On the March day which Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters of Creatures of the Wind planned to celebrate the launch of their sunglasses collaboration with Chicago-based eyewear brand State Optical Co., a massive snowstorm hit New York City. Undeterred, they went ahead with the party anyway. That was kind of an appropriate gesture, since the influences that informed their designs were about wearing shades indoors; that punky, new wave era of the late ’70s and early ’80s when hipsters would party, party, party in nightclubs with dark glasses firmly affixed to their faces—Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, and queen of the kitschy cat-eye Debbie Harry of Blondie.
“When we were researching this collaboration, we looked at our heroes and icons from that period,” says Peters, “though we didn’t want the shapes to look retro. We tweaked them so they didn’t look too recognizable or so specific.” The four styles are rendered in tortoiseshell, red, black, and green acetate, and vary from the aforementioned elongated feline look to a weightier square style that does indeed refract the past through the (sorry!) lens of today. “They all have this glam component to them,” says Gabier. “I wouldn’t say they were gender neutral, but they’re playful in that regard.”
The styles are named after Chicago addresses—both Creatures and State spring from the city. (There’s the Monitor, the Tripp, the Leland, and the Neenah.) The process involved Gabier and Peters making a couple of trips to State’s ateliers, located in a northern suburb, where they could meet with the company’s technicians. Those trips back to where they first started likely only added to the ongoing reflection they’ve been experiencing on what they want their label to be, given their announcement to move to a more project-based approach. They’re happy to be (somewhat) stepping out of the fashion rat race.
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