58 NEXT/SEPTEMBER 2019
Ten years on from
launching her label,
Ingrid Starnes is going
from strength to strength.
The designer tells
Phoebe Watt about her
exciting new milestone
of success
THE
FABRIC
P
ride of place in Ingrid Starnes’s new
boutique is a large framed print from
the fashion designer’s AW17 The Lost
Pink Valley look book. In it, Kiwi model
Veronica Crockford-Pound – who is
also Ingrid’s niece – is wearing a sheer silk pink
embroidered organza Hatum dress, posing at a spot
about four hours into the Tongariro Crossing. The
group of seven, which included model, hair and
makeup artist, photographer, videographer, Ingrid
and her team, had started the hike one February
morning at 5.30am, carrying between them hundreds
of kilograms of garments and gear. Despite shooting
in the middle of summer, the high altitude had all
their clothes jewelled with ice particles.
Anyone who’s ever been on the set of a fashion
shoot knows it’s a high-stress, mentally and
physically draining exercise even in a photo studio,
with bathrooms, running water and coffee-making
facilities and, y’know, walls. Take all that away, add
frosty temperatures and rocky terrain, and you can
start to imagine the kind of steely, all-or-
nothingness that lies behind Ingrid’s success. »