Zombie Boy

In the world of fashion, people easily get bored. Each season both the fashion designers and the audience need something new and fresh. This is the reason why the U.S and honestly the whole world went crazy about Rick Genest, a model from Canada. He is also known as Zombie Boy for being tattooed like a corpse across the majority of his body.

Genest grew up in Montreal. According to his family he waited for his first tattoo until reaching the age of 16. But it was when he was 21 that he came across a tattoo artist Frank Lewis. With his help Genest inked his whole body in order to look as a decomposing corpse. He spent on it thousands of dollars but he claimed that it was simply worth it. Being obsessed with death, Zombie Boy, treats his body as a masterpiece.

On March 2010 there was created the Facebook Fan Page about Genest unusual choice of tattooes. Having over 1 000 000 fans Genest was discovered by Lady Gaga's Fashion Director- Nicola Formichetti. In 2011 Genest was featuring Lady Gaga's vide ''Born This Way'' in which she also had her body covered with makeup to replicate Genest's tattooes.

When I watched this video I was totally amazed by the scene with Genest. I thought to myself that the make-up artists were really taleneted because the tattooes looked perefct. Yet, it turned out that it was not only the make-up that I admire :)


All in all, there is no doubt that Genest personifies the individual and rebellious face of fashion. Yet, I don’t think that there is a big career ahead of him but rather he will soon go off the beaten truck. You can wonder why…

Well, at first Zombie Boy claims that his body reflects his personality and his need to be different. There are many people who share his thoughts and tattoo themselves, however almost no one decides to ink his face and, for me, this is the reason why he gains such immense acclaim and popularity. Perhaps it was his own idea but perhaps he was given some career guidance in order to fulfill his American Dream. What is more, in the long run, fashion industry call for casual and ordinary faces rather than someone who is so characteristic and individual. The professional model has to be a kind of background to the designs he/she is going to present either on the pictures or catwalk. If his/ her face is standard and unremarkable, with the help of make-up and characterization, the person can be changed and shows his/ her different faces. It is not possible when one considers Genest. When he takes part in Lady Gaga video, and Mugler campaign, he is associated with those two productions and even if he participates in hundreds of others, he will be associated with the two he has done at the beginning of his career. It is simply pointless to employ him to advertise any other products. I know that this is overwhelming but in reality, real fame is only for the selected.

By writing this note, I don’t want to offend anyone, these are only my personal reflections upon world of fashion Yet, I'm really curious what do you think about Genest? Is he more like an artist or just a fool who wants to make a career? I'm waiting for your comments...