Remember Bic for Her? Or Lady Doritos? It’s easy to laugh at these ridiculous examples of gendered products, but I still buy deodorants that smell like baby powder or green tea flowers or whatever the fuck. It’s hard to imagine a time when we all just smelled like armpit and ass and whatever work smells clung to us. It’s almost like someone realized that if they could create two sets of products for each human need they would make double the money! In 1998, the artist Antonio Riello decided that the weapons market needed something just for her, that would make her feel like a woman while she pulled her trigger, so he created a series entitled Ladies Weapons. He combined haute couture with assault rifles and made gilded grenades that would protect the Upper East Side’s skeletal fur bags while still looking like the victim definitely couldn’t afford it. I don’t know if Riello created these to add fuel to the fire in my belly for destroying wealth hoarding, but that’s what looking at these precious weapons are doing. Except for those maces, I would cop one of those.
LADIES WEAPONS are a sort of hybrids born from two important contemporary Italian features: the obsession for personal security and the passion for elegance and fashion.
Images via antonioriello.com/drtenge.com
