Soon after Chris Peters moved into Shane Gabier’s Humboldt Park two-flat in 2007, the couple started collaborating on sketches for women’s clothing. Two and a half years later, they were producing a full line of women’s wear. And by the fall of 2011, their label, Creatures of the Wind, known for its unique mix of textures and materials, was a finalist for one of fashion’s top prizes: the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund award for up-and-coming talent. (“It was an exciting honor,” says Gabier, and one that hasn’t been achieved by any other Chicago-based designer.)
From their home studio, Gabier, 38, (left) and Peters, 28, are putting the finishing touches on Creatures of the Wind’s latest collection, which will be shown September 6 at New York Fashion Week. Their clothes fuse Peters’s fondness for antiques and folk craft with Gabier’s love for modernist design, and their divergent aesthetic choices also blend harmoniously throughout the space where they work and live. See below for ten things they love.
10 Things They Love
CARAN D’ACHE MECHANICAL PENCILS ($23 each, Greer, 1657 N. Wells St.)
Gabier says: “I love fancy mechanical pencils, and I love enamel. These are the perfect combination.”
COMME DES GARÇONS SNEAKERS ($100 for similar style, barneys.com)
Peters says: “Comme des Garçons’ street wear doesn’t concede to another aesthetic.”
VINTAGE MUSHROOM LAMP
Gabier says: “Weird fantasy furniture from the late sixties. The mushrooms light from underneath.”
1960s PAPER MOBILE
Gabier says: “It’s such a delicate piece. I don’t think I’ll ever find a duplicate!”
IKRAM CAFE (15 E. Huron St., 312-587-1000)
Peters says: “We go there for lunch as often as possible and always have a fresh juice.”
Photography: Anna Knott
STEPHEN EICHHORN COLLAGE (price on request, ebersmoore.com)
Gabier says: “There is a serene and ceremonious quality to his work that we really appreciate.”
LEWIS LEATHERS LIGHTNING NO. 391 MOTORCYCLE JACKET ($1,023, lewisleathers.com)
Peters says: “It’s one of the iconic punk jackets. Bizarrely elegant.”
ACRYLIC LICHTENBERG SCULPTURE (from $40, capturedlightning.com)
Gabier says: “It’s been blasted with millions of volts of electric energy and looks like frozen lightning.”
UNDERCOVER BY JUN TAKAHASHI HATS (not available in the U.S.)
Peters says: “Undercover is one of the reasons I got into fashion. Takahashi builds fake worlds with really strong narratives.”
SANDER GLASSES FRAMES BY SELIMA OPTIQUE ($360, selimaoptique.com)
Gabier says: “Easy to wear and complimentary, but not overwhelming or an obvious fashion piece.”
Photography: (jacket) Saaya Nohara/courtesy Lewis Leathers, (all others) Anna Knott