sleeveface
n. A photo in which the sleeve from a music album obscures a person's face to artfully extend the album cover image.
Other Forms
Etymology
Examples
2010
Just when you thought your old LPs were worthless, along comes the incredible photo genre called "sleeveface." Take an old album cover, preferably with a picture of the artist on it, and then pose with it, merging the album sleeve and background together into a fun — and often unforgettable — photograph.
—John Campanelli, “Download,” Plain Dealer, January 03, 2010
2009
A sleeveface is an image created by holding an album cover over someone's face or another body part, and snapping a photo of the subject. The selected record cover is generally a photo of someone's face so the result is in an illusion….The fad has been sweeping the Internet, with sleevefaces popping up on Facebook and art sites. Groups hold parties and workshops to create sleevefaces.
—Debby Abe, “Sleevefacing: Using music albums with everyday bodies,” The News Tribune, December 13, 2009
2008 (earliest)
Carl Morris was merely bored when he held the cover of an old vinyl copy of "McCartney II" up to his face while playing records at a club in Cardiff, England, making it appear as if the former Beatle's heavily mulleted head had briefly replaced his own….Now the phenomenon has a name: Sleeveface….Check out other sleevefaces at www.sleeveface.com.
—Aidin Vaziri, “Trend takes off as music fans take cover,” The San Francisco Chronicle, January 24, 2008
Notes
According to Wikipedia, the word sleeveface was coined in April, 2007 by Carl Morris, although other sites suggest that John Rostron invented the term. The domain sleeveface.com was registered on May 31, 2007, and the famous Facebook group Sleeveface was created around the same time (no later than June 1, 2007). There are a number of media references to either the website or the Facebook group from late 2007 and early 2008, but the earliest citation here is the first I could find to use the term generically.