Unless I am mistaken, which has been known to happen, Conchita Wurst‘s Instagram account has dropped a few followers over the last few days.
Not surprising really when you look at the photographs the Austrian artist has been uploading — photographs as far from the Conchita most of us fell in love with after her win at Eurovision as is possible to imagine — and photographs that are part of a new partnership between Conchita and Rihanna owned fashion label Savage X Fenty Germany. (Instagram account here)
Then again, to anyone that knows the tiniest thing about Conchita Wurst — aka Austrian singer/artist Tom Neuwirth — this week’s photos, and Conchita’s new brand ambassadorship with Rihanna’s label, should not only be expected but embraced.
After all, the dude is Austrian — and that often comes with another level of kink many non-Austrian Westerners are uncomfortable with. Because Austrians may be reserved and polite on the surface, but there is still a whole lot of fetishism going on underneath the surface due to the culture they come from and its somewhat dark past.
On top of that, Tom Neuwirth started his career in Austria’s underground drag scene.
That means for years before the Conchita of Eurovision showed up, Tom looked a lot more like the photos we are being delighted with on Instagram this week — raunchy, somewhat crude, definitely male in stereotypical female clothing, and ridiculously edgy.
That he then smoothed off those edges to become Conchita Wurst, Europe’s high fashion diva, is what helped him win Eurovision.
It also made him the darling of Europe for a couple of years — wooed by Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier, invited to the Golden Globes, cover model of a thousand mainstream magazines.
But, like any true artist, Tom Neuwirth became bored with perfect Conchita — the “insanely stiff President’s wife” he talked about several years later.
After all, perfect looking and perfectly behaved is nice for a while. Then it becomes boring for the person forced into that role, and even more boring for those of us watching.
Conchita Wurst’s Savage X Fenty collaboration
Conchita Wurst’s Savage X Fenty ambassadorship then is Tom Neuwirth heading back to his roots.
To someone who, frankly, couldn’t give a flying damn what you think about him. Not as long as he is enjoying what he is doing, comfortable in himself and absolutely authentic.
That is also what the photographs from Conchita Wurst’s collab with Savage X Fenty Germany are all about.
Nostalgic, in that they are somewhat reminiscent of avant-garde high fashion shots of the 1970s and 80s — Polaroid, trashy, bordering on soft porn, but so provocative they actually get pushed back into an odd kind of elegance.
But also nostalgic in that they return us to a younger and still unknown Tom Neuwirth. A young artist who was trying to be ‘different’ than the crowd so he could stand out, but not always sure he knew how.
With these new photos, however, now they show a Tom rock solid in both his sense of style and his gender fluidity, and in his lack of interest in your acceptance of any of it.
And photographs that also fit perfectly with what pop star Rihanna is doing with her Savage X Fenty brand.
A brand that, while showcasing beautiful lingerie, does so by often having the pieces worn by models that would never be hired by many in the fashion industry. Given that they don’t fit the unnatural body shapes of most models.
Shapes 98% of the planet’s population don’t fit either, I might add.
A body positivity Rihanna sure as hell embraces and, with her lingerie brand, makes sure she asks other people to embrace as well.
That’s why, if you are one of those people who unfollowed Conchita Wurst on his/her Instagram account this week because of the Savage X Fenty photos — a) you are someone the Austrian artist would not want in his life because, if you’re not open-minded, he really has little use for you (Bye, Felicia) and b) you never understood him anyway.
The photos from Conchita Wurst’s Savage X Fenty Germany ambassadorship can be seen on the Austrian artist’s Instagram account. And, for a limited time, on his/her Instagram stories.
You can check out the gorgeous lingerie pieces Conchita/Tom is wearing on Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Germany via this link. And yes, they are surprisingly affordable.