Instagram Rings Judges Share What They Look for in Creative Work

For the judges of this year’s Instagram Rings, a striking point of view matters more than polish. Donatella Versace wants conviction and fresh forms of self-expression; makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench is looking for work that interrupts the scroll; director Chloé Zhao values creative choices that belong to a larger world. Their answers offer a useful read on what makes a creator’s work feel personal, whether it appears in fashion, beauty or film.

The three spoke with readers through i-D’s DM-ing With series, which invites people to send questions directly to artists and other creative figures. Alongside Versace, Ffrench and Zhao, this year’s judging group includes A$AP Rocky, FINNEAS, Will Welch and Charm La’Donna.

Originality comes before polish

Ffrench’s test for a memorable post is simple: “Something that stops me scrolling.” She says that doesn’t require a carefully polished finish. What she wants is a clear perspective, something that makes her feel she’s been given access to the creator’s particular world. That distinction puts the emphasis on intention and character: a post can catch attention because it feels specific, even when it doesn’t look perfected.

Versace describes a similar appetite for work with its own identity. She’s drawn to “courage of conviction, new ideas in self-expression, and nothing that is the equivalent of something else.” For creators, that suggests a practical direction: follow an idea far enough to make it recognizably yours, instead of smoothing away the odd details that give it character.

Her answers about fashion carry that same future-facing energy. Asked to name her favourite fashion era, she picks “tomorrow,” explaining that new ideas and possibilities give her energy. She also credits younger people around her as a source of fresh creativity. In her view, fashion and culture are inseparable: “Fashion breathes culture. Culture breathes fashion.” The exchange frames novelty as something that grows from paying attention to the people and ideas shaping the present.

Asked whether she is “Mother,” Versace replies, “I prefer Sister!” It’s a brief answer, but it keeps the exchange in the candid, conversational register that makes a direct message feel different from a formal interview.

Build a world, then let it breathe

Zhao describes herself as driven by world-building rather than aesthetics alone. Visual choices appeal to her when they serve the ecosystem of the world being created. That approach gives style a clear job: texture, color and composition can help a viewer understand a setting, but they need to feel connected to its internal logic.

She also resists locking a film into a complete mental picture before filming begins. Music or her actors’ dreams might offer an initial spark, but she prefers to let the work at hand shape what happens on set. The script remains a reference point if the process strays too far. Her answer makes room for planning and openness at once: a structure can hold a project together without requiring every moment to be predetermined.

For aspiring filmmakers without industry connections, Zhao recommends starting with a small, close-knit group whose members share a passion and values. Make something modest and tangible together, she advises, then build from there. Staying flexible matters, including being willing to discard an early vision. Her final thought is that storytellers “serve the mystery”—a compact case for curiosity over control.

She sees a practical and a more philosophical shift in filmmaking. Technology, she says, is broadening who can make films; at the same time, storytellers are finding ways to return to the earth. The two observations point to access and subject matter as separate sources of change, without suggesting that one style or scale defines the future of film.

Beauty as a feeling, not a finish

For Ffrench, beauty is personal and expansive. It can bring desire, joy, intrigue, longing, fascination or discomfort, and it doesn’t have to look conventionally attractive or pleasing. Strange, challenging and imperfect things can hold her attention just as strongly. Her definition centres the response an image creates: that urge to keep looking.

That openness makes sense alongside her affection for makeup from earlier decades. Asked which discontinued products she would bring back, Ffrench names old MAC pigments and shades from the 1990s and early 2000s, praising their unusual colors. She also remembers the original Nars chunky crayons for their colors and textures. It’s not just nostalgia for a label or a particular era; her examples point to makeup that allowed expressive shades and tactile formulas to take up space.

Her sources of inspiration extend well beyond beauty. Music is a major influence, alongside films, people on the street, art, nature, subcultures, old books, objects, materials and travel. Ffrench argues that curiosity about subjects outside one’s own industry can make the work more interesting. For a beauty creator, that could mean approaching a look through a musical mood, a material or a film reference, then translating that influence into makeup rather than simply repeating familiar beauty cues.

Her advice to creative directors follows the same logic: develop your taste and trust it, instead of watching everyone else or trying to predict what people will like. Make work you find interesting, even when it feels strange at first. And understand how ideas become finished things; creative direction, in her view, takes more than generating concepts.

The Instagram Rings pair a digital gold ring, which replaces the Stories ring on a recipient’s profile picture, with a physical gold ring designed by Emily Adams Bode Aujla and inspired by good-luck charms. With the awards still ahead, the judges’ answers offer a clear creative prompt: make the work unmistakably yours, stay curious, and let the idea guide its form.