, and including some more concept and mood images to complement the straight up outerwear imagery. I hope that this will create a more dynamic and interesting feed, overall. The goal is to show the breadth of where inspiration comes from, and link images together in a way that gives them new meaning.

Air movement study, Étienne-Jules Marey, 1901

Flamingo, Source Unknown

Photo by Barry Lategan for Vogue UK, 1970

Catherine Deneuve in Tristana (Luis Buñuel, 1970) by François Fontaine

Wool, Source Unknown

Deborah Turbeville

kate moss backstage at maison martin margiela spring summer 1993

Zack Seckler, Botswana

This mood board could come together in so many different ways, and the mixed format that instagram adds will hopefully give some more dimension to this static one.

The Design Process: The crux

The Crux has become a staple item for the Starkweather collection, but where did the idea come from? 

The inspiration

My design process for Starkweather has always started by looking at images of explorers, and rural portraits, where people weren't concerned about fashion – they were concerned primarily with function - yet they still would find ways to add character and identity through their clothes. This manifested in distinctive layering, embellishment, color, pattern, and modification. 

It fascinated me how across many cultures, the chest and neck area are like canvases for decoration. This happens in cold and hot climates, alike. And subconsciously those shapes, centered around the neck and torso, became a focal point of my creative development for Starkweather.

Kicking Bear // Oglala Sioux

Slick Rick ca 1988

A turkmen woman of the goklan tribe in jargalan, Bojnord // Nasrollah Kasraian

ca 1900 // Sarte Woman, Uzbekistan

Dogon Shaman, Mail

Norway, Hardangerjoklen, ca 1908. // Anders Beer Wilse

How would all of these colorful, textural, unique designs apply to an environment like the one pictured above? It is in the imagination and through design that these cultures can collide...

It seemed natural, after a point, that that part of the outfit should not only take on it's own identity, but that there were real functional benefits to developing it that way...

Re-imagined as the Crux...in it's purest form

With so many more ideas for the future, it is always a huge challenge to pare an idea down to its simplest form. This is the T-Crux: Starkweather's most essential interpretation of the crux concept. Essential, because it becomes a blank canvas for so many future ideas, and because it represents the core concept of adaptability. On one hand, it offers adaptability for the wearer to make it their own, and on the other hand, it offers adaptability in its own design. 

Fall I // Nude Cashmere Wool

Fall II // Burnt Ochre Bouclé Wool

If you would like to learn more about the Starkweather layering system, click here.

Instagram Highlights from Q1 2014

Follow at Starkweathergram

cool blues: mood board

Soft wool, long silhouette

Joseph Beuys

Surf

Harper's Bazaar Spread by Alexey Brodovitch

Fortuny Coat

Joseph Beuys

Women in Windows : Starkweather Mood Board

Saul Leiter

Timberline Magazine

There's something about a woman sitting by a window, or seen through a window, or seated on a window sill, that speaks of posibilities and boudaries about to be crossed and inspiration and ideas. Here's a small selection from our Women in Windows collection.

Photo Source

Ferdinando Scianna - Italy, Sicily, Bagheria: woman in front oh her hous back of the net.

Andelica Houston