Natasha Zinko doesn’t really do normal fashion references.
Over the past few seasons, her collections have moved through survival, space travel, cosmetic surgery, self-soothing, getting drunk, family life and now surveillance. She manages to take subjects that could easily become heavy or overly conceptual and turn them into clothes that are completely unserious.
Her latest collection, PAY PER VIEW, looks at something most of us deal with every day: being watched.
Imagine you’re walking around minding your own business when a stranger suddenly approaches you wearing a strange pair of glasses. You don’t know who they are, what they’re doing or whether those glasses are META ULTRA SECRET TECH devices. These days, even the most normal interaction can make you suspicious when you don’t know what’s happening behind it.
So Zinko asks:
With more potential eyes on us than ever, are we more or less inclined to edge towards our stated goal of authenticity?
Would you act like yourself, or give the person behind the camera whatever you think they want to see? It immediately reminded me of Black Mirror, especially the episode where people’s entire lives are shaped by ratings and public approval.
With PAY PER VIEW, Zinko puts the audience at the centre of the panopticon, watching a cast of people who know they could be in the public eye at any moment.
And then she dresses them like this.
WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE?
If you didn’t know the backstory, you might think Vivienne Westwood, GCDS and Diesel had a child, and there were some complications at the birth.
A leather, cowboy-ish, head-to-toe overall. A ripped and twisted sailor look. Someone almost fully naked in a thong saying “PAY HER.” A giant 3D insect mask. A huge snail. Unexpected print combinations. Slippers with almost everything.
I could go on.
And suddenly, a glossy plastic skirt seems completely normal in this collection.
The construction is actually impressive underneath all the chaos. Corseted pieces are padded around the hips into soft, bulbous shapes, while bonded fabrics take on a stiff, almost papery finish. Satin and silk bring a lot of shine into the collection, while Natasha Zinko literally took a steel grater to a pair of hot pink pumps.
The pink rose-covered mini dress has its own story. It started as a bunch of flowers Zinko left to wilt in her home, before becoming a dress that appeared on Charli XCX in her Wink Wink music video.
Money also keeps appearing. A tiny coin purse sits directly on the navel of a fleshy tan leather skirt, while the same detail appears on the cups of a bra underneath an undone lace apron.
PAY PER VIEW
For this collection, Zinko worked with stylist Daliah Spiegel, casting director Sarah Meital and OnlyFans, bringing together real-life personalities and turning parts of their existing identities into exaggerated characters.
The social media platform might sound like an obvious partner for a collection about attention, cameras and monetising yourself, but it’s actually a pretty bold choice.
The press material calls this an act of self-parody. The cast members are dressed in ways that reflect who they are in everyday life, then pushed further through exaggerated shapes, colours and recognisable cultural archetypes.
Some of them look like they have just walked out of a strange American road movie. Some look like they are about to go fishing. Some look like they accidentally ended up in a fetish club.
And then there is the sex.
The collection plays with the idea of the “lorno” — the low-budget porno as a strangely revealing document of human desire. It’s crude, obvious and very internet — which feels pretty appropriate for a collection about public personas, performance and monetised attention.
The clothes don’t really give us one clean answer about authenticity. Instead, Natasha Zinko gives us a whole cast of characters and leaves us to wonder which version of ourselves would show up if we knew someone was watching.
So which character would you choose?
I think I’d go for the low-waist guy.
And I’d wait for the Mystery Machine to pick me up.
