Herodias Dress, Found Flowers

This dress is by Ingrid Starnes who studied fashion design at AUT in Auckland and launched her eponymous label in 2009. The dress is from her Dream of Venus collection (Autumn, 2020).

Ingrid Starnes drew inspiration for her autumn 2020 collection from Salvador Dali’s exhibit at the 1939 World Fair, and in particular two paintings in which he replaced women’s heads with flowers: Three Women with Heads of Flowers Finding the Skin of a Grand Piano on the Beach (1936) and Venus With the Head of Roses (1935). The dress is named after Herodias (c. 15 B.C.E. – after 39 C.E.), a Jewish princess of the Herodian Dynasty and mother of Salome, whom according to the New Testament, was incited by her mother to ask for the head of John the Baptist.  

The full length, sheer blue, organza dress features a loose floral print, which is based on a painting by Kirstin Carlin (b. 1979) , Untitled (Found Flowers). Kirstin Carlin, who completed a Master of Fine Arts at the Glasgow School of Art, is known for her highly gestural paintings in which she takes ‘recognisable subject matter and tested pictorial devices’, such as those associated with flower painting and landscapes, and abstracts them.

The Dream of Venus collection marked a new shift in direction for Ingrid Starnes. The company decided to shift their focus from seasonal collections, to creating special one-off garments, and limited editions of up to 100 garments of any one style.

Unfortunately, the collection also marked the end of the company's retail business. On 10 June 2020 Ingrid Starnes informed customers via social media that the company was closing its retail operations, stating: ‘We were caught at full stretch by COVID-19 and cannot responsibly make another season after months of trade being down more than 80 percent and debts accumulating. Today we announce the wind-down of all our retail operations over the next three months.’

The company has subsequently moved online, and is focused on custom made clothing.

In order to try and eliminate the spread of the virus Covid-19, New Zealand was placed in Level 4 Alert lockdown from 11.59pm on 26 March and ran through to 11.59pm 27 April 2020, and then into Level 3 until 13 May. During Level 4 only essential businesses, such as supermarkets, were allowed to remain open. Although businesses could open during level 3, they were not allowed to interact with customers.