Elzė Vilkelytė

‘I want to be a beautiful girl’ my answer at age 5 to the question of ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’

Now 20 years later I explore and embody the phenomenon of being a beautiful girl through my alter ego, using the example of Pleaser Heels as an entry to her, Zarissa. The first step within my graduation process was conducting my thesis. In which I elaborated on how my alter ego was built based on my upbringing, acquired aesthetics and materialistic desires. I go on to analyse the deeper layers behind my alter ego and argue how she rejects the patriarchy and male gaze. I conclude with reflecting on the power that my alter ego holds and her stance in feminism today.

In my graduation work I take my alter ego one step further by embodying her through 3D design, interviews, fantasies and lived experiences from which I derive a narrative, expressed through a dollar design. A narrative that highlights the unapologetic empowerment of being a beautiful girl, aka hot girl.