Vintage erotica, fashion obscurities, forgotten subcultures and cultural sins sit alongside one another on the @opi4te feed, @dazedfashion’s Instagram of the week.
The account is run by Eloisia Zefi, an 18-year-old aspiring visual artist based in Milan. Currently in the twelfth grade, when Zefi’s not in class, she spends her time watching cult films and trawling Google images. More often than not, it’s the results of such late night searches that populate the account, that counts stylist Lotta Volkova as a follower.
Zefi started the account to fulfill her desire for a judgement free zone. “I wanted to create a place where I’d able to share things without having to abide by any rules or a set criteria,” she explains. “My relatives and my schoolmates followed my personal account, so I felt I wasn’t able to post what I wanted.”
Describing the account as “an eclectic bunch of images that describe moods and share random art, my personal achievements, and experiences”, when it comes to selecting images to post, Zefi explains, “they simply have to fulfill my vision”. The account itself takes its name from American rock band Tool’s EP, “Opiate”. “It’s a song I relate to and I love opiates,” says Zefi. Meanwhile, the account bio simply reads “cruda”– a combination of the words “crude” and “crud”.
Scroll through the feed and you’ll find cult gore film stills – from a shot of Rose McGowan’s amputated leg on the set of Planet Terror, or a blood-covered still of Italian actress Veronica Lario taken from culy thriller Tenebre – erotic works by American photographer and director Roy Stuart, avante garde artworks like Rebecca Horn’s Pencil Mask and obscure forgotten fashion pieces. But when it comes to the post that Zefi relates to most, it’s this one.
“This account has allowed me to discover a lot of artists and visionaries like me and it enables me to feed my fantasy,” says Zefi when about the positive impact of starting her new account. “I have to admit, I feel like there are many accounts like mine so I don't think of it as special. I don’t try to hard, I like to just let it flow.”
@opi4te
