Stars + Ravens

This elegant clothing line is designed by Sarah Borruso. Here’s Sarah on the inspiration behind Stars + Ravens:

For me, Stars + Ravens is an accumulation of all the things I’ve absorbed so far—a giant snowball of aesthetics, culture, history, experience. In the broadest sense this stems from my experiences living in San Francisco. I’m from here, and apart from a short stint in New York when I went to study fashion at Parsons School of Design, I’ve been here. When I started my first collection I began to realize how much San Francisco has influenced my design perspective. I created the first line taking direct inspiration from San Francisco history and culture including such incidents as the 1906 earthquake, the late 60s Summer of Love and the early 80s punk scene. I’m really interested in contrasts and like the name of the line—Stars + Ravens—these episodes reflect big contrasts: disaster and rebirth, violence and peace, angst and expression. The clothing and accessories play with contrasts as well – light and dark, old and new, understated and outspoken. Overall I’m hoping to capture an aesthetic that mixes visions of the past and the future – creating a new place.

My last project was based on a single, simple dress form. I wanted to explore the notion of variations and re-interpretations of this simple form by creating a series of dresses using the same pattern but in different textile treatments. Randomness was also a theme. For some I slashed the fabric, others I hand painted or silk-screened it. Certainly, wabi-sabi—the art of imperfection—is another big interest of mine and I was excited to explore it with this series of limited edition dresses.

Clothing design is one of my creative interests. I’ve also been playing music lately and formed the band The Glassines about a year ago. We perform regularly in the Bay Area and we often wear Stars + Ravens onstage!

This portrait of Sarah was taken by Andrew McKinley.

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