PIAFF BOUTIQUE

EDITIONS 00: JOLIE LAIDE

CREATIVE CONCEPT & COPY LARA AKKARI / ART DIRECTION REEM KOTOB

Screen Shot 2021-01-20 at 4.05.12 PM.png

JOLIE LAIDE, THE PILOT THAT DID NOT GET published.

Back in 2019 I had pitched the idea to PIAFF boutique to create a viral fanzine on their instagram feed. The idea was to do a takeover of their account, transforming it from a repository of “look book” imagery to a content rich destination tackling PIAFF’S inspiration points from a unique perspective: The pursuit of a cultivated expression of style.

The series was to be called EDITIONS, kicking off with the theme of JOLIE LAIDE / Ugly Beauty.

Whilst we did manage to launch EDITIONS 01: Wanderlust (click to see), JOLIE LAIDE unfortunately never came to be published. It is however, one of my favorite projects that I have worked on: from the research, curation and manipulation of the imagery, to the stories behind the designers, artists, architects, photographers and icons of non-conformist beauty. The topic and notion of “ugly beauty” is one that has always held a great deal of fascination for me, challenging the standard perceptions of pretty by offering an aesthetic that celebrates a different caliber of taste. One that is not necessarily easy to digest at first, but like the best things in life, becomes an acquired taste for those with a more unconventional palette.

So, I thought I would share snippets of how it would have unfurled and re-ignite my passion for the other side of beauty.

JOLIE LAIDE: THE UNPUBLISHED ISSUE.

Screen Shot 2021-01-20 at 4.06.05 PM.png

Screen+Shot+2021-01-20+at+5.41.11+PM.jpg

THE “CAMEL TOE” TABI MARGIELA BOOT. RECOGNIZABLE 25 YEARS AFTER ITS DEBUT, NEVER COPIED, AN ICON FOR THE INITIATED.

THE CAUSTIC GREEN COLOR FEATURED IN THE JOLIE LAIDE FEED WAS CHOSEN PRIMARILY FOR ITS “UNATTRACTIVE” NATURE.

HOW CAN WE CHALLENGE OURSELVES TO TAKE SOMETHING WE DON’T LIKE - AND BY PUSHING ITS BOUNDARIES - REFRAME IT IN A WAY THAT MAKES ITS UNLIKABLE NATURE THE ESSENCE OF WHAT WE LIKE?

Screen Shot 2021-01-20 at 6.04.48 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-01-20 at 6.24.47 PM.png

THE ASSERTIVE BEAUTY OF WOMEN WHOSE INDIVIDUALITY, STRENGTH & IMPERFECTIONS TRUMP PRETTY. EVERY TIME.

Screen Shot 2021-01-20 at 6.34.24 PM.png

EXPLORING THE CROSS-SECTION OF BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE AND THE AESTHETICISM OF FASHION’S CONCEPTUAL AVANT GUARDE.

BOTH ARE TESTAMENT TO AN AESTHETIC that challenges PRETTINESS.

that re-questions beauty & by doing so establishes that beauty can be beyond the normative form of pretty.

A SNAPSHOT OF EDITIONS 00: JOLIE LAIDE UNPUBLISHED FEED.

Screen Shot 2021-01-20 at 4.06.47 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-01-20 at 4.06.56 PM (1).png