'There were spotted veils that seemed to stain the skin with some exquisite and august disease, fans with eye-slits in them through which their bearers peeped and peered; fans painted with postures and covered with the sonnets of Sporion and the short stories of Scaramouche, and fans of big living moths stuck upon mounts of silver sticks. There were masks of green velvet that make the face look trebly powdered; masks of the heads of birds, of apes, of serpents, of dolphins, of men and women, of little embryons and of cats; masks like the faces of gods; masks of coloured glass, and masks of thin talc and of india-rubber. There were wigs of black and scarlet wools, of peacocks’ feathers, of gold and silver threads, of swansdown, of the tendrils of the vine, and of human hairs; huge collars of stiff muslin rising high above the head; capotes of crimson satin trimmed with the wings of owls; sleeves cut into the shapes of apocryphal animals; drawers flounced down to the ankles, and flecked with tiny, red roses; stockings clocked with fêtes galantes, and curious designs, and petticoats cut like artificial flowers.
…upon an elbow, a bouquet of spring flowers; across a back, some surprising scenes of adventure; at the corners of a mouth, tiny red spots; and upon a neck, a flight of birds, a caged parrot, a branch of fruit, a butterfly, a spider, a drunken dwarf, or, simply, some initials. But most wonderful of all were the black silhouettes painted upon the legs, and which showed through a white silk stocking like a sumptuous bruise.
— ‘The Story of Venus and Tannhäuser’, Aubrey Beardsley
Ghost was one of our first major projects and the opening piece in a much larger triptych — Vampire and Siren came after. We were in search of an interpretation of the Rococo epoch and a fresh depiction of the Ghost at the same time. It is hard to recall now how the decision formed. But we suddenly realised — a Rococo ghost was something Macabre Gadgets needed to explore.
On the shores of the North Sea we shot the story of an eternal ghost — a shipwreck victim perhaps, an elegant lady, tall wig, petals of the silk dress floating in the air, always wandering along the line between the sea and the sand. The melancholic mood was a contrast to heavy black silver jewelry: memento mori cameos, black velvet chokers, and lustrous pearl necklaces. The skull was the central motif.
The creative process was complex and challenging — we were blending two separate timelines into one artwork, and to keep neutrality was one of our main goals, in the campaign and in the jewelry. We didn’t want it to look like a reconstruction, nor ultra-modern.
Once the idea was clear the jewelry was fun to create. We went in a few different directions — marble detailed relief imitating the elaborate carvings on the wooden panels of Petit Trianon, gleaming pearls and velvet paying direct tribute to the epoch’s favorite materials, and silver reworked to become a slippery snake and a ribbon lighter than air.
To align with our goal of making it timeless we went for a character that would not be easy to read. As Rococo itself, our Ghost wears a mask — a black Venetian moretta. As centuries before, the moretta shields the identity of the Ghost, leaving us only to guess the backstory. Everything else — the wig messed by sharp winds, the dress floating above the sand for more than two hundred years — connected by itself. Late October 2017, and our team on the shores of the North Sea, among sandy dunes and tall melancholic grass. Nothing else in the frame — heavy grey skies, sharp sandy wind, crushing waves, and the silent floating Ghost.
Through the years memories become blurry and abstract. The cold of the October sea, attempts to warm our model with coats and spirits between takes, the fun we had shooting the eerie fragments of what later became our first short film. What is still clear about this work is that we managed to create a modern myth — a touching ghost story with a rich and remarkable background, without saying a single word.
Shop the Ghost collection →
The Dark Rococo universe →
Elegant Horror of Rococo Darkness — Journal →