Jezebel turned us on (or turned us off as the case may be) to the story of Ioana Cioanca, the 71-year-old Romanian who cut off the tresses she'd been growing for 50 years and transformed them into a "hat, a shawl, a skirt, a blouse, a raincoat, a purse, a handbag and a pair of gloves." A raincoat? Surely you jest. This got us thinking though, perhaps Ms. Cioanca was just joining the crowd of designers—from 3.1 Phillip Lim to Macqua to Sonia Rykiel and VPL—who've followed Martin Margiela's lead in growing hair for the runways. Capes, tops, necklaces all composed of either real or fake hair seem to be emerging as the fur of the moment. Consider Diane von Furstenberg's recent turn on the cover of Purple rocking some very furry Margiela—hair raising to say the least. As gross as this may seem at first brush (sorry for the pun) think about the fact that not only is hair light enough to translate the wearer's body movement, but also catches the light in a unique way thanks to its sheen and many different hues. As Cianoca said of her multifaceted homemade hair compositions, "They are all slightly different colors because of course I went gray over the years." Okay, maybe that was a bad example.
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Above, clockwise from left: 3.1 Phillip Lim fall '09 look, photo via Style.com; Macqua fall '09 look, photo via WWD; Diane von Furstenberg wearing Margiela on the cover of Purple; Chewbacca; Sonia Rykiel spring '09 look; The Addams Family's Cousin Itt.
Above, from left: Paul Smith fall '09 look, photo via NYmag.com; Giles Deacon fall '09 look, photo via NYmag.com.