the Cool Collector: hair issues by Veerle Evens

Blog Archive

July 7, 2011

hair issues by Veerle Evens

1:04 PM | Geplaatst door THE COOL COLLECTOR |

Cool Collector # Trend Files

Our natural consciousness has been expressing itself for quite some time by the frequent use of natural materials, with wood as a big favourite. Structures and colours serve as inspiration and get imitated in design perspectives from interior design to fashion.

The sources of inspiration from nature are now sought even closer to the humankind, and are more literally than ever before. Although many people show resistance to these natural materials, a lot designers are busy experimenting with human hair and skin. The natural contribute of human to the cosmos.

This can be done by using skin and hair, like Lore Langendries does with her chain of ‘springbok’ leather. And Kobi Perez is bringing us back to our primitive roots with his ‘Harry’ jewellery, by mimicking the use of hair in the first jewellery and accessories of this world.

Combining the form, structures and colours is the superlative degree of this. How this can be done is shown by Noortje Zijlstra. She made a stunning fashion collection by combining silhouettes, colours and the structures of beards, and pulls them out of their context by applying them on women.

The world of interior and design seems to be ahead when it comes to using natural materials and textures. But the daring natural materials that make human and animal are more often seen in the fashion industry, where rebelling against ‘the normal’ always played a bigger role than in interior and design. Phoebe English for example, recently graduated from Central Saint Martins, created a whole collection with hair. For Maison Martin Margiela, hair isn’t a new material either.I would be excited to see the worlds of interior and fashion merging in the future, and exchanging these genres and principles. Think about it, a couch made from cat’s hair, or a dress with bark structures, how cool would that be? Some designers are already experimenting with this! Take a look at ‘Hair Cradle’, made by Culdesac & Studio Marisol. It’s made from human hair.

A contribution by Veerle Evens