As far as alter egos go, pop culture has commandeered the term. We're used to seeing celebrities sharing theirs with the world as a way of expressing another side of their personality, but it's more than a marketing ploy. An alter ego - a variation of oneself - is something anyone, anywhere, can utilise to get one step closer to their true self - yes, really. Want to be more vocal and regarded as a leader? Alter ego. Want to bottle the nurturing side of your personality? Alter ego.
An alter ego is not who you wish you could be, but a distilled version of who you already are. It's a magnification of preexisting traits or strengths, an opportunity to turn the spotlight on the things you want the world to recognise you for. No one is assigned their alter ego; it's something each individual constructs and cultivates.
We invited a trio of powerful women in the ELLE orbit to explore their alter egos in their own words - aided by seeing things through the new lenses of a pair of Gucci sunglasses.
Name: Zen Sevastyanova
Occupation: Tattoo artist, former model
Follow: #touchedbyZen
I shape-shifted for my career and it influenced my identity.
It was a positive thing and allowed me to expand my own creativity. If I'm on set, my identity is influenced by the identities of the people there - the hairdresser, the manicurist etc. You're a vessel [and your alter ego] comes together with the efforts of those around you.
When I was 11 and shaved my head, people thought I was a boy.
That was my first shape-shifting moment. I have androgynous features and tend to dress in masculine shapes that disguise my figure. I spent so many years working [as a model] and needing to show my body. When people see me in the street, they're not sure what gender I am.
A couple of months ago I bleached my eyebrows; it was such a small change, but it was fascinating to see how people reacted. It didn't move me into the 'sexy-woman' category - it moved me into the 'weirdo-woman' category. I saw it as a kind of social experiment.
Name: Krista Chiu
Occupation: Floral artist
Follow: @khlorisny
Your alter ego is still you.
It's still a part of who you are - it's just a different side of you. You should be you every day, no matter what you're doing. People have so many different sides; humans are dynamic with many layers.
Something about relinquishing control feels good.
When you’re working with something that has a life of its own, like flowers, there's a certain way it bends. You can't force it, and that's what nature is. There's something really beautiful about it. When I'm working with flowers, I can only do what they allow me to do.
What I do as a day job is very calculated and strategic, so it's a great kind of balance. It complements my life in a way where, if I only did flowers, I'd get stuck; this way, I get to exercise my brain in different ways.
Name: Mona Chalabi
Occupation: Journalist
Follow: @monachalabi
My alter ego is a warrior queen. She uses her platform to amplify the voices of others.
Really good data journalism gives a voice to those who can't speak up: rather than hearing from one person, when you hear from a data set you're hearing from thousands of people all at once. The starting point is numbers - a spreadsheet or stats from the back of an academic paper. The point is to include many voices instead of just one. That's when data journalism is at its best.
I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything.
It's a waste to try and convince people not to hate. I'm just trying to convey urgency, to convince people to show up and to show them they can make a difference. When you think of a warrior, it's about amassing your troops, not trying to convince the other side to fight with you. In my career, how many people have I convinced with data? Very few. How many have I informed? Hopefully quite a lot.
Mona Sunglasses
Photographer: Yulia Gorbachenko
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