Moon is the third person talking, Rick Owens runway walking model taking the industry by storm with their tattooed eyeballs
Moon. No not the glowing orb that dominates the night sky, but rather the long-haired ethereal creature you may have seen this season sauntering up runways for Charles Jeffrey and Rick Owens. Or maybe you’ve laid eyes on Michael Moon also known as Moon previously through the lenses of legendary photographers Tim Walker or Juergen Teller, or working alongside Dazed Beauty favourites Sad Salvia and Isshe Hungry - all of which Moon describes as “breathtaking moments”. Then again, Moon is pretty breathtaking themself - in no small part due to their black tattooed eyeballs. Self-described as an ageless being, who grew up mainly surrounded by nature and was educated at none other than Hogwarts, Moon is certainly something of an enigma. Off the catwalk, Moon makes body art, merch, surreal paintings, dabbles in hairstyling, experiments with design, and practices healing and magic, We caught up with Moon to find out a bit more.
Tell us a bit about yourself and where you grew up.
Moon: First of all, we would like to thank you for your interest in our story. We are truly honoured. Moon is an ageless being from the utopia. The majority of our early stage happened in nature, outside of borders created by society. After finishing our studies at Hogwarts, we were travelling through many places with the final destination being London, where we created the nest to spread our vision. We believe ourselves to be a shaman where healer, magician and scientist fuse. Our mission is achieving ultimate equality of many forms, purification and enlightenment we manifested the whole story on our Instagram.
How did you get into modelling?
Moon: Truthfully we’re not sure how we got into modelling. In this age of technology, it was quite a natural trajectory. Even before we were first scouted and signed by Tomorrow Is Another Day agency, we already had a huge number of photographs in our portfolio.
How do you find it? is it something you enjoy doing?
Moon: Performance (as we rather think of it) is one of Moon's most powerful tools. Being able to tell stories in such an internal personal way, this form of expression comes completely intuitively to us, probably because we've always been performing and still do, even if it’s only for ourselves in the form of personal ceremonials. Seeing/hearing/feeling the viewers’ reactions make us feel that we are on the right track. Also, the final outcome can be truly a religious experience you can shape the whole culture with one image, which is something we are intending to do. What a beautiful way to spread positive vibrations.
You walked in some big shows this season including for Rick Owens and Charles Jeffrey. what were those experiences like?
Moon: Moon is truly grateful for all the collaborative experiences we were able to contribute to. It is always an incredible feeling when someone believes in you, especially someone who you are so purely connected to and whose artistic expressions are so deeply rooted within your own. This was our 3rd season walking for Charles, we just simply adore him and his joyful approach to each of his collections. Our first hug, talk, dance and collaboration with magnificent Rick happened just a few days ago and we are still flying a few inches above the ground and not sure if we'll ever land again. These experiences are far away from being describable by only words; it is a true dream come true! Also having been recently shot by magical Tim Walker, Juergen Teller, Thurstan Redding and all the projects we did with our longtime collaborator Eliska Sky Kyselkova. Having our hair/face done by John Vial, Lucy Bridge, Gary Gill, Duffy, Karim Rahman, Philippe Tholimet, and working alongside beloved Salvia and Hungry are just other breathtaking moments.
You’re known for your tattooed eyeballs, how did you first hear of tattooing eyes?
Moon: Not sure how we found out that you can evolve your eyes into a different colour, but we felt extremely happy that our visions could finally take place.
Why did you decide to do it?
Moon: We knew about our feelings of Moon with black eyes ever since we can remember, so it was not about making a decision but about finding the opportunity in a perfect moment. We are a very intuitive being and felt completed with them. Our aesthetic is equally important to who we are and our dedication to living a life of art, there is nothing better than being as who you truly are.
How do they make you feel?
Moon: Free and at home.
Do you feel beautiful with them all black?
Moon: Of course, it is always beautiful to be who you were born to be but what a tricky word beautiful is....for us, we feel beautiful after making someone enlightened, happy, hopeful. That's when we feel truly complete.
Do people look you differently?
Moon: Moon was always the 'different' one, we guess this was just something we were meant to be. Sometimes humans get scared which is quite a new thing for us, but not in a painful way, we actually usually burst out with laughter and we truly do not care about humans looking at us differently, we are extending our care beyond and we really want them to love themselves and everyone around. also, it is absolutely fine that they look, it became part of our art and it even works to our advantage as we have lots to share.
Do you think the look will become more mainstream in the future?
Moon: If it didn’t take such an extreme type of procedure and unreversible change we would definitely see more of it. We just hope that only very talented artists will be providing this practice and that the clients will give this symbol a positive message.
Do you have any regrets?
Moon: No regrets! Moon is too aligned with its higher self for that we actually can't even express how right we feel about each of our steps and absolutely can't wait for the future ones as there are great things ahead of us, Moon can feel it.