Fairytales: Petra Collins and Alexa Demie

Product Information

Fairy Tales is] acollaboration with the photographer Petra Collins -- a body of work that reimagines the female creatures who inhabit folk- and fairy-tales, who are often cast as one-dimensional monsters or temptresses. Here, their subversive folk tales are brought to vivid life via handwritten stories the pair worked on together, alongside illustrations by artist Evita Flores and art director Sandra Leko’s gloriously whimsical pastel pink layouts. ALL IMAGES, TRADEMARKS, AND TRADE NAMES ARE THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE TRADEMARK HOLDERS © 2018 MUSÉE.

Book Review: Fairy Tales: Petra Collins and Alexa Demie

It’s a familiar refrain to femmes from all walks of life, and one that traditional fairy tales deftly skirt by painting men as saviours to damsels in distress. Based on imagery associated with beloved storytellers such as Hans Christian Anderson and Charles Perrault, a press release explained that Petra combined "elements of camp, prosthetics, and shibari" alongside Alexa, who poses as mythical creatures like fallen angels, fairies, witches, and sirens.A modern, surreal update to classics such as those from Hans Christian Andersen, The Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault, and more, these nine stories stand uniquely and irrepressibly on their own. In “Sirens,” Demie dons sparkling black mesh, a pink thong, white ankle socks, and Lucite heels before joining another woman on a strip club stage to dance in a timeless tale of the perilous male gaze. Alexa is currently working on her first EP, developing and producing film and TV, and engaged in social-impact work focused on equality and representation, especially for the Latinx community and the next generation of youth. Now more than a year later, the fruits of their labor are being released in a lavishly illustrated, 152-page hardbound book, Fairy Tales, out next week from Rizzoli.

Petra Collins: Fairytales - MENDO Petra Collins: Fairytales - MENDO

Curated by Petra Collins, featuring artists Arvida Bystrom, Harley Weir, Sandy Kim, Jeanette Hayes, Kristie Muller, and more. A mermaid juxtaposing stagnancy and agoraphobia, a fallen angel with an expired lust for life, and a beauty vlogger balancing two lives: influencer and fire goddess. As children growing up with these stories, they can often be extremely sexualized, even if it’s surrealistic. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers.

The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Mystical figures with magical powers filled our imaginations with fantasy, spectacle, and myth, while simultaneously imparting an array of morality tales on our developing minds. My grandmother would tell me a lot of Mexican folk tales when I was little, which were really scary, but I was so fascinated by them all,” she says. Artist Petra Collins’ and Euphoria actress Alexa Demie’s Fairy Tales is an otherworldly and mythic collection of photographs and short stories portraying a reimagining of fairy tales with a dark and erotic twist. I was looking at work made from a collective trauma during the Soviet regime and digesting that as a child, but also experiencing my own trauma at the same time.

Fairytales by Petra Collins, Alexandra Leigh Demie - Waterstones

In the Brothers Grimm version of Rapunzel, it’s hinted that the young woman has been locked away in a tower for her promiscuity, while the 17th-century Italian version of Sleeping Beauty sees the central character impregnated by the king during her slumber.That heritage has always played a part in Collins’s photography—right down to shooting a Gucci campaign back in her grandmother’s Budapest living room. Throughout the months leading up to its release, more behind the scenes footage, photo scans from the book, and even a few Instagram filters appeared on both authors’ accounts. Instead of glimpsing each other across a crowded room, they connected as any good millennials with a mutual admiration of each other’s work would: through a DM on Instagram. We see an exploited sex worker in the dancing siren ridiculed as a monster by men for her body and sexuality. The first monograph by photographer Petra Collins presents the world of a thoroughly modern creative.

Fairy Tales - Petra Collins

Before the project had coalesced as a full storybook, images of Demie in elf ears, shibari rope, and garments from Collins’s clothing line, I’m Sorry, had been floating around their respective Instagram accounts throughout early autumn 2020. As girls, we swallow the sugar-coated pill of society’s gender norms when we read about the magical romanticization of prince charming, kingdoms, dresses, and dances. Fairytales is an erotic folklore collection of Petra Collins and Alexa Demie’s illustrated short stories. The photos combine elements of camp, prosthetics, and shibari in a surreal update to the imagery of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, and others.One filter turned you into characters from the book and the other was a VR portal filled with lush illustrations featured throughout. Sensual in the way of its approach, “ Fairy Tales” allows an older, more mature audience to enjoy fantasy without the “adolescent” pejorative attached to the genre. Once upon a time, in the far-off kingdom of Los Angeles in the summer of 2020, photographer Petra Collins and Euphoria star Alexa Demie found love at first sight. The concept was written and brought to life by the two by creating characters and stories they wish were told to them. There are many times the reader will either wish they were in the fantasies themselves, or wish that they had been the ones to author them.