There are no amputee pop stars, but Viktoria Modesta is fiercely changing all that
In pop star Viktoria Modesta’s amaze new music video “Prototype,” the musician sings like a dream, wears a host of couture costumes that would make Lady Gaga scream in style envy, and sports a series of fashion-forward prosthetics to go along with her fashion-forward ensembles. “Forget what you know about disability,” reads the text at the very beginning of the video. By the end of “Prototype” we 100% do.
For the star and style icon who also happens to be an amputee from her left knee down, her prosthetics are the most stylized accessory in the video — she is not hiding her disability, she is beautifully embracing it. She wears a prosthetic leg that lights up, another blinged out to the extreme, and a sleek black spike that serves as what has to be the most stylish prosthetic in recorded history.
In fact, Modesta makes the life of an amputee look so glam that in the video, the little girl watching a cartoon version of Modesta on her television is inspired to grab her Barbie-like doll and yank off its leg so that it will better resemble her favorite pop star. As Modesta’s own site states, “Viktoria challenges our pre conceptions of what a pop artist could be. She treats her amputeeism as empowering, as part of her artistic expression which can thrill and influence — not an accident of nature which demands sympathy. She defies being categorized and makes us re-think meaning of the word ‘disabled’.”
Modesta has a mega inspiring biography. Born in Latvia in 1987 at 12, she escaped to London. As her website tells it:
“A high school dropout, a misfit on all levels she diverted her focus, drive and self education into music, modelling and art direction.
There was an obstacle, her poor health and 15 operations at an early age called for a radical decision to continue Viktoria’s dream of transcending her background. Not accepting the role of a victim as placed by the people around her she had a voluntary amputation at the age of 20 which transpired to be a brand new life full of experimentation, self expression and avante grade vision.”
Her hope was that the amputation would help to make her more mobile — her left leg was damaged after difficulties during her birth.
“I think people have always found it hard to know what to think or feel about an amputee who wasn’t trying to be an Olympian,” she told the Daily Mail. “In sports, ‘overcoming’ a disability makes you a hero, but in pop there is no place for these feelings.”
As a model and musician, Modesta has been killing it on the regular. Her image has been featured in London’s National Portrait Gallery, she’s modeled for Milan Fashion Week, been featured in Harper’s Bazaar and InStyle, and worked with luminaries like Vivienne Westwood. Still, Modesta considers the highlight of her career performing at the Paralympic Closing Ceremony, a performance in which Modesta wore a Snow Queen outfit, rocked a Swarovski prosthetic, appeared with the main skating cast of “Dancing on Ice,” and sung her heart out to a billion people. Modesta’s “Prototype” music video is also being featured in a UK advertisement this coming Sunday which will expose her, her message, and her music to millions of new potential fans.
Modesta is committed to expanding the definition of what a pop star can be. A self-described “bionic woman,” Modesta’s says her “. . . sole mission is to promote individualism and futuristic image through art.” We are BIG fans of Modesta, as a differently-abled pop star, embracing her differences, making her prosthetics her signature accessory, and rocking out with her bionic girl self. She’s seriously shaking up the pop scene and in the absolute fiercest, most inspiring way possible.
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