In the immortal words of RuPaul: if you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you going to love anyone else? Well, what better way to declare your self-love than by referencing your face in your outfit?
Online pop-fashion retailer Shelfies is flogging t-shirts, yoga pants and all manner of other paraphernalia featuring – you guessed it – your face, arrayed in a decidedly internet-y flavour. Meanwhile, Australian label Doodad and Fandango designs custom jewellery that capture stylised renditions of customers’ faces in plastic.
Gucci took the concept to a new level by sending models down its Fall 18 runway with lifelike models of their own heads tucked under their arms like a handbag. In a post-show press conference, designer Alessandro Michele said that the collection was to do with the ways in which we construct and replicate our identity in the information age, which he sees as post-human.
This is where the relevance of the RuPaul quip I started out with gets called into question: if our focus is on the construction of an image for public consumption, are we displaying love for ourselves? I’m not sure. Perhaps it is possible to replicate and reconstruct something without necessarily rejecting the original source material.
In the case of the Gucci ‘head as accessory’ concept, it’s worth noting the replica has not been perfected, as such – at least not in a way that corresponds to conventional ideals of beauty. It sports the same surly glare that the model displays in her performance on the catwalk.
What is real? Don’t ask me; I’m just a humble fashion blogger. All I really wanted to say is that it’s cool to wear your face on a pair of earrings now.