Hamansutra - Second Skin

Hamansutra’s Artificial Skin Collection 2060 features full-body overalls made from stretch and stocking fabrics that symbolize an artificial second skin. Full-body overalls made from stretch and stocking fabrics symbolize an artificial second skin. The mobile phones used represent the chips of the future, transplanted under the skin. The idea behind the designs is the ultimate transparency of life today, where everything we do is observed and documented by CCTV, Internet sites and Google.

At liberty to let rip

"When Lara moved away from home at the age of sixteen she was immediately at liberty to do whatever she wanted to her hair:

I moved to (area of Sheffield) and just went mental. I just let rip.  I grew my hair, I dyed my hair, I backcombed it, I left my crimpers on twenty-four hours a day...I stuck my hair up and it was like (indicates a foot above her head)....All the colours of the rainbow, one after the other and sometimes more than one at once."

Holland, S. Alternative Femininities: Body, Age and Identity. Berg, 2004

Photography by Billy Kidd on Behance.net

britta thie - These Are Red Hairs (these are beautiful?)

"What do we mean when we speak of 'beauty"? What do we experience?  Beauty is no longer considered to be the human experience of the harmonious object; today an aesthetics of difference has revolutionised our ways of seeing the beautiful.  Now, we live in a time of "extreme beauty"."

Cutting-Gray, J., and Swearingen, J. (eds).  Extreme Beauty: Aesthetics, Politics, Death, 2003

As seen on Viva

Britta Thie - vision of cosmetic performances

liquify from britta thie on Vimeo.

liquify from britta thie on Vimeo.

Shooting from britta thie on Vimeo.

Shooting from britta thie on Vimeo.

"It was self indulgent, we told ourselves. It was reinforcing bad old stereotypes - women as vain, self-absorbed. it was the evil step-mother looking in the mirror, bemoaning the signs of wear and tear.  It brought back the lessons learned at the mothers knee, from the media: women are in competition with one another and can never be true friends, and looks are the arena in which the battle is fought.  Hence, women cannot openly discuss their looks with each other.  It would be giving too much away to the competition." 

Lakoff, R and Scherr, L.  Face Value, The Politics of Beauty,  Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984

Seen from the face within

Artwork by Lucas Simões.

"The Victorians feared that cosmetics were a paint that could be used as a mask  (Synott, 1990). For centuries, men had been suspicious of the use of such artifice, fearing that they could be trapped into marriage by the false appearance of the 'temptress' determined to lure them.  Face paints could be used to disguise disfigurement from disease, or to rejuvenate the appearance of an older woman.  Men saw the use of cosmetics as an unfair weapon in the armoury of unscrupulous women."

Black, P.  The Beauty Industry: Gender, Culture, Pleasure,  Routledge, 2004

Restrained Beauty

Jewellery designed by Burcu Büyükünal.

Cosmetic ritual and personal identities

Phyllis Galembo's primary interest is the wearer's belief in the power of ritual costume to alter their everyday reality, this transformation allows the viewer to appreciate not only the process of cosmetic application but also the beliefs of the person hidden under the face and body paint.  The transformation is intentionally shocking, frightening even, but nevertheless each image pulls you in and refuses to release you until the full impact of this form of cosmetic dress is appreciated.

Two Boys with Whips, Jacmel, Haiti, 1997

Ekpokang Masquerade, Calabar South, Nigeria, 2004

Lance de Corde, Jacmel, Haiti, 2004

Three Men with Chains, Jacmel

Beach, Jacmel, Haiti, 2004

Man with Gun and Phone, Jacmel, Haiti, 2004

Man with Gun, Jacmel, Haiti, 2004