Kerry Howley Jewelry Collection

Posted on Jul 14, 2011 in Fashion

We figured we’d get this one out before lunch, because quite a few of you aren’t going to want to eat and look at these pictures. Others will ask “What’s the big deal?”

Kerry Howley, an art student from Middlesex University in London, produced collection of necklaces made from human hair inspired by wallpaper pattern and she’s getting quite a bit of attention for it. What makes it so captivating is the juxtaposition of beauty with something humans are naturally inclined to find a little repulsive.

“My concept is a material exploration of attraction and aversion and how we can feel these seemingly opposing emotional responses simultaneously.

The necklaces are made of human hair, a material we are familiar with and take pride in. However once off of the body it becomes an innate source of aversion. I wanted to see if I could make discarded hair attractive again.

Through the familiar form of a necklace, and using patterns and symmetry that we instinctively find aesthetically pleasing, I hoped to create a delicate balance between the viewer/wearers feelings of aversion and attraction.”

They really are quite lovely, but they really do skeeve us out. You might ask if we’re equally as skeeved by leather and we’re not, but that’s because we don’t place cows and humans on the same level. If we did, we’d just cut up a neighbor the next time we had a barbecue and didn’t feel like shopping for meat. Still, it’s an interesting reaction to explore: why the revulsion for the idea of wearing someone else’s hair on your bare neck? We wouldn’t be so repulsed by a wig made of human hair, so why do our minds automatically make the distinction?

What about you? Do you think these are gorgeous? Do you think they’re disgusting? The two aren’t mutually exclusive, by the way. Would you wear pieces like this?

[Photo Credit: artsthread.com]

Tags:

http://profiles.google.com/paigemano Paige Mano

Cool as art pieces…not cool as jewelry I’d actually wear. Just the thought of other people’s hair in a place that’s not on their body somewhere (i.e. a clump on the floor, in the shower drain, etc.) makes me gag. *gags*
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YMEB3XKJCE4WL62SKN473LWBXQ Frank
  
  OMG it’s 3:09am and that post literally made me cackle like a crazy witch! so funny! but i agree with all of that. its cool how the juxtaposition makes me feel
kathleen morgan

Hmmmm….interesting. I’m much more curious about how these are made and how they maintain shape. But that’s just the crafty in me.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Lauren-Jean-St-Martin/504251897 Lauren Jean St. Martin
  
  I was thinking the same thing!
- Anonymous
  
  Me, too. While scrolling down I racked my brain trying to figure out if there was wire, monofilament thread, or some hardening process involved. Quite lovely, but I totally can totally understand how some might skeeve this particular type of art.
Anonymous

Hmm..the designs are beautiful. It’s all the flyaway and stray hairs that kind of gross me out. Also..I’d think they’d be a little itchy to wear, no?
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CIPKMOXHLA5KG34HMH55OXHCVM Angel H.
  
  I think the stray hairs is what making me ick, also. The designs are gorgeous, but when I see those loose hairs I can’t help but think “shower drain”.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1007327979 Sara Frankart Finn
    
    I thought exactly the same thing. If they were neat and tidy they would be beautiful and I would be fascinating. But i’m sure the messiness somehow makes it “art”
  - Anonymous
    
    exactly. or as casanova would say “egg-zack-lee”. those little hairs sticking out are looking like the model has curly chest hair like some men. and THAT is gross. ew ew ew.
  - Anonymous
    
    Agree. Gross.
  - Anonymous
    
    Its the “shower drain” effect that gives them the gross factor. Real hair wigs aren’t gross because that hair is taken care of and collected for a purpose. I’d imagine it was the same with these, but they look a bit like what’s left around a drain after a shower, and thus the ick.
- bookish
  
  My feelings exactly.
- Anonymous
  
  Exactly. They look gorgeous, but itchy.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6416893 Jenna Kuhmann
  
  That was exactly what I was thinking. It’s they stray stuff that gives me the heebie-geebies. But it is very pretty.
jmoss1

I actually think they are horrible and ugly. Nothing to do with the human hair element of it.
- Anonymous
  
  All I can think is Austin Powers’ chest hair!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1166704980 Deb Wood

truly lovely. and truly fascinating. but I would NEVER wear one because it’s just … ewww.
Liana Brooks

Ewww! Just imagine how much that itches!
- Anonymous
  
  My thoughts exactly. I have long hair. When a strand falls out and gets stuck to my arm or any other part of me, it drives me absolutely insane. The pieces are gorgeous, though.
Anonymous

They are pretty to look out, but agree kind of creepy.

Plus as a girl with a long hair I get bugged by the random stray hairs and am constantly trying to get rid of them as they nag my skin. What would this do then???
Anonymous

Here’s the difference between a human hair wig and a human hair necklace: A wig is using human hair for what it was intended for to be worn on the hair. These necklaces are just completely unnatural and weird to me. Not only could I never wear them, I have a hard time looking at the pictures.

But I’m a vegan, so I don’t wear leather, fur, etc. either. All of that stuff grosses me out.
Anonymous

These are quite beautiful but are more statement art than wearable pieces. Would I wear it? Dunno….they look itchy.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6PUVFQ7YCZZFZRIER6BEJ4HVYE Amye

They’re pretty but impractical. What happens when you MOVE, when it RAINS, when you go to take it off. These are nothing but conversation pieces & pictures.

And it does skeeve me to have something like that against my bare skin. On my head there are several layers of cloth.
http://twitter.com/sylvia_warren Sylvia

Like an immaculately tangled lot of hair in the bottom of a shower. You know, the stuff you throw away thinking “ech ech ech”
Anonymous

They’re really incredible and beautiful in their own way, but I agree with sln1976. I can’t stand to find my own stray hairs on my skin, much less another person’s.
Evan Hart

It’s interesting because it was a common practice in the Victorian era to wear hair jewelry. You would take hair from a deceased loved one and would make interesting, intricate, and lovely jewelry. Granted, the hair was rarely free like this… it would be in pendants or in hair barrettes, etc. I wonder if the designer knew this because many of these designs mirror some of the Victorian hair jewelry pieces.

That said, I would feel strange having human hair jewelry directly against my skin…. Plus, I think it would end up creeping out those around me.
- http://twitter.com/delysia_lafosse Delysia LaFosse
  
  I was interested to see TLo call hair ‘something humans are naturally inclined to find a little repulsive’ because of this. Clearly humans haven’t always felt that way. And although many Victorian hair jewelry was made of a regular metal jewelry piece with the hair ‘captured’ in a locket, some of it was made with intricately braided and formed hair. For anyone who lives in Michigan, the Henry Ford Museum has a nice collection of Victorian mourning jewelry.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_F3HKIK7MIJMBDAQBDWEAQDTXUM theneva
  
  The difference is that Victorian hair jewelry wasn’t so sloppy. Even the objects made directly of braided and formed hair was neatly done. There weren’t stray hairs making the whole piece look like it was fished out of a drain. In light of the artistry and intricately wrought weaving and braiding done by her predecessors, I find Howley’s work unoriginal, uninspired, and poorly done.
Vaniljekjeks

The designs are gorgeous and if it was made out of anything else, I would want seven. But I can’t get behind the hair. It just looks like chest hair.
Anonymous

Yup–it’s the stray hairs that creep me out. If there were some way to get those under control, I’d have no problem wearing them. The patterns are beautiful, and they lie on the skin so beautifully.

Remember when Chris March used human hair in his final collection? That was essentially wig hair, and it still made Nina-Michael-Heidi grimace. People wear human hair wigs all the time, so why the skeeving over wearing human hair elsewhere on the body?
Anonymous

Um, no thanks. In a related story, my esthetician once thought she saw the Virgin Mary in the hair on a wax strip during my bi-monthly back waxing treatment. I let her keep it. Really, it was cheaper than tipping.
- Anonymous
  
  For real?
Anonymous

They are gorgeous, but just looking at them gives me that icky feeling I get when the cat sheds all over me.
lilibetp

Why not just use some very fine silk yarn? Meanwhile, it drives me crazy to be touched by my own hair. No way I’d have someone else’s touching me!
http://profiles.google.com/dorothymichael Dorothy & Michael n/a

now I know what to do with all the damn dog hair I have around my house. Anyone have this lady’s mailing address?!
- Anonymous
  
  I saw something on animal planet (I think) about a dog groomer who keeps the hair when she trims cats/dogs and then looms it in her leaving room, and then crochets purses. People are bringing their animals to her to shave and make them things.
  - Anonymous
    
    That’s not right.
    - Anonymous
      
      Why not? Lots of people wear wool make from shaved sheep.
      - http://profiles.google.com/h6davis Hannah Davis
        
        Dog hear is crazy soft and warm too. Very hard to work with though…
http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

Ew.
- anile woods
  
  I’m surprised no one has mentioned the tradition in Victoria itmes to make atr, jewelry, flowers form human hair, often in memory of a loved one who has died. It was very common and even proper to wear a lock of your beloved hair after their death. Here’s a good description of the practive: http://theconstantgatherer.blogspot.com/2009/02/victorian-hair-art.html
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DO54ICWQLRD2STHRSELEATLSKY Cindy

Pretty designs, but a nasty concept. I wonder if she used thicker or differently textured hair, it would look better.
Anonymous

I would wear if they were dyed different colors- the aversion factor would be reduced considerably by using bright colors, which of course, would also undermine one of the artist’s intentions. But I tend not to wear things I find aversive or meant to repulse others. The patterns are beautiful.
Anonymous

I think they’re wonderful pieces of art, and they do just what art is supposed to do. They’re lovely, thought-provoking, intelligent and challenging. Would I wear them? No. Not so much because I’m skeeved by hair (because I’m not), but because I find the stray hairs and shagginess of them something I don’t like in jewelery. I’d wear them if they were metal, or if they were smoother. But that would ruin the point of what she’s trying to do here. They need to look like hair to work.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=566983224 Erin Leahy

I think they are great! in a world where people all around me wouldn’t think they’re gross, I’d wear them. Unfortunately, this is not reality.
scottyf

Fabulous! Now I have something to accessorize Sissy Bear’s Fashion Week collection!

I think the pieces do exactly what Art should do: evoke a visceral response from the person experiencing it. Brilliant.
I also think they are beautiful and well executed.

Besides, I like the idea of jewelry you can shampoo and set.
Anonymous

The necklaces are made of human hair, a material we are familiar with and take pride in. However once off of the body it becomes an innate source of aversion.

Didn’t Seinfeld already cover that?

I feel pretty neutral about them. The designs are delicate and pretty, but I don’t feel an emotional reaction one way or the other (and I’m pretty easily skeevified). But I can’t help but wonder how well they hold up; I suspect they’re pretty fragile. Well, it seems more of an experiment than anything else.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1277204672 Barbara Harris Morgan

They are stunning to look out. And I, like others, would love to know the process behind the pieces. But no way could I wear them. Not so much because it someone else’s hair, but the tactical issue would be too much. Can’t stand the sensation of a stray hair brushing against my skin anywhere.
aussiegal77

Lovely design but out of hair? My soul just died a little bit. No, I wouldn’t wear these.
http://profiles.google.com/mmara00 M M

No woman I know wants hair on their neck/chest.
Tracey Pajala

Sure that’s great. If I wanted to look like my man’s hairy chest. Yeesh…very creative…but NO. The stray hairs creep me out.
Anonymous

The top one absolutely looks like a vagina.
- Anonymous
  
  I’ll never been able to unsee that now, zoinks!
Bridget Dierks

This reminds me of Seinfeld’s declaration that hair is beautiful until the instant it detaches from one’s head, at which point it is revolting. Ick.
Anonymous

This is definitely art, and I think it’s provocative and interesting as an artistic work (and simultaneously beautiful and disgusting, yes). But I think the ick factor makes these pieces largely unwearable, so even though technically this is “art jewelry”, I don’t think it’s jewelry. Does that make sense? Lol.
Anonymous

It looks like her hair brush REALLY needed cleaning.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=610891692 Danae Kramer Ciske

Blech. Looks like she has a hairy chest.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lauren-Jean-St-Martin/504251897 Lauren Jean St. Martin

Oh, they’re gorgeous! But that creeps me out so so so so soooooooooo much! Shudder.
Anonymous

I’ve always been fascinated by mourning jewelry, which I find understandable and beautiful, if a bit macabre. This is taking hair jewelry to a whole new level. They are pretty enough, but those little fly-away hairs would drive me nuts. And what woman wants to resemble Burt Reynold’s chest chair?
narita_rayna

chris march was so ahead of his time.
Anonymous

They’re okay, I suppose but I would be freaked out by wearing these. I get freaked out by wigs too so that’s to be expected. Any hair that’s not mine and/or not firmly attatched to my or someone else’s head has always been rather skeevey to me.
Judy_J

At first glance, they are beautiful, but when you see the stray hairs sticking out, it’s kind of gross. And no, I wouldn’t wear any of these. I’m getting itchy just thinking about it.
Judy_J

At first glance, they are beautiful, but when you see the stray hairs sticking out, it’s kind of gross. And no, I wouldn’t wear any of these. I’m getting itchy just thinking about it.
Judy_J

At first glance, they are beautiful, but when you see the stray hairs sticking out, it’s kind of gross. And no, I wouldn’t wear any of these. I’m getting itchy just thinking about it.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1326120071 Gaby Ripoll

It used to be common to have jewelry with locks of loved one’s hair in them. I don’t know if I’d make the comparison to leather because no one had to die to be able to come by this hair. But we are naturally averse to the detritus of our own bodies, so I really like that juxtaposition within these pieces.
Jessica Rowe

I think it is the sanitary aspect… although you are right. We wear wigs made out of human hair. However, everyone had jewelry made out of human hair 300 years ago. Perceptions change.
Anonymous

They’re like Victorian mourning jewelry, bracelets and rings made from a dead person’s hair. These are kind of pretty, but I sure wouldn’t wear them.
Anonymous

I think this work is lovely, and not repulsive at all. It isn’t so much a new idea as a reinterpretation of Victorian mourning hair jewlery (some images/examples here: http://www.morninggloryantiques.com/JewelChatHair.html). Many museums have small collections of these odd, beautiful pieces. My local art museum has a wreath made as a kind of “family tree” with hair from lots of different family members.

Lots of contemporary artists have explored hair as a medium. Such as NY sculptore Petah Coyne’s exhibition Fairy Tales, or Althea Murphy-Price, who uses synthetic and human hair ‘weave’ and extensions to much topiary like sculptures.
- https://profiles.google.com/104791269167429064986 Judy S
  
  I thought of this too (and I see others have as well). The Victorian pieces I have seen aren’t anywhere near as pretty as these but they appear to have been more durable–heavier, without the flyaway tendrils. I guess to me it makes more sense to use another material that would be/look less “itchy.”
- Anonymous
  
  Oh, I *should* read before I post, even if there are 100+ comments! I posted the same link waaaay down a few pages.
Anonymous

I think they’re gorgeous. And I’m not skeeved out. I happen to have 2 ponytails of my own in my dresser drawer that are awaiting being sent in to locks of love…it’s just hair. It’s not going to make you sick unless you decide to react that way.

On a different note, I’d be fascinated to find out how she MADE these! They don’t look braided…I wonder what’s holding them together and how long they’d last before falling apart.
http://twitter.com/watchinginkdry Dr Skylaser

Gorgeous AND gross.
Anonymous

ewwww
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2VBWWGHZEBKTVQMXE5SO5NCU2I Mich

what i like about the pieces is how they lay on the skin. they form to the body in a way that metal doesn’t. if it wasn’t for all the fly aways, i would almost think these are tattoos. i think they’re stunning, if not wearable.
Anonymous

Ick. Looks itchy. And … dirty.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513945580 Megan Patterson

I too think the designs are pretty, BUT EW HAIR OMG GROSS.
Anonymous

No. I thought at first it was thread or some kind of fine yarn and that it looked lovely – but messy. Knowing it’s hair compounds the messiness factor to such a degree I find myself almost feeling the need to brush my shoulders now for any loose hair. Oh God no this wouldn’t work.
Anonymous

I think they are beautiful, design wise. The hair itself doesn’t bother me, but I can’t stand when I get a loose hair and I feel it tickling my arm or neck. I think that’s what this would be all day-that feeling of ‘ack, there’s a hair on me!’
Anonymous

Holy Chris March! It amazes me how people can be freaked by the idea of human hair clothing and jewelry but have no issues with human hair wigs and hairpieces.

It’s hair, folks, and it’s nothing but dead cells.
- Anonymous
  
  And many people in fashion have no problem wearing the skins and hair of dead animals on their bodies, animals who suffered horrible deaths in order to make the wearer and Anna Wintour look “chic.”
  
  Human hair doesn’t bother me, as long as it was willingly given.
http://www.facebook.com/seelebrennt Christina Diaz

just looking at the pieces makes me ITCH!! yuck. pretty designs, but….yuck.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AYQCICXEN2CCDBFV5HED4Z2RUA Dee B

I’m not skeeved but….am I supposed to buy it? Because no. Like Paige said it works as art, but as something to buy and then place on myself? No.
http://listlustlost.blogspot.com/ Suzanne77

It looks itchy. Also, what part of it (if any) goes towards the prohibition we have now with women having ANY hair below, say, the eye brows? Come on, she must be referencing hairy chests here as well.
- Anonymous
  
  Seriously, this thing about grown women wanting to look prepubescent to be attractive is what skeeves me out, far more than these necklaces!!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1046681022 Paula Berman

Cool to look at but I wouldn’t wear one, and can’t think of too many garments whose appearance would be enhanced by a human hair necklace. Makes me think of something that would be made by a crafty serial killer.
Sarah Thomas

They seem so delicate. The first time I wore one I’d go to brush the hair off my neck and then realize I’d thrown all that money down the drain.

Oh wait, that wouldn’t happen. Because I’d never, ever wear this.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Katherine-Lavender/553350310 Katherine Lavender

Want.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Katherine-Lavender/553350310 Katherine Lavender

Want.
http://twitter.com/rachelruthlee Rachel Lee

……Ewwwwwwwww. All those bits of hair sticking out from the main design don’t help!
http://twitter.com/rachelruthlee Rachel Lee

……Ewwwwwwwww. All those bits of hair sticking out from the main design don’t help!
Anonymous

as a conceptual art piece? sure, but as something to actually be worn? holy hell no, i will join the ranks of commenters with long hair, it drives me insane to have an errant hair on me, even the thought of this makes me itchy….
Anonymous

as a conceptual art piece? sure, but as something to actually be worn? holy hell no, i will join the ranks of commenters with long hair, it drives me insane to have an errant hair on me, even the thought of this makes me itchy….
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=49702581 Susan Bullard Mayer

I don’t think these are meant to be worn, just displayed. However, it makes my fingers hurt to think how she did the detailing.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=49702581 Susan Bullard Mayer

I don’t think these are meant to be worn, just displayed. However, it makes my fingers hurt to think how she did the detailing.
Anonymous

i just had an idea: what if a man with a furry chest wore one of these? now that would be interesting. like seeing the virgin mary in your lover’s chest hair. hmmm…
Anonymous

i just had an idea: what if a man with a furry chest wore one of these? now that would be interesting. like seeing the virgin mary in your lover’s chest hair. hmmm…
http://tigergray.blogspot.com/ Tiger Gray

For me it isn’t that it’s human hair that creeps me out. It’s that it’s fuzzy, unattractive hair. If it were smooth, well, it could be anything for all I’m concerned and I’d be a lot happier.
http://twitter.com/Coloradowomyn Kimberly S-W

Pretty designs…but smacks me of “It puts the lotion on its skin”…
Anonymous

Honestly, hair not on heads makes me gag. If I pretend they’re wire, they’re gorgeous.
Anonymous

The shape is vaguely suggestive of the drawings of female reproductive organs in 8th grade health class books. Just sayin’.
Anonymous

I’m stunned by the workmanship and the detail. And, logically it’s no different to angora or mohair or even wool. But I’d so want to snip off the stragglers Interesting but not really wearable.
http://profiles.google.com/ballinger.jl Jessica Ballinger

Given your maleness I’m going to assume that neither T nor Lo have had the infuriating experience of having a hair stuck in your cleavage. It is TERRIBLE. My hair is super light blonde, so if a hair falls down my shirt and starts tickling me I can’t usually see it well enough to grab it quickly. It’s socially unacceptable to go digging around in your bra at, say, dinner with a coworker, so I have to just sit there and itch until I can excuse myself to go to the bathroom and undress to try to find the damn thing. This necklace looks like that sensation x1000.

In short, this looks ITCHY. Yes, a bit gross, but I could get past that. The itch factor however, is too strong.
Jashley Fryer

I, too, love the delicate design and find the whole social commentary question interesting. What skeeves me out is the thought of it shedding everywhere. I find the “stray hair on the arm” thing annoying, but not nearly as disgusting as finding hair in a bite of food-I don’t know all the construction details on these “necklaces” but I feel like I’d be setting myself up for hair-in-food mishaps.
Mariah J

Its not only a little creepy but as anyone who has had long hair in the summer knows, it’s not very comfortable either. I would totally buy/wear them if they were rendered in lace, lovely patterns.
Anonymous

I completely agree with Paige Mano on this one. Inventive as artwork, wearable no!
Anonymous

Yuck! All I see in my head are a bunch of shirtless cubs at a bear run…
http://www.facebook.com/people/Catherine-Rhodes/602850414 Catherine Rhodes

Disgusting. There’s something too Auschwitz about it.
Anonymous

I don’t know why people get so skeeved by hair. To call it a natural aversion doesn’t seem accurate; I think that’s a learned thing like being scared of totally harmless insects. They are interesting as art, but they look like they’d be intolerably ticklish or itchy to wear and they’re massively too big for me as wearable jewelry whatever the material.
Anonymous

These are very beautiful – I think the stray hair effect, while kind of gross, adds to their ethereal quality. However, like many others, I can’t imagine actually wearing one…perhaps if I could have one made out of my own hair, it would be different? Nope…the ick-factor is still too strong. Are these actually meant to be worn, or to be looked at as pieces of art?

Apparently hair jewelry is a “thing” – this gal makes some amazing pieces that are very different from the above: http://www.melaniebilenker.com/.
- Anonymous
  
  Beautiful pieces – thanks for posting the link.
Anonymous

Love the designs but HATE the medium. Makes my neck itch to think about it.
http://profiles.google.com/sara.e.parker Sara Parker

I’m not really skeeved out by hair once it has been shed, but I hate how stray hairs tickle– and these make me ticklish just looking at them.
I think the real source of revulsion is having hair where no hair should be. Delicate ladies with chest hair? No thank you. Even if it is twisted into a lovely design, it still looks like chest hair.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jessica-TallGirl-Freeman/1043623567 Jessica TallGirl Freeman

The stray hairs are killing me. I think if they weren’t there it would be totally different.
http://profiles.google.com/scaponigro Sarah Caponigro

Ick. I can’t get over it.
Anonymous

I think they’re beautiful to look at. I can’t see how they would be durable as jewelry. I don’t think I would consider them as jewelry but the idea of using this as an embellishment, embroidery-like, on another piece of clothing is fascinating.

What I’m finding interesting in reading some of the comments is how these look itchy. Maybe it’s because they look like angora wool (which yes, would make me itch something terrible). But I doubt that human hair would be uncomfortable to wear without this emotional aspect working on the skin of the wearer.
http://profiles.google.com/sara.e.munoz Sara Munoz

Umm…. NO. Gross. Why would I want hair there? Just, no.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michelle-Shields/1200782178 Michelle Shields

ew no! I actually cringed. Looks like someone raided the trash can at the local waxing salon.
Anonymous

They are soooo beautiful. I wish she’d use another medium. How resilient can they be? Even if it were one’s own hair, it would be ew, but someone else’s makes it somehow ew-ier.
MilaXX

I think they are interesting as art. Even though I’m not repulsed by it, I don’t think I’d wear it. It just looks itchy & uncomfortable.
Anonymous

Well, they’re a lot better than the disgusting hair doily we had over on Regretsy the other day. It appeared to be made from hair collected from underneath someone’s sofa cushions.
Sara__B

They’re gorgeous and repulsive and probably incredibly itchy to wear, but I’d like to see a video of how the artist makes them.
Sara__B

They’re gorgeous and repulsive and probably incredibly itchy to wear, but I’d like to see a video of how the artist makes them.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2CNDPMVO4W23R5TVC2QMTJ5BZE Heather

What skeeves me out is not knowing where the hair came from. In the 19th century, women regularly made hair jewelry (included braided hair necklaces and lockets containing locks of hair) from the hair of dead relatives. The Victorian designs of these, and certainly their materials, remind me of those earlier forms of memory preservation. So from an aesthetic perspective, yes, they’re gorgeous – but would I wear one? No.
http://twitter.com/#!/Space_Kitty Space Kitty

No. It makes me itchy just to look at them.
Anonymous

I’m sorry, but when I pull wads of hair out of my drain, I throw them out. I don’t make them into jewelry. Ew.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1576973112 Patricia Groves Dobrowski

Looks itchy. Plus, I couldn’t wear it and not wonder about lice.
mcarlson

I’m not repulsed by the whole human hair thing – I just don’t find them attractive and the color bores me.
Anonymous

I could never wear it, I hate finding my own hair all over my shirt/car/desk, it would give me the willies to wear someone else hair on my body. *shudder*
nel.mcdonald

I think they are beautiful designs but agree with the general consensus that the human hair element is a bit icky. I highly recommend Mary Douglas’ classic anthropological study “Purity and Danger” which discusses ‘matter out of place’ to explain why discarded body hair is seen as ‘dirty’.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3AJ237ND3GAHDQJZ4TLCO4WLRA Emily

They look pretty cool. But yes, the thought of wearing someone else’s hair is pretty gross.
Anonymous

Yuck.
Anonymous

I like the idea, not sure that I like the execution (all those loose hairs). This reminds me of my antique-loving grandmother, who was amused by the Victorian hair wreath she had scored and displayed in her home.
Kari Popovic

ANY kind of someone/something/else’s hair makes me itch, whether I’m wearing it, or just thinking about wearing it. So…yeah, can’t get past itchy itchy scratchy scratchy…
Anonymous

um, no. I’d think about the designs as henna tat templates, tho.
http://twitter.com/thelilerin erin l.

I’m feeling nauseous just thinking about all that hair touching my skin on a consistent basis. Imagine if you started to sweat, UGH
http://korilian.livejournal.com/ korilian

I would wear the hell out of these, provided they weren’t made of hair. Which is gross in ways I can’t quite explain
Nora Mulllin

Incredibly cool. Absolutely gorgeous designs. And yet, not enough money in the world to make me wear them. Just the thought of someone else’s hair around my neck makes me itch.
Momo Peaches

I don’t like the.. Frizzy look.

This isn’t that new idea. Look up victorian hair jewelry, when they weave it to look like flowers and silk chords.

This looks. Slightly sloppy and unfinished.
http://twitter.com/dcrre denise e.

no-one talking about the next logical material for adornment: human ivory? Have a look – again, not over lunch http://www.etsy.com/shop/bettyraecase#
Anonymous

I was thinking about this, because I wear a lot of handknit lace shawls and shawlettes, which are made from the hair of sheep, goats (merino) and alpaca and that doesn’t skeeve me out at all, but when I see this human hair (maybe the way the lace is constructed specifically?), I’m reminded of a tangle of hair I’d pull out (whilst making overdramatic gagging noises) from the drain of my shower.
- Anonymous
  
  I totally understand what you mean. Alpaca and merino is lovely and still has fluffy bits of wool (oddly I don’t think of it as hair, though obviously it is). These designs really are attractive, and yet, I can’t quite get on board. Oddly, I wasn’t disturbed by Chris Marches’ use of human hair, but we didn’t see it looking so, well, tangled and wispy. I do admire the artist for thinking so creatively.
Anonymous

During the Victorian era, mourners or those whose relatives were going far way used hair in memorial wreaths, and made quite intricate designs using wire and hair from a loved one. They placed these wreaths inside shadow boxes. None of the wreaths that I’ve seen have hair coming out like tentacles. So, either the hair coming out is deliberate or the necklaces are shoddily made. Either way, it looks awful.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NMLK23QK6C7NMLMVVYA5POXKJY WhiteMage

ew. looks like it belongs on regretsy.
Anonymous

I think they’re interesting but miss gorgeous because of the (I presume intentional) messy, “stray hairs” look. It doesn’t skeeve me out but it looks like it would ticklel/itch and that is unappealing.

Victorian hair/mourning jewelry is not the same thing since the hair is mounted and very sleek, but to me it speaks to how this might put one off because it seems closer to debris from another human. (scroll down to mid-page for a few examples, not by far the most elaborate which are out there: http://www.morninggloryantiques.com/JewelChatVictJwl.html)
Anonymous

Gross.
http://twitter.com/jennsaysmeow Fifi LaRoux

I think they’re beautiful. I could see wearing them in the right setting, with the right dress.
http://twitter.com/jennsaysmeow Fifi LaRoux

I think they’re beautiful. I could see wearing them in the right setting, with the right dress.
http://www.facebook.com/suzie.vazquez Suzie Vazquez

In the Victorian age they used hair in ornamental jewelry. But this just looks like chest hair. On a female. That’s why it’s a bit ick to people. I wonder how it stays in place and how long it took!
http://www.facebook.com/suzie.vazquez Suzie Vazquez

In the Victorian age they used hair in ornamental jewelry. But this just looks like chest hair. On a female. That’s why it’s a bit ick to people. I wonder how it stays in place and how long it took!
Angela Mazur

Apparently in the Edwardian era, women saved hair from their hairbrushes to stuff hair ‘rats’ – small pillows to support their billowing hairstyles. Possibly in the 1940′s too, I’m not sure. That way they matched their hair color exactly.

I thought this would be interesting to try, but as soon as I started saving my own hair, clean as it was, it seriously grossed out everyone else in the household. After doing it for a while I lost the ick factor entirely, but I still haven’t made anything with it. I’m not sure what makes hair lovely to touch on the head, but then magically disgusting as soon as it is detached.
http://twitter.com/Merneith Merneith

I can’t help wishing she’d made them from cotton candy. She’d get the same look, but it would be edible and even more fragile.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DDOW3O44EZD4PZUGIJJKPAKRFU Kaliah

Beautiful…..but ticklish? Non?
http://twitter.com/crush_onyou crush on you

They’re gorgeous! It’s like a cross between ironwork in those beautiful fences, and antique lace. I wouldn’t wear it, for the reasons already posted… Maybe if it was my own hair they were made of? But the practical side of the idea totally cancels that: they would not only be itchy, but also ridiculously expensive (considering the amount of work put into them) and would last only one night.

Definitely not wearing them. But they do leave me longing for somebody to come along and make a version of these in some kind of rusty-but-healthy metallic wire.
http://twitter.com/kniknik Nikki Lesley

It’s the Seinfeld comment: running your hand through a full head of hair is fantastic, loose hair on the sink not so much. This is loose hair.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=583342965 Melody Sellers

I want to like this, I really do. They’re pretty, but ew.
http://phantomminuet.blogspot.com/ MinAgain

The next time I clean out the shower drain, maybe I’ll collect enough to make a brooch.
Anonymous

Cool as art. Not to wear. Too itchy. Haven’t you ever had a piece of hair literally stab you in a pore? Ouch.
http://twitter.com/vesperbeauty Vesper Beauty

they look like shower drain art. blech.
http://twitter.com/aStudiobytheSea Jody Lee

They look really itchy. Interesting as art, but people used to braid and keep the hair in neat display when it was the fashion to remember your departed loved ones with such jewelry. I can’t help but remember that itching powder is supposed to be ground up hair.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1274960274 Owen T. Niland

Just what every woman wants, neck & chest hair. Not attractive.
- Lisa
  
  Yup, I was going to make a chest hair joke, but you’ve got it covered. Carry on!
- Anonymous
  
  That made me spit out my beer from laughing!
  
  Spot on brother! Spot on!
Anonymous

I just think it would be very itchy. It might work as an applique on a garment though.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Luke-Thomas/100001097142086 Luke Thomas

Beautiful, they’re like organic lace. I think the trick to wearing them successfully would be to avoid matching your own hair color. They would be amazing layered over a contrasting top. (It would also avoid the itch and ik factor of having hair against your skin.)
Anonymous

This is going to give me nightmares.

From an artistic point of view they’re interesting (I hesitate to say beautiful). From a realistic point of view they’re just plain gross.

If you ever want to get me to do anything hold a clump of wet stringy hair or a bunch of bees in your hands. Both freak me out equally.
Lauren Bradshaw

Beautiful, yet creepy. Now I know what to do with those creepy bag of hair from my kid’s first haircut. It is either this or victorian hair weaving.
Brendan Foehr

Makes me think of gross showers and grosser roommates. Nay.
Anonymous

The fact that they are human hair doesn’t skeeve me out. People wear extensions and human hair wigs which isn’t much different. What bugs me is how messy they are, and how much they resemble what gets cleaned out of the shower drain. Plus, they look a little like matted chest hair. Especially on subsequent wearings, I’d guess.
- Anonymous
  
  Exactly. It’s not the hair-ness that’s offensive. It’s the messyness. Neither was I disturbed with Chris March’s use of extentions.
Anonymous

They are stunning but I think they’d be itchy as hell!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Laurie-S-Neilsen/775114982 Laurie S. Neilsen

Something like that but small and encased in acrylic, sure. But right on your skin, it would just be itchy. It’s pretty, though.
Erica Moon

Hairy man chest.
- http://www.facebook.com/notadouche Jeffrey D Foldenauer
  
  Yes that is precisely the source of my revulsion. Also I would imagine these are incredibly itchy.
Anonymous

I like some of the hair jewelry from Victorian times, but this stuff just looks itchy.
Bill Curtis

Oh, it’s fine. I wear a little belly button insert of hair and lint most days.
Anonymous

I can’t even look at them long enough to decide if they’re pretty or not. I visited Auschwitz a few years ago, and ever since I can’t think of human hair in anything but a wig without thinking of gas chambers and Nazi uniforms. Yes, they made Nazi uniforms out of all the hair they shaved off their victims.

I’ve gone back and tried to look at the necklaces. I suppose there’s a certain charm to the design, but my attempt at a closer inspection made me want to gag. I understand what she was trying to do, but there’s no way I could ever accept it.
Trevor Scott

I thought this was so cute when I thought it was lace. Now I can only imagine it being pulled out of your food.
http://twitter.com/asciident Melissa Della

Good for her for exploring a mostly-unused medium, but personally I have a really visceral, negative reaction to hair that isn’t still attached to the body.
Anonymous

I’m not grossed out by hair in general, though this necklaces really look like tangled hair you’d find in the bathtub, only with a cuter shape. I think that’s what I find repulsive: fallen hair gets all tangled and dirty. Yuk.
http://profiles.google.com/trashilove { edi } ilovetrash

particularly the first one looks like she stuck pubic hair around her neck. just lifted it off of someone’s crotch & stuck it there.
i liked chris march’s hair stuff much better; so help me, as odd as it seems it did not seem forced. & it certainly didnt feel self-congratulatory.
not all, but some of the new avant-, if you will, crafters just bore me –they dont realize whats been done before &, for some reason, i dont think they even bother to look. this is something that comes up in my head A LOT & i find it terribly depressing –there is no real way to be avant anything when really what yr being is passé. then again, if virtually nobody else knows that yr being passé does it matter? it’s like one of those tree falling in the forest type quandaries, only on this occasion both too cheap & w/ far too little mystical mystery –& for this stuff the mystery’s immediately solveable! go look up FLUXUS for heavens sake!– to be a koan.
Anonymous

I like them and I’d wear them unless they were itchy. Being a vegetarian who avoids using many animal products, I kind of put us all on the same level. What’s the difference between wearing lamb’s wool and human hair?
- MilaXX
  
  This I never understood getting grossed out at eating bugs or cat/dog/horse, but dead cows/pig/chicken being A okay.
Katrina Atienza

reminds me of victoriaqn hair art — http://theconstantgatherer.blogspot.com/2009/02/victorian-hair-art.html
Anonymous

Ancient Hawaiians made necklaces with human hair, so I’ve been aware of it for a while, but the thought of it still creeps me out!
Cheri Lee

They are beautiful and I would love to wear them IF it wasn’t made a hair.
Anonymous

They’re beautiful but… yuck.
Anonymous

While the medium is odd, that is not what bothers me… Shape-wise, it all looks fine, except the first one. My first thought was not “what is that made of” or “what inspired that” but rather “why is she wearing a uterus around her neck?” That is the squick point for me on these.
http://www.myblackfriendsays.com myblackfriendsays

gross. I think maybe the reason so many are skeeved out is because oftentimes if a person’s hair is falling out, it means they’re ill. So maybe on an evolutionary level, that’s why we don’t like hair that isn’t still attached to a body.
Anonymous

Maybe it’s because I’m a nurse and I see human bodies, and hair, all the time and in various stages of mayhem, disease, and age, but I don’t think it’s gross *OR* gorgeous, frankly. My first thought was, “OMG, these must be SO itchy!!” I also want to take a small pair of scissors and trim all the stray hairs from around the edges.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1545558158 Susan Hutton DeAngelus

If it weren’t so straggly and have all of the wisps about it – it would look sleeker, more jewelry like and less like hair. The fact that it is hair and that is the main focus is taking away from the beautiful lace work she’s working on there.
Anonymous

Interesting concept, but it looks like designer pubes.
kim i

mostly, they’re hairy.
Anonymous

Not squicked by the material, but the designs aren’t all that special, and human hair–whatever its moral virtues or lack thereof–doesn’t make a good material for sculpted forms. She’s a professional, and she can’t get most of it to not look like snarls.
Lori Greenberg

I have friends who collect Victorian hair jewelry, and some of it is beautiful. Much of it is woven and placed inside of lockets, or under glass compartments, but other pieces are not sealed in a compartment, and instead, they are worn against the skin or against a garment. They are woven very intricately, the handiwork is just amazing, and when you first look at the earrings, bracelets or necklaces, you think they are made of darkened wire. So, would I own a piece like that? Yes, because I love the idea that it looks like one thing and is made of something else. With these, I think they are very interesting and beautifully done, but as art pieces only. I agree that the stray hairs make them look less wearable, and ups the gross factor by a lot. I wear a lot of offbeat looks, and I love “conversation piece” jewelry and clothing, but I think the stray hairs against bare skin (or against a garment, for that matter), ruins it as something to wear. It looks itchy and uncomfortable. But if they were in a gallery, I would definitely want to see them in person. xoxol
Warmheartedgirl Seattle

I think they’re pretty. I wouldn’t be skeeved by it. I just think it would tickle and drive me nuts that way!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_T24URKJGBLJQPBWCRPU37IIHLU Krab Louse

No big deal. The first one looks like a diagram of the female human reproductive system.
Anonymous

Beautiful! I wouldn’t cut up a cow for a BBQ, or wear leather, but the reason we find discarded hair to be gross is because it’s a sign of uncleanliness. If there’s hair on the floor, or in the shower drain, it’s because it hasn’t been cleaned. But human hair on a wig is different because it’s supposed to be there. And that’s why these necklaces are not gross.
paintedfish30

only problem i see is being itchy. otherwise don’t see what’s the big deal. human hair extensions and wigs; ok, but not as jewelry or trim on Chris March clothing?
Anonymous

no skeeve. Just pretty.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7Q6ZMQT26563JOBUCTF67ADAFM Fuzz

I think they’re quite beautiful. I love the combination of the geometric/traditionally sophisticated/highly articulated patterns with the roughness and the naturalness of the material. I thought at first glance it was plant matter. If the pictures didn’t show the people’s hair being the same color as the necklaces, I doubt I’d react at all. If they were made out of string (defeating the point, whatever), I’d say they’d be wonderful pieces of jewelry to wear.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=688595909 Sue Tyler

well in thre world of esty where women cross stitch with hair, and paint with menstrual blood, this seems quite tame.
Hair I’ve only seen done well once and that was by the great chris march for project runway
Anonymous

What Paige said below. Although there is a long history of hair jewelry (especially popular in the Victorian era), it’s not my thing. But the design and workmanship are amazing.
http://twitter.com/amidnightshow nabil-

I feel so weird when I have a hair on my face or in my neck. It makes me prickle. So i think it’s enough explained how they make me feel.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_N75LLUHGJEGCGJ3HZAXEB3MBJI Deen

That first one — the center looks like a uterus. Count me among the grossed out…
Anonymous

I imagine the instinctual ick factor is a bit of survival technique back when man lived in caves and just figured out how sticks worked. If you ran across someone from a different tribe who was wearing people parts, you’d want to avoid them, because they’re, well, wearing people. How did they get those people? You wouldn’t know or care, from instinct you’d decide that someone wearing someone might want to wear you next. On a basic level, people wearing leather aren’t a threat because cows aren’t you, people wearing hair kinda are, because hair is you, even if it’s not like she killed anyone to get it, it’s still creepy in that “gah, it’s made of the same species, run and save yourself!” way.
Anonymous

Yeah, it’s kind of pretty, but I can’t help but think of what I occasionally have to pull out of the drain.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3KCDEX4FOTCFHZP6WLKSOOKUVM Danielle

looks itchy
http://www.facebook.com/people/Amy-Valencia/100000076725207 Amy Valencia

it’s not actually that unique. the idea hair of jewelry was very popular in the 1920′s i believe. only they where bracelets and cameos and even more gross was made from the hair of a dead loved one…
Evelina Chang

I like the concept of it – but I see it more as ‘art’, rather than ‘design’.
http://beacab.com/ Beacab

Better use of hairs. In art, no limit of thoughts. The artist has used hairs perfectly in designs. I agree that it’s not possible to wear any time, but all the designs are unique.
http://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.meza1 Amanda Jade Meza

They look SUPER itchy. Just sayin’.

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