Possibly you’ve got seen Paris-based Jean Baptiste Santens’ wigs with out realizing it.Gottmik’s Damier plaid hair phantasm for her entrance RuPaul’s Drag Race “All Stars 9” has gone viral earlier than the season airs.Or possibly it is the quilt of Nicki Minaj’s newest album pink friday 2 Even the work he’s executed for Beyoncé and some others. The shapes are sometimes gravity-defying, awe-inspiring architectural marvels that he creates on mannequins after which transports them onto somebody’s head. However when you ask him, the wigs he is been specializing in for the previous eight years have by no means actually been the main target.
“I do not like sporting wigs,” Santens stated watt Over Zoom, snort out loud. He stated this in virtually a whisper. The very subsequent day, one in all his newest creations, a Cinderella princess fantasy worn by Katy Perry, was delivered to tens of millions of properties in 2019. American idol. “I like utilizing wigs as a result of I can specific my artwork and I can excellent my craft. However I am an artist. I like creating shapes, colours and feelings. Wigs – I do not care.
A lifelong obsession with hair, occasional drag queen Initially began on this planet of excessive style: he has collaborated with some nice names equivalent to Gedo Palau, helping with occasions starting from the Prada style present to Bella Hadid’s 2017 Dior Magnificence debut look. Then, with an unlikely push from the pandemic, he was granted a break that allowed him to step away from the style trade and have time to give attention to his inventive course of. Beginning over, he first discovered shoppers amongst drag superstars like Naomi Smalls, and you will doubtless see extra of him designing for Gottmik and Plastique Tiara this season. Followers of French drag queens have additionally seen his work on Cookie Cunty and host Nicky Doll. He rapidly caught the eye of different celebrities, too.
“While you’re working in style at such a excessive degree, doing all of the reveals and all the things could be very arduous,” he stated of a few decade of his life. “It is very robust since you’re not the principle character, so folks deal with you want shit. Not my boss, however everybody round me, just like the producers. You are simply serving to, so folks deal with you want shit. Such as you’re nothing. It is a very robust world to be in. Regardless that style has been my dream since I used to be about 12 years previous, I noticed it was by no means for me as a result of I used to be not designed to dwell in all these conditions. A robust lady, however there are some issues I simply can’t do.
Right here, we discuss to Santens concerning the trajectory from the style world, to pull, to mainstream movie star.And, he tells why this season All-Star You may see extra of his work as soon as it is launched.
How did you get began with wigs? Did you begin with hair extra usually?
I began doing hair about 20 years in the past. I used to be so younger; it was like I by no means began and this was my entire life. I will do my doll’s hair. I did an apprenticeship within the French countryside, then moved to Paris and began working within the style trade. I am coming into a hair competitors, which is a giant deal right here. In 2008, I represented the French workforce on the OMC Hairworld World Championships and we received. We received once more in 2010 after they received in Paris.
That led me to working extra in style, and I noticed that in editorials and different shoots you actually don’t have time to do your hair. It’s important to use a wig as a result of I really feel like I lose my creativity as a result of I haven’t got time to do any prep. So I began making wigs so I may have extra choices.Round that point I additionally began engaged on style reveals, helping all the massive names like Louis Mourinho and Eugene Suleiman. I ended up staying on Guido’s workforce for eight or 9 years.
That is a very long time.
I used to be one in all his principal assistants and was answerable for all the style reveals and a few promoting campaigns. I additionally do my very own work within the Parisian style world – they’re not large, however I’m doing it in between. Then I began expressing myself with wigs and actually utilizing Instagram as a device to showcase my creativity. At one level, I felt like I used to be trapped within the style world as a result of as a hairstylist, hair is actually an artwork type. Vogue will not be actually designed for that as it’s about garments. So you’ve gotten all these concepts and creativity, however in style, everybody makes choices for you: stylists, photographers, everybody. So I bought actually annoyed and began expressing myself on wigs on model heads and placing them on my Instagram.
Do you keep in mind the primary drag queen who bought a wig from you?
Sure, the primary one I really purchased was Naomi Smalls. She wore it on her Christmas tour. I used to be very inexperienced on the time. Even earlier than the outbreak, 2016.then pearls is one other. However my principal objective is to work with Violet Chachki. I am fascinated by her.I made one for the primary time wig for her when she does world In Paris, possibly her second time right here. It has been virtually ten years now.
However the principle second the place it felt like I used to be giving her the appropriate hair on the proper second was once I was making pretzels out of hoops. It is form of like a crown for black hair.she first time sporting for world On a North American tour in New York, the place I used to be doing Vogue Week. I went to the present with a brand new hair fashion I might by no means seen earlier than, and she or he was sipping martinis like Dita Von Teese. I’ll all the time keep in mind this.
How did you make the transition from style?
COVID-19 hits. I’ve a number of respect for Guido and all the things he is executed for me, however the best way the style system works, it is arduous to start out your personal factor once you’re an assistant since you give all of your time to different folks. When COVID-19 hit, all the things stopped. I might been booked for a complete yr and all the things had been cancelled, so I used to be actually alone. I used to be caught at residence and the one factor I may do was specific myself on Instagram. The wig took off from there. This has been my principal job since then, however I’m slowly returning to hair reveals in France.
On the identical time, you had been doing issues like wigs for Beyoncé. Appears to be like like a great deal.
It is actually like the fantastic thing about social media. One among her pals contacted me as a result of they wished to provide her one in all my wigs for Christmas. That piece took me 10 days. That is customized. She favored it a lot that she used it in her marketing campaign in Ivy Park. This all occurred in a short time as a result of I feel the occasion got here out in January. Surprisingly, they used a wig in a photograph of a magnificence with no garments on, regardless of being at a marketing campaign occasion in Ivy Park. It is simply hair. What a improbable scene.
I’ll all the time be a French designer who made Beyoncé’s wigs – that may all the time be a part of my legacy.
Do you’ve gotten a mode choice? You simply made Katy Perry’s “Cinderella” wig for “American Idol,” however lots of your different wigs have sculptural, gravity-defying results.
I quote Karl Lagerfeld: He stated that when you begin not liking one thing, you cease liking it. It’s important to be open to all the things or you’ll change into an individual of the previous. I all the time hold this in thoughts. I all the time discover one thing attention-grabbing in all the things. Clearly, you want items that is likely to be extra of a press release, but it surely’s not all the time what you suppose it’s.My work for Plastique Tiara Drag Queen Present All Stars The promotion for season seven was a much bigger wig, which I spent 12 days on. It is for much longer than Gottmik’s board, however persons are fascinated by Gottmik’s board.
It’s the hairline!
I do know…I do know, it is the hairline. I’ve to thank my shoppers as a result of they push me to be higher. They’d inform me “No, we wish high-definition lace.” So I needed to purchase these abilities, and that is what occurred. That is the enjoyable of it. Gottmik is like my muse, she loves all the things I do – no less than that’s what she says, and she or he all the time wears my hair. I did a number of issues for her that individuals haven’t seen or that I can’t speak about. She hardly goes out with out my hair.
Do folks sometimes come to you for a particular fashion? Those you do for Beyonce and Nicki Minaj, and even for Shea Coulee and Violet, have that spherical or pretzel impact.
I’d say it relies upon. With Gottmik, since I work together with her full-time, it actually is dependent upon what she has to do. However for people who find themselves not my shoppers, they arrive to me on large events.
It is humorous as a result of in the case of style in drag, for a very long time folks would go to Diego Montoya. Like Shangela wore him to the Oscars. However folks do go to his bigger, influential works, partly due to his aesthetic and partly due to the worth.
Me, too. My costs are stable too, so when you simply need an effortlessly glamorous Pamela Anderson 90s wig, you would possibly wish to get it elsewhere. I like having a finances and going loopy. That is what I actually need. Even cash can’t actually purchase my time anymore. In order for you a Pamela Anderson wig, and I am not likely feeling it proper now, and you are not one in all my shoppers, and it isn’t a giant event, I am form of like…
Life is brief and I wish to take each alternative I get to do my hair to truly do one thing with it. I have been doing this for 20 years, so I am slightly bored with it. So I like doing my hair for a purpose or for somebody I actually love. It is slightly unhappy as a result of folks take it personally, but it surely’s not private – it is really about me and my ardour.
