Vetements Launches A Provocative New Instagram Account

As we settle into indoor life, we’re leaving our clothing behind. Pants are optional for Zoom meetings. Bras are optional always. Shoes — who needs them? Our current state of undress goes hand-in-hand with the rise of at-home sex work and the uptick in porn viewing. We’re all totally nude, totally horny, and totally alone — and you can bet Vetements is prepared for this new way of life. Led by Guram Gvasalia, the brand has always acted as a sort of fun house mirror held up to our world, using celebrity doppelgängers and its runways to turn garments as basic as socks into evocative political statements. Its new, very well-timed project is an almost X-rated Instagram called @vetements_uncensored.

The account is set to private and began accepting requests last week. Those first followers saw an empty Instagram feed and the bio: “What you are about to witness will disturb you. Even shock you. There is a dark side of humanity the censors won’t let you see … but we will.” That slogan was printed on the opening look of the brand’s autumn/winter 2019 collection, but what has begun to populate Vetements’s new feed is mostly about current-season product.

Much like the brand’s main account, @vetements_official, this one seems to be reposting user submissions — the difference is the users featured in these are all partially nude. The first image is of a woman, naked save for a Vetements bomber. The next features no garments, just a topless woman in a balaclava. So far those are the only two posts, though the account has approved almost 60,000 followers in just a couple of days.

Vogue is still waiting to hear back from Vetements with a comment. Why so few pictures? Why only boobs? Can we expect live content? Stories? Shopping? Whatever the answers, @vetements_uncensored has already been tagged in thousands of images of people wearing Vetements products. We’d call that a success.