23.6.11

rat in the kitchen, rat on your head: reid's rats



If anyone is reading this while having lunch (UK/Greenwich Mean Time), breakfast (US - Eastern Seaboard) or any other meal anywhere in the world - probably best to turn away from your screen now. Because I'm going to talk about my friend Reid Peppard, and her rats.

It's not just rats. It's road kill. Fox molars. It's the kind of gross stuff that makes girls go 'yuck'.

Reid is brilliant. She's beautiful, for starts - a California girl who graduated from Central Saint Martins, lives with her artist boyfriend in East London, works at her studio every day, come rain, come shine, and who at the moment, has a Snot Bag for a head, so I'm doing this post as a little get well gift. Along with a little ditty from UB40, which you can click on now as background music for this post:





Reid is an artist, taxidermist, and accessories designer: real, gorgeous serious jewelry, and headpieces - even, as I discovered altho she's too modest to mention it, the 'rat headpiece' worn by Lady Gaga.



Stuffing rats for head gear is not all she does, of course. She's a conceptual artist, possessed of a beautiful mind, and she doesn't cause any deaths, but - this is an important part of her work, because she is strictly anti-meat eating - she only uses road kill, i.e., animals that are already dead. After writing yesterday about the ethics in clothing - and thank you to all who wrote those wonderful comments- I now turn to the controversy surrounding food. Opening THAT whole can o' worms.





Reid Peppard is one of those rare creatures: beautiful, smart, talented, massively funny, generous spirited, gentle, and kind. And - lucky me - Reid is also my friend.

Reid is wearing a vintage leather jacket with shoulder pads big and tough enough for a game of American touch tackle football. Check out Reid's Rats (RP/Encore), let me know what you think - and get well soon, Snot Bag Head.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, what interesting art work! have seen something similar on TV recently! ;)

xoxo


http://some-kind-of-style.blogspot.com/

Reid Peppard said...

Thank you so much!!xxReid

Anonymous said...

Incredible! The fact that her headpiece was picked by Gaga shows that it must be of fantastic design + quality too. It's great that she cuts across the stereotype of people who work with dead animals - taxidermy and the like - being people who don't care about the welfare of the animals as you say she doesn't eat meat. Jill I applaud you for even sparking off another ethical debate about the use of animals for fashion purposes - I see the fur debate approaching!

Sabine said...

Fascinating! I don't think I'd want a rat on my head, but feathers around the neck are definitely for me. xo

Sabine said...

P.S. ... and the artist looks lovely!

Wallace Chapman said...

cool hair. cool hair style ..w

www.streetandcityphotos.com

Vanessa, Take only Memories said...

Wait, that's a real hairband? With stuffed rats? WTF? She looks lovely though!

taio said...

lindo post

Emma said...

That hairband is awesome! I don't know if I'd wear it, but I'd definitely display it on my wall. Truly a work of art!

http://voicefromthewall.blogspot.com/

ediot said...

wonderful photos,
yup that's him.about swedes- johan theorin and stieg larsson are such great authors who write very exiting books.. crime genre.
just got back from paris yesterday- i had an amazing time ;) took 1500 photos ;)
hope you're enjoying your weekend
xx

margaret cruzemark said...

I love the hair!!!!
Great pics!!!
Kisses and hugs
miss Margaret Cruzemark
http://margaretcruzemark.blogspot.com/