Since launching in 2005 inception, Stolen Girlfriends Club has played by its own rules. Their latest project, Pretty Vacant, makes no exception to this attitude.
The iconic fashion brand took their most iconic pieces of jewellery from the last 11 years, the Death Metal Bracelet (the first item of Stolen Girlfriends jewellery ever made), Bow Ring (their most iconic piece since release), Junk Ring and Stolen Script Pendant and up-scaled them 80 times their normal size.
Jewellery is always this thing working in the background because it’s so small. We thought, let’s blow it up XXXL and make it the centrepiece. Jewellery is often overshadowed because it’s so small, so taking it and making it 80 times the size, you can’t ignore it. — Marc Moore
According to a press release, the pieces chosen for Pretty Vacant were first up-scaled in CAD, then laser cut from polystyrene and hand-painted.
Dealing with these pieces throughout the process – seeing them being made and come together, I still get a buzz out of it when they’re taken out of the bag and set up in the location, because the scale and detail is perfect. — Marc Moore
The project is a collaboration with photographer Derek Henderson and Red Bull and was born out of a brainstorming session at the Red Bull office. Once the idea to make huge sculptures of the jewellery was tabled, Moore knew an extra element was needed to turn the project into art. Henderson then shot the overblown industrial pieces in the raw beauty of New Zealand’s west coast.
Henderson has worked with Stolen Girlfriends Club since the label began and enjoys the brand’s approach. “As soon as I heard the idea to enlarge the jewellery 80 times its normal size I was attracted to it. [I wasn’t even] thinking about the photography, [I just knew] that it was going to look interesting,” Henderson says.
