‘Seat belt’ couture by Greta Constantine
Designers Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill,are the creators of the Canadian fashion label Greta Constantine .Kirk, a stylist by trade based in Milan, Italy, has worked for international designers such as Dsquared2 and Neil Barrett. He’s a guest teacher at the renowned ISTITUTO MARANGONI in Milan.Stephen began his career as a costume designer in Toronto for Susan Dicks & Co. and has made clothing for several films such as THE LAST DAY OF DISCO, AMERICAN PSYCHO, GLITTER, CHICAGO and currently HAIRSPRAY, starring John Travolta.
Stephen’s draping and design expertise, paired with Kirk’s knowledge of fashion forecasting resulted in a business partnership and the establishment of GRETA CONSTANTINE in 2005. Incredibly they live on opposite sides of an ocean and manage to run their business in cyberspace daily via Windows® Messenger™ meetings.
Their designs are a directional as they are inspirational…they revel in using textiles that Pickersgill describes as “foreign yet functional.” They enjoy the challenge of taking materials out of their original context, and loved the possibilities upcycling seat belts by draping them around the female form.
“When you think the process of building a seat belt,” says Pickersgill “it’s to save our lives. It’s a type of armor.” The results of their creative experiments, which were launched for Autumn/Winter 2009, are spectacular, featuring futuristic, graphic, origami-like ruching , as well as a deeply dark draped metallics . If you like to blend with the crowd….this is not the collection for you…as each piece is a stand alone, statement…….worthy of the highest eco icon status.
