Rick Genest

In January 2011, Genest was featured in the new Thierry Mugler Autumn/Winter men's collection, headlining it on the brand's website, after his discovery by Formichetti,[11][12][13] who was Mugler's creative director.[14][15][16][17] It was Genest's involvement, and Lady Gaga's urging, which resulted in the menswear show, something not originally planned.[18] His involvement also influenced Formichetti on the collection itself.[18] The show was accompanied by a video featuring Genest, shot by fashion photographer Mariano Vivanco.[15] He later featured alongside Lady Gaga in the fashion show for the women's 2011 Autumn/Winter line.[19]

In February 2011, Genest was featured in Lady Gaga's music video for "Born This Way", with Lady Gaga wearing makeup to replicate Genest's tattoos.[20] Genest was featured in the sixth volume of Vogue Hommes Japan, in an editorial titled "Hard To Be Passive".[21] In the Summer issue of GQ Style (UK), Formichetti and Genest are interviewed, with Genest shot in Mugler by Karim Sadli for the editorial.[22]

In late 2011, Genest was featured in a campaign entitled "Go Beyond the Cover", promoting Dermablend professional makeup products, appearing in a video where a makeup team covered all the tattoos on his head, torso, arms, and part of his back in its concealer product. The advert then shows him sitting with the phrase "How do you judge a book?". He then proceeds to remove portions of the makeup, starting with a section of his chest to reveal the tattoo underneath, continuing to his face.[23]

The video then showed the process of applying the cover-up played backwards.[24] The commercial success of this campaign led to a 2-year endorsement contract with L'Oréal for Genest, who became its first-ever male spokesperson. Genest appeared in the music video of the Polish pop singer Honey. The video for her song "Sabotage" was released in January 2012.

For the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, the Tonner Doll Company produced "Zombie Boy", a limited edition character figure in Genest's likeness. He was Tonner's guest at the convention. Included with each doll is a certificate of authenticity signed by Genest, as "Rico the Zombie". The edition was limited to 500 dolls, all of which were sold as of July 27, 2012.[25]

In September 2012, Genest became the face of the Jay-Z music fashion label Roc-A-Wear for its re-launch in Europe.[26]

In May 2014, images of Genest, taken by Colin Singer, were exhibited in the Paris-based Musée du quai Branly, Exhibition "Tattoists, Tattooed"[27]

Zombie Boy (Photo by Colin Singer)

He was cast as the character "Foreman" in the 2013 film 47 Ronin,[28] featuring Keanu Reeves. Genest was featured in the marketing for the film, appearing on posters and in trailers. Due to various post-process tensions, stemming from the 2011 version of the film, in which Universal executives wanted Reeves to become a more integral part of the film, Genest was largely edited out of the final version.[29]

Genest collaborated with British solo artist KAV on the single "Dirty Rejects", released in May 2013. They spent the first part of 2013 recording an album project, and a video titled "Monsters Versus the World" in Los Angeles. The project was discontinued.

As of January 2015, Genest was working with Mike Riggs, ex-Rob Zombie guitarist, on an upcoming album. Zombie Boy music featuring Riggs. On the horror news site Bloody Disgusting, a "Zombie Boy 666 Medley" video was released featuring samples of six songs to be on the upcoming album.[30]

In June 2017, as part of the TEDx #DISRUPTyou, Genest released a video titled "Normal is an illusion", which recounted his experiences with a brain tumour, among other things.[31][32]

Unveiled in 2019, an 11.5-foot (3.5 m) sculpture of Genest, called "Self-Conscious Gene", is a new permanent fixture at the Science Museum, London, UK. The statue was created by British artist Marc Quinn.[33]