The Style Questionnaire: Castle Starr

The Castle Starr line is as dreamy as the label's name. Lush fabrics, jeweled necklines, and beautiful tailoring will make any girl feel like a pretty princess.  We recently had a little sit down with the president of the company, Dan Castle to get the inside skinny on his company and of course, his iPod.

1) We love the fact you are a businessman who uses his financial smarts to partner with successful designers. Describe your typical workday? There is no typical day at Castle Starr.  There are times when certain aspects of the business are more pressing than others.  For example, I divide each season we create into three categories, Design, Sales & Production and Shipping. PR and marketing are a constant focus as well. Certain times of the year I will spend a lot of time with the designers going over fabrics, color and embellishment and print creation. Other times are less glamorous and I am at the factories overseas checking on production or at the distribution center making sure our stores are shipped correctly and each garment has been inspected properly.

2) How many designers at time do you work with? Castle Starr has a designer in Paris and 3 in NYC. Everything is a collaboration.

3) Castle Starr is a fantastic name- we get the Castle part - where did Starr come from?   Castles connote wealth and luxury. Stars connote love and creativity. Our customer has fine taste and wants what nobody else has seen before. She has a passion for fashion, she truly loves getting dressed up. The extra "R" in Starr is my way of letting everyone know that we are different than everyone else and focus on originality.

4) What do you find inspiring? My inspiration comes from our loyal customers. Anyone can come to our showroom and shop with us and this allows me to see the reactions they have to each piece in the collection. They get a great discount and my team gets free focus groups. By emailing info@castlestarr.com anyone can make an appt to shop with my team directly at our offices.

5)  Top ten tunes on your play list? This year I have been playing guitar a lot so my play list are songs that I have been learning lately such as: Grey Street - Dave Mathews, Stir it Up - Bob Marley, Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana,  and lots of Rolling Stones and The Doors.

6) Most treasured item in your closet: A custom suit I designed with the company Astor and Black

7) Do you have Fashion heroes, if not financial heroes? My fashion hero is also my financial hero and that is an easy Q to answer, Jay Z and Russell Simmons. If you research the deals they have put together, each deal could be made into a course in grad school.

8) Favorite fashion time period? Favorite time period for me is the last 5 years.  Young designers erupted into the scene with plenty of support from the industry, CFDA and fashion lovers. It also spurred new creativity from the long-standing labels from Calvin Klein to GAP.

9) What do you think will be the must have item for every women this summer? Gowns

10) Famous Last Words: Are you implying my time is up ?! J

Castle Starr will be on sale on ideeli, February 23rd. Tiaras are not included with purchase.