Skilled craftsmen and irreverent dreamers, Shane Gabier and Chris Peters are the names behind Creatures of the Wind, a label that has captured the fashion world’s attention. Debuting next spring at D’NA, we sat down with the designers to talk about working outside fashion’s mainstream.
A basement-studio in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood serves as an unlikely epicenter for one of fashion’s most promising labels. Since launching Creatures of the Wind in 2008, Shane Gabier and Chris Peters have garnered the attention of fashion editors and buyers for their precisely tailored outfits that come with a subversive twist. “We’re not interested in conventional notions of beauty, so much as exploring ways of fusing contradictory elements, such as punk and folk art, with a feminine or romantic aesthetic. Our clothes are very wearable, but definitely concept driven," says Gabier, who together with Peters, were selected as finalists for this years CFDA Fashion Fund Award.
“It was a big learning experience for us to put together a business plan and get the paperwork in order. Even though the interviews were nerve-wracking, it was all worth it in the end,” noted Peters of the awards' selection process.
Gabier and Peters studied interior architecture and environmental studies, respectively, before switching to fashion design. “Having varied backgrounds allows us to draw on a lot more references, and there is never a set way to approaching a new collection,” explained Peters, who met Gabier while a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Today Gabier teaches in the school’s Fashion Department.
From the outset the two took careful steps to control their brand and image, which meant eschewing runway shows, and avoiding being typecast as a Chicago label. "We're not anti-Chicago or pro-Chicago. It's where we live and we like it here," explained Gabier, a Michigan native, and Peters, who grew up in Ireland and New Jersey. “It's too easy to put everybody under this umbrella—it kind of insinuates this shared aesthetic or progression.”
For their debut collection in 2007, they decided instead to show in LA at the studio of Iranian-American designer Jasmin Shokrian, a friend of Gabier's from his student days, and invited a select group of boutique owners. “Early on our plan was to align ourselves with the kind of designers that we felt were our peers. We'll never show at a trade show. We know the stores we want, and we'll contact them." explained Gabier. While in LA, the designers also attended an event sponsored by Vogue; dressing Shokrian in a black and white version of their wrap jacket. The cape caught the eye of an editor for Women's Wear Daily, which landed them a feature in the fashion publication.
Operating outside the fashion mainstream, in Chicago, means that both designers are immune to predictable trends that inevitably turn up on the New York runways. For next Spring, they took ladylike shapes eluding to the 1950s and 60s, and rendered them in unusual color combinations and details, such as a pink and blue lamé zip-front jacket over a fuchsia lace blouse and lime green satin skirt. While a blue lace shift pulsated with a shocking red lining. “For us it’s always about evoking an emotion or sensation, or combining elements of beauty and intellect into an outfit,” noted Peters.
The designers emphasize that team work also helped contribute to their success, as each brings different strengths to the label. Gabier has a precise, technical background, while Peters is a masterful draper. Collaborating with other artists and designer has also been a cornerstone of their vision for the line. "Chicago's a really good place for these interdisciplinary collaborations," says Gabier. "There's this small indie music scene and a tiny little fashion scene—it's interesting to take advantage of that."
For Spring, the pair tapped Erickson Beamon to create brooches and necklaces of tangled sterling silver vermeil, smashed Swarovski crystals, and burnt Japanese glass pearls, to heighten the drama of their clothes. Special details such as these have become the hallmark of a label that is barely four years old. Yet in that short time, it has quietly established itself amongst those in the know, for its ability to elevate everyday dressing to an occasion for wonderment.
