Yaz XL: Repurposing Taxidermy into Post-Human Fashion Statements

Yaz XL is a London-based fashion designer who repurposes taxidermy to create their pieces. A preserved animal’s tail and hide become a handbag, and another animal’s horn becomes a hair slide. Her creativity helps prolong the lifespan of these otherwise hard-to-recycle materials that would have ended up in landfills. All the while, conceptually, these pieces also embody a post-human consciousness, where humankind is constantly being reminded of their footprint on the environment, especially in how their consumerist decisions have affected the lives of these taxidermied animals. This is why pieces by Yaz XL align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Responsible Consumption and Production, Life on Land, and Life Below Water.

In an interview with Dazed Magazine, Yas XL shared her passion for taxidermied animals, which becomes apparent the moment people step into her studio in Sussex, England. Over her studio hangs two taxidermy “sea horses” which she made herself by fusing together the heads of a taxidermied horse with the body of a conventional sea horse that she sculpted. This act of “subverting nature” by working with taxidermied animals is her way of highlighting just how far human intervention can transform nature, both for better or for worse.

This sentiment seeps into her fashion designs, in her hands, once living taxidermied animals have been alchemized into a barely recognizable piece of wearable gear. This act is the symbol of a protest against the rampant destruction of the natural world that has been done in the name of human civilization's progress. 

In the same interview, Yaz XL also attributed her fascination with nature to the fact that she grew up on a farm, where she saw sheep as much as she saw people. This fostered within her a deep sense of kinship with all sorts of plants and animals. In a sense, by repurposing taxidermied animals, she tries her best to honour these once living animals by keeping them away from being regarded as waste.

Today, taxidermy is an industry worth over USD 800 million in the United States alone. Taxidermy clients are typically wealthy game hunters who desire to preserve animals they have killed as trophies. By working with unwanted and discarded taxidermied animals, Yaz XL shows just how sinister game hunting can be. To an extent, it is also a reflection of humankind’s sense of superiority over the animal kingdom. The discarded taxidermies are evidence of how hunters were not satisfied with the act of hunting for sport, and that they had to stuff their remains, too, to have as a collectible. Yet, the feelings associated with these “esteemed collectibles” are fleeting, just like any other human emotion, causing taxidermied animals to end up in the bin.

Yaz XL’s pieces become reminders to better understand people’s connection and place in nature. These pieces remind human beings that on the planetary level, they are no different from the animals they have hunted and taxidermied, as by wearing Yaz XL’s pieces, people end up looking like the animals that they truly are.

Find out more about designs by Yaz XL and their other initiatives by checking their Instagram on @yaz_____xl.