Project Name: Harder, Stronger, Richer: Teeth-Laden Fashion for the 1%

Posted in: Photography , Fashion , Fashion design

Artist: Fantich & Young

Disturbing and provocative, the tongue-in-cheek work of artist duo  Fantich & Young  plunges head-long into one of our time’s most crucial and controversial issues — that is, how a disproportionate amount of the world’s wealth and power is in the hands of a tiny elite and how everybody else is fighting to make it to the top. If the free-market economy is indeed a place/forum where only the strongest survive, and our urban habitats are a brutal jungle, these products by  Darwinian Voodoo  ( Fantich & Young ’s new ‘pedigree lifestyle brand’) seem to aptly address the needs of a rather exclusive clientele, namely those men and women at the very top of our society’s ‘food chain’.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Oxford Alpha. Sculpture. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Alpha Female, 2014. Sculpture. Photo by Giles Price; courtesy of the artists.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Empire, 2012. Sculpture. Photo by Giles Price; courtesy of the artists. Designed for ‘‘the discerning client with the taste for power and exclusivity’’, the brand’s first collection aptly named  Apex Predator  includes shoes, masks, two-piece ensembles, a perfume and other accessories decorated with human hair, bones and thousands of human teeth (supposedly collected after relentless headhunting on the steppes of neoliberal economics). Despite the fact that the artists have assured us that the teeth are fake, the unsettling effect of these works is not the least diminished.  Fantich & Young  has also created a workout set to help those who wish to become a mighty alpha predator (if you survive using it that is):  a gym set entirely covered with razor blades .

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Alpha Scent. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Alpha Tote, 2014. Materials: Human hair, teeth, bones. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Fantich & Young, Self Portrait, 2012. Color print 90x130cm. Edition of 50. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Alpha Female, 2014. Sculpture. Photo by Giles Price; courtesy of the artists.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Empire, 2012. Sculpture. Photo by Giles Price; courtesy of the artists.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Alpha Female Mask. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Alpha Roxy. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Alpha Male Mask. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Suit, 2011. Sculpture. Materials: Savile Row suit, human hair, glass eyes, dentures. ''Apex predators are predators with no predators of their own, residing at the top of their food chain.'' Photo © Fantich & Young.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Alpha Male, 2014. Sculpture. Photo by Giles Price; courtesy of the artists.

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Mary Jane, 2014. Sculpture. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Fantich & Young, Apex Predator, Wild West, 2014. Sculpture. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Fantich & Young, Apex Predator, Gatsby, 2014. Sculpture. Photo courtesy of the artists. {YatzerTip}  Fantich & Young’s work is part of the upcoming exhibition LOVE & LOSS: Fashion and Mortality at the Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz, Austria (13 March to 7 June 2015). update 14 November 2015: For their first show in the USA, East London-based artist duo Fantich & Young present their Darwinian Voodoo collection of sculptural objects, shoes and garments, all unsettlingly adorned with human hair and teeth at Projects+Gallery from 6 November to 23 December 2015. 

Darwinian Voodoo, Apex Predator, Male Ceremonial Headdress, 2014. Sculpture. Photo by Giles Price; courtesy of the artists.

Fantich & Young, Mascot, 2012. Sculpture dimentions: (H) 310cm x (W) 380cm x (L) 415cm. Materials: Vaulting Horse, Military Medals Ribbons, Junior Sport Javelins, Crude Oil. ''A Mascot that symbolises competition, hicharcy, occupation and resources.'' Photo © Fantich & Young.

Fantich & Young, Mascot, 2012. Sculpture dimentions: (H) 310cm x (W) 380cm x (L) 415cm. Materials: Vaulting Horse, Military Medals Ribbons, Junior Sport Javelins, Crude Oil. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Fantich & Young, Double Games, Red In Tooth and Claw, 2009 – 2010. Sculpture. Materials: School Gym Apparatus, 300 000 Stanley Blades. ''Double Games, Red In Tooth And Claw deploys 300.000 Stanley blades to subvert the competitive attributes of school gymnasium apparatus.'' Photo © Fantich & Young.

Fantich & Young, Double Games, Red In Tooth and Claw, 2009 – 2010. Sculpture. Materials: School Gym Apparatus, 300 000 Stanley Blades. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Fantich & Young, Double Games, Red In Tooth and Claw, 2009 – 2010. Sculpture. Materials: School Gym Apparatus, 300 000 Stanley Blades. Photo © Fantich & Young.

Fantich & Young, Double Games, Red In Tooth and Claw, 2009 – 2010. Sculpture. Materials: School Gym Apparatus, 300 000 Stanley Blades. Photo © Fantich & Young.