The aesthetically ephemeral Jazzelle Zanaughtti talks about growing up in Detroit, surrounding herself with creativity and the utmost importance of being yourself
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Jazzelle Zanaughtti, better known under her alias @uglyworldwide, has the world mesmerised with her eclectic variety of transient looks. One minute she’s an eyepatch donning party monster, the next she’s a ginger-locked elf, and finally, she’s a face-plastered runway model for the king of darkness, Gareth Pugh. These looks are just three of many, many more.
So, what is it that Jazzelle does exactly? “I do make-up and serve looks because it’s second nature to me,” says the Detroit-born model and artist. Serve looks she certainly does, to her 523k Instagram followers. But still, this is putting it lightly. Jazzelle is a fully-fledged model with world domination on her mind, appearing on the covers of Paper and i-D Magazine as well as maintaining a close working relationship with Nick Knight of SHOWstudio. “I model because I love being surrounded by creatives and becoming part of a fantasy. I also like money,” she says sardonically.
But bigger things are coming her way. With a small clothing line and a make-up brand in the works, 2019 is set to be even better for the shapeshifting model. Keep your eyes peeled.
Tell us about yourself and where you grew up?
My name is Jazzelle and I’m an artist and model. I like taking long walks on the grimy ass streets of New York City. I grew up in and outside of Detroit with my mother in a shitty suburb called Westland, formerly known as Wasteland. I moved to Chicago a week after I graduated from high school at 17 years old since I needed to go somewhere more exciting instead of wasting my time drinking Bud Light in basements or smoking weed in parking lots. I was shut out by my peers in Detroit, but when I moved to Chicago, I felt I started to blossom into the person I am today.
What do you do and why do you do it?
I do make-up and serve looks because it’s second nature to me. It makes me feel like myself. I also DJ since it’s fun and it makes me happy, and I model because I love being surrounded by creatives and becoming part of a fantasy. I also like money.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now I’m designing a small clothing line and setting up the stepping stones to launch my own make-up brand!
It’s the year 2100. You’re the owner of the largest beauty tech company in the world, what five products or treatments will you dedicate your resources trying to invent?
A face scanner programmed with your favourite looks - it would look like a mini lightsaber. A face vacuum to suck out blackheads and take off dead skin. A chameleon concealer, a nail polish which makes your nails unbreakable and a pill that can change your hair colour!
You’ve had an accident which causes you to lose your sense of smell. The doctors can’t return it fully but can give you the ability to smell one scent. What do you pick and why?
White sage! I burn it every day to cleanse my home and spirit. Not only does it smell great but it also chills me the fuck out.
A friend once exclaimed that when he dies he wants 'Weeping virgins carved from marble to be placed in a circle around his grave'. What would your ideal tombstone look like?
Well, I don’t actually want to be buried. I’d like to be cremated instead and have my ashes spread, but I want my head to be saved and immortalized. It’d be a big-ass bust made of copper, with wings coming out of my ears and a tuft of flame atop my head with my eyes open, in a place where the sun sets over the water.