Martín Churba is one of the top designers in Argentina, with significant success across the Atlantic—mainly in Tokyo—as well as Hong Kong, France and the Middle East. His work has made it to the U.S. too, not only through his fabulous clothes but this time also thanks to the Walt Disney Company.

A pioneer in textile design, Churba has been an Argentine fashion icon for the past 15 years, creating some of the most cutting-edge collections; full of color, layers, texture and lots of play. Disney saw marketable potential in maximizing Churba’s edgy style and local celebrity status, and invited him to create his own fashionable version of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 to coincide with the movie’s worldwide premiere in May 2011. 

Martín Churba working on the skull in his boutique window. Right: Finished pirate’s head in Churba’s boutique window, photo: Fernanda Cohen.

The collaboration involved a live public performance in the windows of Churba's store Tramando at the beginning of May, which featured him and his team of assistants as they wrapped a 6.5 ft. high skull- provided by Disney in Churba’s iconic designs. He will also soon launch a new collection Inspired by Pirates, including tees, leggings and accessories.  

I talked to Martín last week at the opening he had of his Recoleta store, where he unveiled the finished skull among local celebrities, reporters, fans, and champagne.

Fernanda: What kind of art direction did Disney give you?

Martín: They just sent the skull to the store for me to work on, and they commissioned me to do a line of clothes inspired by pirates.

FC: What was your proposal to Disney before starting to execute it?

MC: I only asked them if the skull had to be visible and they told me to do whatever I wanted with it. So I decided our goal was to bring the skull back to life, by adding muscle to its features, eyes, skin, hair and pirate accessories. We recreated Jack Sparrow, as if his head were floating in the Caribbean Sea.

FC: What materials did you use?

MC:  I used a cotton jersey stretched over a layer of lycra, which covered the skull made out of foam and papier-mache.

FC: What happens with the skull afterwards?

MC: It belongs to Disney, and they plan to exhibit it at their offices.

Until May 13^th, the skull will be on display at Tramando (Rodriguez Peña 1973, Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina) and it will also be shown later in May as part of ArteBA, which is Argentina’s equivalent to the Armory Show.

The world premeierof Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was Saturday; the New York premiere is on May 20th.

New York-based artist and illustrator Fernanda Cohen is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts, and a lecture coordinator at the Society of Illustrators of New York. She recently designed a line of T-shirts for The Gap's Product (RED) campaign and is one of Carolina Herrera's 10 New York faces for the 212 VIP perfume campaign. She is currently working on opening her own boutique hotel in Buenos Aires. Fernanda is also an occasional contributor to DART.