Designer Alix-Marie Bizet looks well beyond a persons hairstyle and engages the audience to do the same with her project Hair Matter(s). Using human hair as her primary material she looks to change our preconceptions of people in accordance with their hair (or lack of):
"Tamed, shaved, dyed or straightened, hair is a material that has been used by humans to construct a portrait. Human hair is shaped to be a social indicator between individuals to communicate their status and cultural affiliations. Although hair’s original state is characterised by richly diverse texture and colours, our idea of hair has been steadily standardized over the years by the cosmetics industry, media, and social conventions, making it akin to a uniform.
Hair Matter(s) is a platform for understanding hair as a medium to talk about the diversity of individuals and how it is essential to address the subject of democracy and an equality of all hair in society.
For this project composed of three jackets and hairpieces made out of human hair, I exaggerate the hair statement of the model, to shape it as a trophy and claim visibility in a society increasingly standardized by a dominant model."
For more information about this and Bizet's other projects visit her website .
