Life is Beautiful…
Descending the stairs into a dimly lit basement showroom at 33 Fashion St., London, there is a buzz in the air, an energy. Across the room the glint of gemstones beg for attention from their liquid, metaled facets. From a distance, Reid Peppard’s Vermin Collection is drop dead gorgeous. Up close, the phrase takes on an entirely new meaning.
A graduate of Central St. Martin’s College, Reid Peppard, a vegetarian and jeweler turned taxidermist, presented her latest creations during London Fashion Week. Inspired in the beauty and nature of death, Peppard’s pieces use a variety of metals, stones, and taxidermy, to create some not so traditional accessories.
From Hermes messenger-to-the-gods-inspired, pigeon-wing headdresses and a coinpurse made from a street rat to emerald-eyed mouse head cuff links, Peppard’s jewelry could be considered an acquired taste.
Though present society may deem this woman’s work vulgar, Reid does not see it that way, nor do her fashion forward fans.
“Most of my vermin are actually caught by my cat, Panasonic. Or they’re road kill. I get friends calling me ‘Reid, I found a mouse in the street what should I do with it,’” she told CNN’s Becky Anderson in a webcam interview from inside her London studio.
However groundbreaking this idea of wearable taxidermy may appear in a culture that fights death to the last beat of each heart, the craft goes back over half a millennium, to the Dark Ages and the Black Plague. Called ‘memento mori,’ the first taxidermy jewelry were meant to remind people of their mortality.
What began with metalwork skeletons, soon incorporated hair, then bone, teeth, skin, feathers and fur; taking on a more gentle and romantic aesthetic. Hummingbird head brooches, mink stoles, and bird embellished hats became a way to convey wealth, and taste, the tradition has remained in the upper crust of the global community.
Putting a twist on recycled fashion, Reid Peppard has separated herself from the remainder of the accessories market, supplying open minded fashion lovers with jewels, and vermin, that have been given second life.
Images courtesy reidpeppard.blogspot.com and rpencore.com.
