CARTURE
Introduction
Growing up around my fathers Porsche 944 had a major impact on me. Like any boy who loved Hot Wheels and Need For Speed, this car made this dream of cars real. As it was not anything we drove daily, the trip to the garage to pull out the old German sports car was of great joy to me. The 944 is low with wide arches at the hips, a spoiler, and fighter like gauges with the speedometer cast off to the side as if it were expendable.
Cars in fashion is nothing new, but when they are referenced it is most often the motorsport side of it and the drivers clothing that shine through . I wanted this collection to be inspired directly by the cars as there are so many details and exciting lines that are just waiting to be translated into beautiful garments.
The woman I design for is strong and is at the wheel of her own life. She has an eye for art whether it be fashion, cars, food, architecture, or whatever other form it comes in. The Julian woman has the type of presence that commands attention and doesn't need to announce she has arrived. Wherever she lives and whoever she is, she is daring, youthful, and elegant.
Stumbling upon a photo of the 1960s Formula 1 driver Masten Gregory I knew I had found a striking reference point for the makeup and textile manipulation. The juxtaposition of expensive ready-to-wear clothing and being dirtied by soot on your way to an event encapsulated the wild spirit of these cars.
I was massively inspired by the cognac leather seat that Ferrari offers through their exclusive Tailor Made program. The contrast between the vintage leather in a new car is very contemporary to me, like a car that has been on the road for thousands of miles, yet it has never left the dealership. The viola colour is one of the if not the most recognizable purples in the car world thanks to Lamborghini. White was a necessity as it highlights shapes the best which is why concept cars are often draped in a gloss white paint. Black is universally a tough colour as nothing is more menacing than an all black car and is the second most used colour and nearly the default for interior fabrics.
The fabric selection goes hand in hand with what a luxury car is all about. It is custom, it is high quality, and it is well fitting. Leather was necessary as the inspiration for the cognac colour was leather and it is the most common premium interior fabric in luxury cars. The brushed wool elevates the textural experience making it soft and addictive to touch. The pleated crêpe de chine has an elegant drape and also ties into the expert craftsmanship like the hand built grill of a rolls Royce with the choice of it being polyester to to extend the life of the pleats. With the inclusion of the bespoke print, it guarantees that the fabric will be something truly unique to the customer. Finally for the Jersey, it is both extremely comfortable and sculpts beautifully to the body while ensuring a richness to the print on it.
Process
Prints
The prints of the collection had to be as exclusive as the cars it was inspired by, which meant I had to make my own. I took a nod from 1970´s racing liveries for this as the graphics flowing over the cars curves really give the eye something to follow even at blistering speeds. To avoid being too funky, I distilled the print into a simple black and white which is still slightly psychedelic, but very modern.
Since I do my own photography, I had a library of car images at my disposal to use for a second print. The trick to the entire collection was to not depict any certain car as a whole, but rather abstract and almost disguise it.
Lineup
I landed on these designs because while they vary level of complexity, they all draw on strong, impactful elements from cars. The collection is to function as a capsule wardrobe that can mix and match both within itself and other garments to truly be as versatile as a daily driver car thus getting a lot of mileage out of each piece. A daily driver is the kind of car you can both go grocery shopping with as well as racing with or pick up the kids and go on vacation in. Wearability was a prominent tenet I kept in mind while designing each garment, thus the daily driver car was a aspirational template I really wanted to nail.
Animated Look
Look 4 takes visual cues from the panels on cars, like a skeleton of what is to come, or what has been, what is left is certainly impactful and graphic in nature. Constructed out of a boned leather corset, this dress is as tough and hardwearing as the woman in it. To make the garment come to life, I took inspiration from Norwegian group A-ha´s "Take on me". The music video featuring a hand-drawn action sequence following a car race was a natural fit for me given my nationality and the collections high-octane aesthetic.
Jewelry
Even before deciding on the theme and starting the collection I knew I wanted it to go beyond clothes. Jewelry was the next logical step to take the inspiration of cars to given all the metal and hardware details available. Figuring out what to reinterpret while still making sense and remaining tasteful was the main obstacle. I took lots of inspiration from the wheel itself as a car goes nowhere without them and tire tracks are so recognizable as well. Whether the client is wearing my pieces head to toe or only jeans and a t-shirt, the jewelry will never look out of place.
These are the scale model cars I used to create the tire tracks and tire jewelry from. I dipped each cars tire in ink and ran it over paper to see which had the best looking thread pattern.
Starting off I made clay prototypes of two styles in a plethora of colors before moving on to the casting of all the items in a bismuth-tin alloy . Upon completion of the castings, I along with the help and tools of my father proceeded to grind down any flashes, reduce the weight, and polish each piece into the refined end product.
Fashion Film
Photoshoots
Lookbook
Editorial
Giclée Prints
Another personal goal of mine was to have the best photographs giclée printed and framed to a museum standard. This was done to really showcase the quality of the photographs and allows investors the ability to see my products realized as museum and interior design pieces or in and out of store ads.
