HAIR HATSShinji Konishi Flips Wigs
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY TOMOKAZU KOSUGA
TRANSLATED BY LENA OISHI, MODEL: HANICO
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When the Japanese hairstylist Shinji Konishi first molded wigs into the likenesses of assorted animals for a gallery show in Tokyo in 2008, he hoped repulsion would trump all else. “I wanted something poisonous,” says Konishi. “I’m interested in things that make people look away.” Well, then you’d better try making some things that are shitty, Shinji. Because we want to mount these wigs on our wall and start a hundred-year staring contest with them.
Konishi’s animal wigs are carefully researched. “I look into their facial expressions,” he says. “Also the shape of a face, how wide a mouth is open, the number of teeth…” Konishi selects animals with bold detail and strong three-dimensional elements, like elephants, dogs, and rabbits, which he has cast in polystyrene molds. These structures are then quartered so that dyed hair can be meticulously attached. Konishi’s wigs are completed in a marathon of chemical huffing and sleep deprivation. “I finish a project in three days without sleep,” he says. “If I sleep, it would take me a week.” So gas masks are used to protect against hyperventilating and overexposure, and protective wear and goggles are worn to prevent splattered acids from eating away at the skin and eyes. Sounds less like a hair salon than it does a meth lab, and more like full-blown psychosis than it does a labor of love, right? Konishi shrugs: “I’m interested in strange and dark stuff.” You sure are, you crazy bastard. You sure are.
Check out our tour of Shinji’s well-stocked Tokyo studio on VBS.TV.
 Anonymous, on Nov 19, 2009 wrote:
for some reasons, i fucking hate hipsters. here is a brief reason of why.
hipsters are the new yuppies. both are easily categorized commercial sub-cultures whose belief in the importance of their own "uniqueness" really indicates an overwhelming insecurity about their own lack of authenticity.
the interesting thing about both hipsters and yuppies, is that while the subject clearly feels itself to be radically different from its compatriots, to the outside observer, they all look the same. somehow all of the variety produces nothing but the impression of uniformity. the subject typically replies to this by saying that the observer simply isn’t sophisticated enough to appreciate the differences.
the hipsters have taken the conflation of products and identity to a new level, since they are a more recent state in the evolution of american lack of identity,. their commercial aesthetic has incorporated the notion of "marginalization", and for them this somehow suffices as proof that they are operating against the culture, rather than within it. however, the commercialization of the margin is typically the only way anyone learns about it. it becomes a fetish to be purchased in some way.
for the hipster, inauthenticity is equated with "un-originality". hence, their quest for authenticity plays out in absurd attempts to demonstrate their own originality in terms of clothing, music, taste in literature, tattoos, bones in their ears, etc. what is lost on the hipsters is that almost all of their search for authenticity takes places in a commercial landscape, or within a location which is clearly circumscribed by a commercial landscape or interest. while this may seem somewhat trite due to the fact that the western human world is essentially a commercial entity nowadays, with the phrase "existence precedes essence" being replaced by "purchasing precedes essence", the hipsters nevertheless occupy a distinguished place in the modern mess of things.
The particular piece of bad faith on the part of the hipster is that they believe the opposite implication to be true. That is, they believe in their case that their essence determines their purchases, or lack of. Hence the absurd conflation of originality with products, and as such, the devotion to the sorting of products, both commercial and cultural (difference?), with the construction of self. | |
| Kirby Puckett, on Nov 19, 2009 wrote:
The Japanese. The only race that out-crazies you whities. | | Anonymous, on Nov 18, 2009 wrote:
UM :| Hair hats? No thanks. | |
| Vanzilla, on Jul 30, 2009 wrote:
I wanna have one and i want it to be shaped like a chubby hamster! please! now! for tonite!!! | | Anonymous, on Mar 27, 2009 wrote:
fucking hair antlers!!! yes!!!!!!! the tongue is offputting. | | Anonymous, on Mar 27, 2009 wrote:
i wonder if you wore one for weeks straight if it would fuse with your real hair in tangles | |
| smokey robinson crusoe, on Mar 25, 2009 wrote:
i want a wooly mammoth dammit!
or a turtle shell helmet with hair head and legs would be rad. | | Anonymous, on Mar 20, 2009 wrote:
does he do people heads? i’d like an exact replica of my own head on top of mine. in hair. | | Anonymous, on Mar 19, 2009 wrote:
he should make a snake one. since they have detachable jaws you could make it go under your jaw like a chin strap and it would look like it was eating your face. | |
| Fuck Russia, on Mar 19, 2009 wrote:
I want one but with eyes that move and follow people when I pass them. That would take these hats to an entirely new freakish level that would be so awesome I’d quit my job and walk around recording people’s reactions and make my own YouTube channel for them. | | Anonymous, on Mar 18, 2009 wrote:
"that designer is dead now."
No, you are thinking of Nagi Noda. This guy is still very alive. | | Anonymous, on Mar 18, 2009 wrote:
a friend of mine had a cat named onyx that shat in my lap once. it was all fucked up from drinking antifreeze and it ended up dying a couple months after that. | | Anonymous, on Mar 18, 2009 wrote:
Anonymous, on Mar 18, 2009 wrote:
first one on left is just like my old long haired dachshund tito. damn right we named him after tito jackson.
had a friend who had a cat called stevie, after stevie wonder. It was blsck completely blind and used to shit all over the place. two out of three are pretty close non? | | Anonymous, on Mar 18, 2009 wrote:
Walrus hats! there tusks could come down the side and i guess they could also act as side burns for the poor kids who cant grow them. | |
| badmandan, on Mar 18, 2009 wrote:
ha the elephant head piece is awesome, I thought they were all going to be lame dogs, looking a bit like a red setter. I would like to see a frog headpiece please. | | Anonymous, on Mar 18, 2009 wrote:
first one on left is just like my old long haired dachshund tito. damn right we named him after tito jackson. | | Anonymous, on Mar 18, 2009 wrote:
that designer is dead now | | Anonymous, on Mar 17, 2009 wrote:
Fine and dandy, but when am I finally going to get a bat-moustache that I’ve been wanting so bad?? | | Anonymous, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
these are genuinely one of the coolest things i’ve ever seen in vice | |
| electricboogaloo, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
i honestly think that couture fashion show models and japanese girls in harajuku are the only two life forms that would be able to pull this off. although it would also be funny to see these wigs on animals. | | Anonymous, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
@anonymous, If he did a bull dog or blood hound you could get there jowels and use them as ear warmers. that would be an awesome winter hat. | | Anonymous, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
"i think this would be more impressive if he had made the wigs out of purely hair, and sculpted them into shape instead of just attaching hair to pre made animal molds"
that would take a lot of hair and hair is expensive. what, do you think it grows on heads? | | Anonymous, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
God even the eyes are hair, what is wrong with this guy? why did he think this was a good idea?
| | Anonymous, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
i think this would be more impressive if he had made the wigs out of purely hair, and sculpted them into shape instead of just attaching hair to pre made animal molds | |
| megabreath, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
do you suppose this leads to a higher rate of having your leg humped? | | Anonymous, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
i wanna see a pug. that would be hilarious. or maybe a bulldog or a boxer. a breed with jowls that would hang down over her forehead. | |
| foxface, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
wow, these have to be the creepiest things ive seen in a while, do you think people who’s dogs have died would go for the head ware so that the dog could stay with them? | | Anonymous, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
These are like Sam Flores’ art come-to-life. So much so that I’m sure he’s aware of Flores’ work. | |
| aahhhhB, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
he should do a rhino one! or a unicorn! just any animal with a big horn on its head I guess is what I’m getting at | | Anonymous, on Mar 16, 2009 wrote:
i would go for the conceptual angle and shave the girl’s head and say it’s a mexican hairless dog. | | | Next 30 comments > |
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