Muse Boards

MMerch

Art / Architecture / Design / Fashion

Muse Boards, as they are known on Minnie Muse, have been intrinsic to the website’s DNA since launching in November 2017. As such, the Muse Board concept was one of the first categories I developed when outlining the content framework of Minnie Muse, over two years ago – a website, I envisioned, built on curation and contextualization.

Posted May 27th, 2019 By Colby Mugrabi

Every Monday we highlight one runway collection throughout history, paying homage by publishing a carefully composed assemblage of reference images for said show, based on my personal interpretation and understanding of the collection in focus.

Now, 19 months in and nearly sixty Muse Boards later, it occurred to me that after subjectively decoding the collections of countless brands and designers, I have never turned the tables and utilized this format to visually illustrate the Minnie Muse brand. With the launch of Minnie Muse Merch, it felt only natural to employ this framework to delineate the countless ideas and pictorial references that have had a hand in defining who and what is Minnie Muse.

In college I read a book titled ‘Pirates and Farmers’ by culture critic Dave Hickey. Put simply, Hickey argues that throughout history, creatives are either categorized as farmers or pirates. Farmers cultivate new ideas through innovative means of thinking and creating, ultimately releasing their teachings into the world only to be appropriated – for lack of a better term, i.e. ‘stolen’ – by pirates. An important takeaway from Hickey’s argument being that he refrains from contending one side over the other. Both pirates and farmers are essential to the progression of culture, while the world would be remiss without the perpetual creative tension ignited by both groups.

Hickey’s philosophy has always stuck with me. Making me question and better understand both creative individuals and, ultimately, myself. As such, looking closely at the reference images that have collectively informed the genetic makeup of the Minnie Muse brand, it is all the more obvious that I am a true pirate. Sampling elements of 20th century art, decades of fashion, midcentury design, and modern and contemporary architecture, to make something entirely my own. The ‘pirate’ badge is one I hold with tremendous honor.