Fairytales: Petra Collins and Alexa Demie

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It helped too that there was an instant artistic synergy between the pair from their very first day on set together. I absolutely loved the artistic direction, set design, alexa’s modeling, and of course the graphic design.

I wish they hadn’t advertised it as erotica, though, because there was absolutely no erotic writing lol… but Alexa Demie herself is erotica so I can’t complain.

When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to watch Disney, but I grew up on Hungarian folk tales,” she says. Petra posted a photograph of a fairy, and I wrote to her and said, ‘I want to be a fairy,’ and she was like, ‘Well, let’s make you a fairy,’” Demie says of the origins of their friendship, laughing. Collins has created a style that will go down in history as one that people can only hope to try to recreate. Part of the reason we did these characters is that everyone, especially because of the pandemic, has been living on the internet more than they ever have,” Collins notes.

So I bought this for the photos (I would assume that many of us did lol) and I did not expect the writing to be that great… and I was correct. Fairytales is an erotic folklore collection of Petra Collins and Alexa Demie's illustrated short stories. Hungary as a nation was dealing with being under a Soviet regime, so a lot of that work came out of collective trauma. In 2021, the Fairy Tales photo teasers featured almost empty diners, bedrooms and hospitals; readers blending fact and fiction could imagine these scenarios coming to life in front of them. It explores the femininity and sexuality of mythological beings, but in the context of very human spaces, such as teenage bedrooms, medical facilities, parking lots and exotic dancing clubs.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

The stories by themselves are quite one-dimensional, but completely come to life with the photography. Approaching it as women, it’s very interesting to play these mythical creatures that don’t necessarily have much agency and give them more agency. The soft focus and dreamy photography depict the truthful chaos and survival of mythical beings in a mortal world. The Fairy Talesphotography book was highly anticipated by fans, imitated by artists before its release, and sits in the niche TikTok subcultures of fairy-core, dark feminine energy and the reclaiming of hyper-feminine aesthetics. In the Brothers Grimm version of Rapunzel, it’s hinted that the young woman has been locked away in a tower for her promiscuity, while the 17th-century Italian version of Sleeping Beauty sees the central character impregnated by the king during her slumber.Demie, who was raised in Los Angeles by her Mexican mother, grandmother, and aunts, had a similarly rich tradition of Hispanic folklore to draw on when it came to collaborating on these tales. Retelling childhood stories, Petra Collins and Alexa Demie play with juxtaposition: dark and light, violence and kindness, delicacy and tension. This collaboration sees Alexa Demie embody empowered femme mythical beings in a world like ours today. That heritage has always played a part in Collins’s photography—right down to shooting a Gucci campaign back in her grandmother’s Budapest living room. Created in collaboration with Euphoria star and muse Alexa Demie, Collins has just dropped “Fairy Tales,” her latest book in the form of nine erotic short stories based on works by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and more.