All parents tell their kids not to play with their food. But Alya Chagler, a mom from Antalya, Turkey, is taking a different approach.
Alya and her 3-year-old daughter Stefani have been racking up followers on Instagram after posting pictures of Stefani “wearing” dresses made of various foods and plants.
The photos are taken using forced perspective. As The Spruce explains, forced perspective is:
“A photographic optical illusion generally used to make two or more objects appear closer or further away, or of a different size than reality.”
Forced perspective is possible because, unlike our eyes, cameras have only one lens. This means the camera cannot ‘see’ depth perception as we do. For the camera, everything is one dimensional.
Alya, an oil painter by trade, has always been creative, but the idea for the photos randomly came to her as she was eating a piece of watermelon.
According to President Mommy, as Alya lifts the piece of watermelon to her mouth, 3-year-old Stefani just happens to walk by at the perfect time.
The piece of watermelon completely covers Stefani’s body, uncannily resembling a dress, and Alya decides to take a picture as the three-year-old poses.
Alya later uploads the fruit dress picture to Instagram and people go bananas.
The mother-daughter duo now has a blast creating the photos, with Alya finding dresses and Stefani modeling enthusiastically.
Stefani’s gleeful expressions coupled with Alya’s eye for unusual dresses has gained them over 31k Instagram followers to date, and the number is only growing.
Their followers seem to love Alya’s unique take on everyday items and food.
Even Twitter is catching on!
She’s so cute ❤️ via instagram seasunstefani pic.twitter.com/GOvvgXbrkj
— ♛ℳ⍺γ♛ (@maytaysos) April 27, 2017
Dress inspo ? ?
?: @seasunstefani #Netmumsloves https://t.co/fKt09gFnn0 pic.twitter.com/55KDJQ1yfk— Netmums (@Netmums) May 24, 2017
It’s clear that Stefani enjoys donning the dresses and hamming it up for the camera. And of their newfound fame, Alya comments:
“It makes me happy to see that people from around the world enjoy our pictures.”
The pair has now made a game of it all, having spontaneous photo shoots whenever they find a new object for an interesting dress or gown.
To date, the two have used broccoli, bananas, chiles, grapes, and even pine cones for their dresses— and we’re sure there’s more on the way!
As mentioned, Alya and Stefani’s photos use forced perspective to create an optical illusion. If you’re interested in seeing more stunning examples of forced perspective photos, be sure to check out this list of amazing shots.
Also, don’t forget to follow Alya and Stefani’s Instagram to keep up-to-date with all the adorable food dresses coming our way.
