Skin Deep: Stærk Fall 2010

Dressed head to toe in black, Camilla Stærk herself exudes a modernity that is the hallmark of her her ready-to-wear collections. After training and launching her business in London, the designer moved stateside in 2006 to start a new brand, Stærk, which channels the downtown energy of her latest residence while reflecting her native Denmark’s sleek design heritage. A heavy insistence on leather reflects Stærk's love of riding, saddlery, and the leather chairs of designers such as Arne Jacobsen and his modernist cohorts. Having previously looked to the work of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and sculptor Louise Nevelson for inspiration, this fall Stærk explored the world of Helmut Newton and his wife June (aka Alice Springs) through their book Us and Them. “Their work is so different,” explains Stærk. “[Alice’s] was so raw and personal and his is obviously very stylized. I combined the two.” So simple shapes are reinvented in leather with bold splashes of color and accentuated details like a peplum waist or a saddle inspired epaulet.