We're all for pushing boundaries. There's plenty of successful instances whereby art meets fashion, or fashion meets beauty, but sometimes we wonder what is too far.
As a newly graduated art student, it's important to discover your niche, and London based jewellery designer Kerry Howell has certainly found hers. Hair. Yes, human hair. Now, in my book jewellery and hair are words that should only be combined with a sentence using ‘tangled', right? I would certainly not expect 'made of' to be the connective anyway. But what was I saying about pushing boundaries, for Howell's graduate project was just that. As a series of 5 striking necklaces, with delicate lace-like aesthetics, the pieces were made entirely from human hair. Taking inspiration from Damask wallpaper patterns, the artist used broken saw blades to cut and weave the tresses into abstract shapes to elegantly adorn the neck. Spending a thorough 60 hours on each piece, there's no arguing the pieces qualify as couture, it's just usually we don't find couture so creepy.
Aptly named Attraction/ Aversion, the collection is designed to explore how people can feel contrasting emotions simultaneously. Whilst on the body, we adore our hair, (I'm the first to admit I'll spend hours straightening, shining and perfectly my locks), but take it from it's natural existence and we're suddenly revolted. Kerry's aim was to see if she could make discarded hair attractive once more.
An innovative idea, and a philosophical concept successfully winning her prestigious awards, I must come round to the idea of practicality. Though beautiful in theory, their wearability remains questionable. The idea of gracefully swathing my neck in another human’s hair seems rather repulsive to me, and if I had either the money or the occasion to wear couture, I think I’d chose diamonds over dreadlocks.
What do you say, does this particular form of chest hair appeal to you..?
No comments:
Post a Comment