Anthony Loffredo: the “black alien” who removed his ears, fingers and nose in the name of art
At its best, the fashion and modelling industry seeks to find people who have a certain uniqueness to them. A je ne sais quoi that draws the audience to them. Anyone with experience in the industry will tell you that the truth is somewhat more complicated than that, and you can test anyone who disagrees with that by asking what they make of Anthony Loffredo.
Born in Montpellier, France, in 1988, Loffredo should be, by any definition of the term, an ideal model. Which is just as well because that’s been his day job for many years now. He’s dedicated. Some might say to an extreme. You have to be to make it as a model; it’s a hard industry, and he’s given his entire body to it. Which brings us to the second way Loffredo is an ideal model, which is that you take one look at the man, and you will never forget him.
He draws eyes in a way that would make any brand salivate. All this should make Loffredo one of the world’s premier models… unless one of the key uses for the whole industry is defining and shaping the beauty standards of the time, mainly by using the bodies of women… If that’s the case, and let’s be real here, it is, that’s where Loffredo’s role within the industry can be questioned, because yes, his look is unforgettable, much in the same way that Jeff Goldblum’s look at the end of The Fly is unforgettable.
Yes, there’s a good reason why Loffredo’s nickname is “the black alien”. Over the past decade, he has spent an incalculable amount of money completely changing his body into something that only looks human due to the presence of four limbs, one torso and a head. Even then, that was touch-and-go until relatively recently.
Loffredo’s journey with body modification began relatively late in life. At 26 years old, he was a nightclub bouncer who decided, on a whim, to get his tongue split. Though this was clearly the moment the floodgates opened for him, he says this wasn’t due to a grand epiphany or even a desire to shock people. The way he tells it, he just made the modifications to his body that made him feel more confidant an assured in himself.
Which, y’know, you can’t argue with on the surface. Except you certainly can when those modifications include removing his nose and ears. Tattooing his eyes matte-black. Adding implants to his skull, forearms and torso. Amputating two fingers on each hand. Covering almost the entirety of his skin with black ink. Loffredo is a living, walking conversation about the limits of personal autonomy, because several of the procedures he’s had done to himself aren’t strictly speaking legal, and he will be the first to admit that they’ve worsened his life in some important ways. Try to get a job looking like that, for example.
Yet, Loffredo doesn’t seem to regret his choices. In fact, he seems to have reached a point where he’s fully satisfied with his own body – at first, this was a project that was reportedly going to culminate in him having one of his legs surgically removed.
Loffredo himself talks about the state he’s currently in, being around 65% of what he originally envisioned. Yet he now seems satisfied with his lot. Calling time on any further modifications and settling down with his girlfriend, and over a million combined followers on social media.
Theoretically, he should be just as valid a presence in the modelling industry as anyone else, so it really is worth asking why he’s not, at least to me.