From forced servitude, normalized sexual assault and a lopsided understanding on bureaucracy, society and gender, we turn things around and re-imagine The Handmaid’s Tale with the point of power switched. This time around, the favor isn’t with the man, but with the woman they underestimate to a great deal.
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It is quite difficult to sit through each episode of the chillingly and unnervingly dark television interpretation of The Handmaid’s Tale back-to-back-to-back. It isn’t so much the very graphic nature of the show that is beautifully stylized in an almost artistic and film-like quality.What makes it uncomfortable to process is how eeringly honest the show’s narrative is, unapologetically unraveling layers of truth that we have all come to know as part and parcel of our everyday.
Sure, it is set in a foreseeable future that, but everything else is bleak. All the comforts and convenience we have gotten to know have been fundamentally stripped, except to a select and lucky few. The hardest hit in the vision of this dystopia is the women who have practically commodities the ruling class can pawn at their will. It is a interesting take on human ethos and people politics, one that is threshed out and dissected to its mind- and heart-numbing essential core. Humanity is definitely put into question, and your morals are shaken on a by-the-minute basis.
In the narrative, the autocracy lies in the hands of the man. Sure, it doesn’t sound any different from the reality we live in, but in The Handmaid’s Tale, it is heightened to a frightening degree. Is this what could become? Even before theocracy and absolutism muddles the thread of our lives (and in light of the fact that the critically acclaimed show has been renewed for a third season), we take what we know and love from the fictional tale and flip it on its head, re-imagining it as if the point-of-view was told from a different set of marginalized eyes.
Will things still be as they are if we saw them qualified from the way we understand things? Well, the answer doesn’t lie too far, my friend. It’s high time you get on the thrill of the show and examine your status quo even before it withers to a dreaded decay of humanity.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, the show is pretty damn good.
Scroll down for the rest of our re-interpretation of the beloved piece of literature. Trust us, this is no case of blessed be the fruit.
A prominent color scheme in the series is a deep and desaturated shade of red. Symbolizing fertility and child birth, it also echoes a bubbling passion that throbs from the quiet stares of key players, such as the titular Offred. From a fashion standpoint, pulling a monochromatic look in this shade evokes unequalled power.
Typically alluding to envy, the verdant shade of green lives up to this correlation as the barren wives of high-ranking men often fall trap to jealousy with the handmaids assigned to them. Take things from classic to contemporary by wearing this fail-safe color in atypical cuts.
The military stronghold is still as ruthless and unforgiving in The Handmaid’s Tale. A necessary anchor to the strongholds of the new order, there is much fear to them as there is a lack of genuine understanding of the overruling milieu. When donning the standard trappings of the military rigors, it is best to opt for a sturdy overcoat that can last you well into a few years.
In the show, deceptively modest characters referred to as aunts lay down the strict rule of the handmaid’s. Blinded by religion and authority, these ladies are unforgiving and dreary as the drab shade of brown they are made to wear. A more modern spin to the beloved earth tone is to try out a lighter fare for a more refreshing take on the usual.
Photography PATRICK DIOKNO
Creative direction and styling ANGELO RAMIREZ DE CARTAGENA
Grooming ANTON PATDU of NEW MONARQ CREATIVX
Hair ROCHELLE LACUNA of NEW MONARQ CREATIVX
Model KRISTIYAN of NEW MONARQ MANAGEMENT
