Face Filters, Moschino and Mugler Glitch Through the Matrix in our Latest Fashion Film “Face Off”

Escape into Nick Knight and Gareth Wrighton’s alternate universe where the surreal shifts to reality in this whimsical and playful fashion film, the first of its kind to explore the face filter phenomenon. Ever-intrigued by the physical-digital hybrid, and fascinated by the growing culture of online face filters, Nick Knight called upon the designer, artist and creative maverick Gareth Wrighton and filmmaker Raquel Couceiro to realise various digital masks chosen with fantastical runway looks in mind. Envisioning how our multi-versal selves can invent multiple identities online, the resulting fashion film propels us towards a user-generated virtual future. We applied outlandish and hypnotising face filters to two extraordinary models in real time. Wrighton selected Jeremy Scott’s Moschino A/W 21 American farmyard to inform a blue cloudy sky backdrop, Casey Cadwalader’s twisted Mugler jeans are interpreted through a mystical undulating butterfly filter, and Wrighton’s iconic bunny hat design is immortalised in the virtual sphere. As more effects including the infamous ‘cat on head’ filter and Shrek join the mix, the surreal shifts into reality. Fashion trades in fantasy, and ‘Face Off’ envisions a new normal. Established in November 2000, SHOWstudio is an award-winning fashion website, founded and directed by Nick Knight, that has defined the manner in which fashion is presented via the Internet. A pioneer of fashion film and live fashion broadcasting, SHOWstudio is now rec