FEATURE__ COLBY KELLER: MAN vs NATURE
The result was a surrealist DayGo inspired autumn-winter
of “rebel” status — to the fashion world. Working in the adult
campaign that merged high-fashion with hardcore porn. The video
industry is a form of modelling. They’re actually quite similar. You
saw Colby making out with an Avenue Q style puppet, climaxing
are using your body as a vessel to communicate a story.
with a shower of glitter to mirror a very real climax of his own.
“Vivienne Westwood is not only a hero of mine, she’s a
“This isn’t art,” the campaign declared, “this is faggotry.” Quite.
passionate advocate for the environment. We all need to focus our
In January 2016, Colby traded BCALLA’s homoerotic designs for
attention on the problem of climate change, especially when our
a pair of couture leather heels when he became the newest face of Vivienne Westwood. Shot by photographer Juergen Teller in the
political culture fails to address the catastrophe coming.” Keller’s involvement in the project was very nearly shelved
alleyways, canals, shipyards and palazzos of Venice, the Mirror
when a scheduling conflict meant he would be filming a HBO
the World campaign aimed at “highlighting the beauty and decay
comedy in New York on the day Teller intended to shoot in Venice.
of the ancient city.” Beyond elevating the boundaries of wearable
A last minute reprieve meant he worked a 10-hour day filming in
fashion to new heights, Mirror The World was inspired by the
NYC before heading straight to the airport, flying to Venice and
urgent need to save the City of Bridges from mass tourism and
getting off the water taxi to shoot for Westwood. “It was pretty
its worsening subsidence into the rising waters of the Venetian
surreal,” he admits. “An amazing, crazy experience.”
Lagoon. Keller was handpicked by Dame Vivienne herself, after a photograph of him posing in a pair of vintage Westwood pants was seen by her 23-year old husband Andreas Kronthaler. Posing in little more than a pair of knee-length Westwood heels, the moment was a surreal achievement for Keller, himself a long time fan of the British fashion world’s septuagenarian enfant terrible. “She’s true to herself and her version,” says Colby. “She brings a much-needed dose of revolution — and not just the appropriation
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urreal experiences are increasingly the norm for Keller, who in 2014 agreed to have his face and torso duplicated by artist Cameron Stalheim for his Master’s thesis project: a 30-foot long merman in
Keller’s image titled Myth as Object. As a counter to the surreality of Myth as Object, Keller’s newest
project is more indebted to Jack Kerouac’s gonzo travelogue ‘On