The Unwearable Collection™: Fashion Inspired by GPP

Living with a skin disease can be tough. With generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP), a rare skin disease that is characterized by eruptions of painful pus-filled blisters, it can be highly challenging both physically and psychologically. It can be extremely painful and also frightening due to how fast a flare can cover large amounts of the body.

To visualize the personal experiences of those living with GPP, Boehringer Ingelheim has collaborated with internationally renowned designer Bart Hess, to create a unique fashion line: The Unwearable Collection™. In the collection, Bart Hess aims to shine a light on the lived experiences of GPP patients and the limitations in many different parts of their lives that are caused by this condition. 

Widespread reddened skin that is covered in painful pus-filled blisters can be one of the symptoms of GPP — sometimes accompanied by additional indications including fever, joint pain, or extreme tiredness. All these physical symptoms are serious enough before you also consider the daily anxiety and emotional distance that GPP causes. Once recovered from a flare, people living with GPP are constantly wary about when the next one may occur, they have no way of telling how fast they can arise or how long they will last.

Bart Hess created each of the four designs taking inspiration from personal experiences shared by people living with GPP: Christine, Brandon, and Dale. One of the pieces, crafted using sharp broken glass, is inspired by an account from Christine describing one of her scariest moments when she couldn’t even pick her daughter up because of a flare. Bart Hess created this outfit to capture how GPP keeps Christine physically and emotionally separated from the people she loves. 

“With The Unwearable Collection™ we wanted to break through the noise surrounding psoriatic conditions and make something really visible, thought provoking, and, most importantly, entirely GPP patient focused. We felt we had to highlight the aspects that make GPP different from other forms of psoriasis and raise awareness for the patients’ lived experiences” - Claudia Beqaj, Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, Dermatology (US) of Boehringer Ingelheim.

The outfit made from paper shards evokes a metaphor used by Dale, where he describes the pain of a GPP flare feeling like he is experiencing thousands of paper cuts, 24 hours a day. The final two outfits show another perception of the GPP experience: Brandon uses the term “wildfire” to elaborate on how his skin feels mid-flare. It brings a graphic and tangible level of discomfort to emulate how GPP feels. The last outfit is built from hundreds of knives, acting as a representation of Christine comparing the pain of a GPP flare to being stabbed over and over and over.

As GPP is a rare disease it is important to raise as much awareness of the condition as possible. Along with many rare diseases, identifying the symptoms of GPP is one of the reasons for delayed diagnosis, or misdiagnosis. People living with the disease can go through incorrectly prescribed treatment with frequent hospital visits being common. They may also experience long delays in getting a correct diagnosis. Educating on GPP is not only important for people living with the disease to be able to recognize their own symptoms, but for dermatologists to be able to diagnose GPP faster and help to improve the quality of life for patients.

“Providing accessible and accurate information which is easy to understand is one of the most important elements of working with a rare skin disease like GPP. People living with GPP want to know more about their disease, and others have not even been diagnosed with it yet. It’s therefore integral to their well-being that they find the relevant information about GPP and receive, as soon as possible, a correct diagnosis from a medical professional, be it a primary care physician, or a dermatologist. We know that these patients are out there, and together we need to elevate them in the eyes of physicians.” – Dr. Janine Lamar, Global Spesolimab Lead at Boehringer Ingelheim.

To find out more about GPP, its symptoms, and to hear from others living with the disease, visit gppandme.com. 

Discover  The Unwearable Collection™