Body adornments that create alien-like appendages such as skin growths and webbed fingers feature in new fashion brand A.Human's collection, which is currently on show in a nightmarish exhibit for New York Fashion Week.
A.Human debuted the body-morphing designs earlier this week, as part of an immersive installation opened to coincide with the citywide event.
Established by Society of Spectacle, the brand offers customers the opportunity customise the appearance of parts of their bodies, as an alternative to traditional adornments or clothing.
"It was important to root this experience in optimism while provoking our guests to think about a potential future of fashion, and by doing so, inviting them to question their definitions of self-expression," Society of Spectacle founder Simon Huck said in a statement.
Predominantly made of cultured keratin to give a fleshy look, the collection includes pieces like The Corset. This offers a decorative muscular outline to the torso, and then fans out at the base in a rib-like form that encases the hips.
The Ursula design wraps around the back of the neck and extends round to cover the breastplate, with large jewels that "evoke deep sea treasure". Similarly detailed to resemble an ocean creature, the Nautilus Biological Heel is a platform shoe that gives the appearance of a spiral shell growing out of the foot.
Other designs include The Empress – a webbed glove – and a beating heart, which can be customised online.
The A.Human collection launched with an exhibition in New York's SoHo neighbourhood.
The showcase is intended to be an "immersive theatrical experience" that complements the bizarre nature of the pieces – which has already caused a stir on social media, after being spotted on celebrities including Chrissie Teigen, Kim Kardashian and Tan France.
In the exhibit, models that first appear to be mannequins are in fact real humans that have been choreographed by director Michael Counts to move, blink and bare their teeth.
Some are buried in pits in the exhibit's dark entry space, with just their heads over the surface. One is adorned with a coiling flesh-coloured necklace that looks like barnacles.
Swirling, purple designs decorate the face of another, who intermittently bares her teeth to reveal a cracked-black enamel overlay called The Ivory. Makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench developed the design especially for the event.
The back of a mannequin, who is buried face down in soil, is morphed with blue-hued swirls that form a protruding spine. There is also an outreached a set of hands wearing the webbed-finger gloves
Other moving models can be found in glass cabinets along a hallway, which leads to a second room at the rear of the space.
In one box, a women sports devil-like horns sprouting from her shoulders. Called The Pinnacle, these are designed by Italian-Japanese fashion designer Nicola Formichetti, and described by A.Human as "the perfect statement for special occasions or a night out on the town".
Another show-stopping design is a long, delicately decorated boot that covers a leg protruding through a hole in the wall.
The glass volumes on the walls of the hallway reveal layers of different rocks and soil, while lightboxes show images of greenery, adding to the nature theme that creative director Dejan Jovanovic envisioned for the installation.
"The space is an abstraction of the core idea of the body modifications, and how they evolve and grow with nature rather than against it," Jovanovic told Dezeen.
"The inspiration of the space is rooted in nature and how living in balance is a crucial part of our future."
Bolder colours adorn different booths in the rear space, which include an urchin-like pink sculpture with a hole in the middle for visitors to stand in and take photographs, and a large twisted orange design. Draped planting, silver limbs, mirrors, and a light show that resembles eyes, cover other walls.
In one small adjoining room – styled like a garden – is a pair of beating hearts, while other spaces form "dressing rooms" for trying on designs.
"Every part of the experience, has been designed to excite, provoke and inspire, blurring the line between reality and illusion," said Jovanovic.
"From the beating heart, that powers the entire space, to the ever changing mirror room, that uniquely reflects every guests individuality, each space is rooted in self expression and the human body."
Visitors leave the space through the final, rear room, which forms the shop for purchasing paraphernalia related to the collection. It is entirely red with rocky shelving.
The installation is open to the public from 5-30 September 2018 at 48 Mercer Street. New York Fashion Week began 6 September and runs until 14 September 2018.
A. Human joins a number of designs that aim to challenge ideas about body image and idealised beauty. Other examples include underwear adorned with artificial pubic hair and a skirt padded to look like love handles, and see-through silk gowns printed with a face and body.