Asaro Mudmen

When deciding on my catwalk look, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to create a look which was more natural and accessible to a catwalk show. I remembered using fullers' earth in a practical seminar at university a few weeks back.
I then sat and thought more about the effect, texture and accessibility of using fullers' earth in a look and became more and more enthused. So the next step was to research tribes across the world who used mud as part of their tribal makeup.
I came across the Asaro Mudmen.



They are a tribe from Papua New Guinea. The story behind this tribe is that they were once defeated by an enemy tribe and forced to flee into the Asaro river. The tribe waited until dusk and rose from the river, covered in sediment and mud from the bed. Story has it that the enemy spotted these tall, mudmen charging out of the river and mistook them for spirits. The enemies then fled in fear.

I like the thick use of mud on the hair and bodies of the men, I feel that this is something which could be translated into a catwalk look and could be applied to many people at a time, and quickly which is always necessary as catwalk looks have to be practical.