ML - Michigan Avenue

2015 - Issue 2 - Late Spring

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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photography by dorothy hong The pair's fuss-free approach To fooTwear yields ouTfiT-Transforming Tomboy slip-ons, illuminaTed by pops of primary hues, To be worn all day, every day. "It's important for us to have full control over things and grow categories our- selves," Peters explains of the new shoe collection, which comes on the heels of six seasons of collaborating with the iconic British footwear designer Tabitha Simmons. "We consider shoes to be one of the most important parts of our outfits as we dress every day. Being able to design them is really appealing and exciting." The duo points to an abundance of overthought, overly delicate shoes on the market, with a yearning to give women shoes that boast a "strong sense of direction, but at the same time aren't precious art objects that you are afraid to actually wear." Their fuss-free approach yields outfit-transforming tomboy slip-ons, illuminated by pops of primary hues, to be worn all day, every day. Creatures of the Wind was born when Gabier and Peters met at The School of the Art Institute, where the two started dating and organically creating loosely defined projects. "It was really like we were making stuff for the sake of making things," says Peters, who began his fashion career by crafting Sound Suits for Chicago fashion luminary Nick Cave. Local buyers saw the fresh, raw appeal in the duo's sculptural brocade dresses and wild-yet-con- tained mixes of color and fabric—think tweed woven from hair-thin plastic, holographic jacquard, tulle against lamé, and vegan leather against canvas. "An editor from women's wear daily saw [our work] and started talking to us, and that led to a wwd cover, which led to a w feature," Gabier recalls. "That motivated us to keep going, and each [collection] got a little bit more serious until the Spring 2011 collection, which we consider the first real collection." Dear friend Ikram Goldman began carrying Creatures of the Wind pieces in her eponymous boutique, with Barneys soon signing on as well. Anna Wintour encouraged the pair to apply for the 2011 CFDA/vogue Fashion Fund Award, and they were named runner-up. Most recently, the design team won the 2014 CFDA Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent in Womenswear. Gabier and Peters, who relish a relatively low profile in Logan Square, balance time in Chicago with work in New York and a whirlwind travel schedule (recent stops include China, Denmark, and Iceland), which is a constant source of inspiration. In fact, they allude to their itinerant lifestyle in the label's name, which is inspired by the song "Wild Is the Wind." "The song is quite emotional and eerie, and kind of sad but energizing, and those are the things we want the brand to encompass," Gabier says. "It was always about the intensity." available at ikram, 15 e. huron st., 312-587-1000; ikram.com MA clockwise from left: The duo's designs feature an eclectic mix of fabrics; art and fashion books offer creative inspiration; stripes add chic pops of color to menswear- inspired brogues; samples in the studio. 36  michiganavemag.com style tastemaker

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