‘We Are Going to Make ‘Bald’ Very Fashionable, Very Soon’: Interviewing the Guy Who Made Those Viral Overhead Snake Glasses

We’ve overheard the bald people talking. And what they’re all saying to each other, in their little covens, is this: As soon as hair loss gets cured, being bald will become the most fashionable thing in the world.  

This may be why everyone seems so into those Snake Eyewear images that you might have seen doing the rounds on X and Instagram. When it comes to being cool and also totally hairless, what better role model is there than a reptile?

With evil green lenses held in place by silver metallic snakes, these conceptual glasses look like something Bruce Willis might have worn in The Fifth Element, which is apt as he’s the face (and hairline) of these think pieces I keep getting served about baldmaxxing.

Maybe my algorithm has analyzed my hairline and knows what’s coming for me 🙁

An artist calling himself GuiFou is behind the retrofuturist accessory. They actually date back to a couple of years ago, when he posted a set of concept pictures on his Instagram. His grid is full of similar designs featuring skulls, spider webs, and three-headed dogs.

For reasons best known to the collective online hive mind, the Snake Eyewear images went viral a few weeks ago, prompting comments like “this was the future bald guys were promised in the late ‘90s and then 9/11 and Obama ripped it away from them.”

I messaged GuiFou, whose real name is Jean Nelson, to find out how I can get my hands on the glasses as I figured it would be good to have a pair in reserve in case I ever start to lose my hair. Turns out he’s planning a limited drop through a newly launched brand.
VICE: GuiFou… Talk me through this idea and how you came up with it?
GuiFou: The snake-over-head eyewear features two sculpted snakes wrapping around the crown of the head, with their extended tongues serving as the functional brackets holding the green rectangular lenses.

Do you own any snakes?
While I don’t own a snake, I’ve always been fascinated by their form—specifically the fluid, sculptural freedom they offer as a medium. This piece was born simply from a desire to create something I desperately wanted to wear, but couldn’t find anywhere in the world.

It seems plenty of other people are desperate to wear them, too. What stage of product development have you gotten to with them?
I’ve created prototypes and 3D prints, but I think that they are so precious that I would rather make them in a material that will last and allow them to be the symbol that they represent. They are currently in production. 

Did you have orders for them before all of this kicked off?
I’ve not sent them to anyone or ever tried sending my ideas to stylists. I like things to be done in a certain way, so that makes me patient.

Were you surprised to see the glasses going viral this past week?
Yes, but not really, because people loved them the moment they were posted. It was almost perfect timing because I had been sketching and designing new ideas almost every day in my sketchbook and working on how I wanted to brand and bring these ideas to life. It felt like a calling from the universe. 

Have you got a favorite meme? Some of them are pretty funny.
There are a lot of bald people, men and women, asking for them, and they write funny reasons why they need to be first in line, and I love that, but these are not a meme because we are going to make “bald” very fashionable and very soon.

Do you have to be bald for them to work best?
Although they work best if you’re bald, you don’t have to be bald for them to fit or wear them because I myself have very long locks, and I usually make my own prototypes first. Think of it as a metaphor of a snake weaving through a field of high grass.

You must have been getting loads of messages about them—what kind of thing are people saying?
Since I’ve set up the early access for the product on my page, hundreds have signed up for early access, expressing how much they can’t wait. I’ve made sure that the people who have been there since day one and the ones that are early enough can access and join the list to secure a snake-over-head eyewear because it will be a limited drop. 

So what’s next for snake eyewear? Surely you’ve got to get this out soon?
What’s next for the snake eyewear is GFOU VORÉA ,giving the people what they want, the release of new collections that will be designed by me, and will be available for pre-orders soon on my website.

You can follow Jean on Instagram

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