Hold on to Your Girlfriends, Marc Moore Doesn't Play by the Rules

Do you ever play by the rules?
We definitely like to do things differently and we have a novel approach with most things we do. I’ve always wanted to design pieces for people that didn't want to dress like everyone else – those individuals are rebellious in their own way so there’s a nice synergy with what we do and what we create. We have to be a commercially minded business to survive in this industry and I think there are definitely some rules you can’t get around. You can try to change them or bend them a little sometimes. 

Do you think there’s a certain exclusivity to your club?
No. We created this club to be inclusive. To bring people together. The main driver for us is to entertain and move people with whatever we do. Whether it’s making people feel a certain way when they wear our creations or they dance their ass off all night on a Wednesday at our Fashion Week show. Having fun is always better when we do it together. 

Why did you feel New Zealand fashion was lacking?
I think when we started, fashion was still a little up it’s own ass. We didn’t like that aspect but we did like fashion itself, so we set about changing it and setting some new rules. Fashion just felt a little too ‘exclusive’ back then and tended to alienate anyone that didn’t fit the right criteria. We didn’t mind ‘exclusivity’ when it came to stockists of our brand because we wanted the stores that carried ‘Stolen’ to be beautiful and put care and consideration into their stories and the brands they stocked, but sometimes at events or things surrounding the shows etc it felt elitist to us and we hated that. We thought fashion should be inclusive, something everyone can celebrate and get involved with – regardless of whether you had a design degree, were well-studied, or endorsed by the right people. That’s where the idea of doing these huge shows at Fashion Week came. We gathered all of the fashion elite and we mixed them in with our friends and customers and followers of the brand. It’s a beautiful mix to see it all in play. 

Do any other cities in the world light your fire?
I’ve always been really inspired by Los Angeles. The light in that city is amazing – movie light, haha! It’s got this special haze, like an automatic Instagram filter that makes everything look cool. I’m fascinated by the light there. And all the palm trees. Palm trees symbolise optimism for me, so every time I see one it kinda just takes me away. I need to get one tattooed on me somewhere to remind me of that I think. 

How did you translate ‘post-apocalyptic surfers’ into a collection?
Haha! That was our ‘Life’s a Beach’ collection that we showed at Sydney Fashion Week in May 2010. It was a mix of classic sportswear shapes that were heavily worn or aged. We juxtaposed the sportswear elements with this weird aztec, almost tribal ikat pattern. It was a fun show and collection. All the male models wore huge military backpacks filled with sand. Just before they walked down the runway we poked holes in the bottom of each bag so sand fell onto the runway as they walked.

What are you listening to, watching, reading that’s inspired you lately?
I’ve been vibing on techno lately – I feel this genre of music is really underestimated. It’s like digital punk to me. It’s dark and gritty and has heaps of depth, especially when you research some of the artists. I’ve actually used some techno tracks in our upcoming Fashion Week show which I think will be so killer. 

Movie or television-wise I’m pretty basic. Haha! I think because I’m working in fashion and constantly around creativity I tend to watch really shitty television – something that takes me away so I don’t have to think or be inspired. My girlfriend got me into ‘My Kitchen Rules’ haha. I can’t even cook but she’s amazing, so that’s our chill time. Sometimes on the weekend we’ll sneak off and see some cheesy movie. We just saw ‘Booksmart’ a few weeks ago – it has Jonah HIll’s sister in it – hilarious! Kinda like a female version of ‘Superbad’.

What’s your design process?
Usually it starts with a film or a song – that invokes the initial inspiration for a collection. And then we build the story from there, build our muse and create a personality and aesthetic for them. But it can change from season to season. I’m working on a capsule collection for next year and I saw an image of this beautiful military coat with ornate buttons, right next to an image of this woman in a poet’s blouse – I immediately thought of the idea of merging a military vibe with a ‘New Romantics’ vibe – quite the collision! I am a huge fan of juxtapositions and trying to match two odd themes together to create something new. 

What’s your favourite piece in the collection?
I love the ‘Death Metal Bracelet’ – this piece is so iconic. It was the first ever piece of jewellery we designed, way back in 2005 with our first collection we ever presented. 

The bracelet is solid sterling silver (so much silver!) and feels so good when you wear it. The ideas of this piece was that guys and girls could share it and the guitar pick has become unofficial logo for us over time. I love that literal tie to music as a charm on the bracelet. We actually made a sculpture of this piece, cast in polystyrene and enlarged it to 85 times the scale – Derek Henderson shot it amongst the NZ landscape – pretty insane!

What legacy do you want your brand to have?
The brand that was started with $4K on a Visa card. Haha! No, just jokes. I think we’re still working on our legacy! We’re still a very young brand with a long way to go. I want to be known for our beautiful jewellery and leather jackets. The combination of those two key categories are the ultimate symbol of rebellion! Pirates wore jewellery to defy authority and leather jackets are the ultimate form of rebellion in any sense – and both timeless. I’d love ‘Stolen’ to always be remembered as the brand that moves people. Deep down we are storytellers and entertainers. The fashion sphere is a busy and noisy one, so to be remembered is no easy feat.