If you think fashion influencers’ posts all look the same on Instagram, you should have a look at checking invoices, one of the most unexpected and original fashion pages you’ll find in social media. They are making fashion fun again!
The “anonymous duo based nowhere”, as they describe themselves in the bio, is in reality, two Greek women based in Milan; a set designer, filmmaker and photographer, and a stylist who bring a breath of fresh air to the fashion world.
Instead of photos showing glamorous locations and impossible beauty standards, Checking Invoices shoots fun pictures featuring a mysterious masked model wearing full-bodysuits paired with the latest luxury fashion garments.
Their Instagram posts become quickly viral. The quirky photos mock those fashion influencers who take themselves too seriously and focus on self-promotion with their all-too-similar poses, pouts and looks. In these times of over-exposure in social media, the hidden-identity look is, at the same time, ridicule and fascinating, and gets a lot of attention.
The eccentric, light-hearted and kind of unsettling faceless images are usually shot in banal places such as a playground, parks, movie theatres or supermarkets in Milan, to the surprise – and sometimes, shock – of the bewildered passerby.
The duo behind Checking Invoices has managed to keep their identities hidden even now that they’ve become famous. They have more than 75k followers on Instagram, and the faceless persona is seen sitting on the front row of catwalk shows like Fendi, where models and show-goers take selfies with her and try to find out who’s under the bodysuit.
They started Checking Invoices at the end of 2016 and soon after, were called to work on a meme project for Gucci, which got them a lot of visibility. They were also featured on Vogue US, Vogue Italia and Dazed, not bad for a photographer and a stylist in an industry that usually doesn’t give them much credit.
The anonymous duo explains that the name “Checking Invoices” came from the all the delivery notes they receive with the clothes requested for photo sessions.
The pair, who are flatmates, said they used to try out the samples and take pictures of them, but because one of them doesn’t like to appear on photos, she covered her face with a piece of black fabric. After a while, they had so many pictures they thought it would be fun to have an Instagram account for them. As their page started growing, they began scavenging for the flashy bodysuits they find on the internet, in shops which names they won’t disclose, or have them custom made by a woman in Milan.
They say they plan to launch a capsule collection with only a few pieces, just for fun. We sure hope they will! If the clothes are half as glamorous as the ones they show on Instagram, we’ll already be happy enough!
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