Baronettes | alexscissors

So, these are the Baronettes ( http://www.youtube.com/user/baronettes ), two lovely sisters named Beatrice (left) and Savannah (right) Papadopoulos. They are the fictional super rich, bourgeois ladies that Shook Yang Kids ( http://shookyangkids.blogspot.com/ ) came up with last May. Shook Yang Kids write it, direct it, edit it, make super impressive props for it and also act in it. It has been so much fun working on this project because the surreal things these ladies (and their guests in season 2) do and the trouble they find themselves in have made everyone involved bursting with laughter during the filming of each webisode. I was lucky enough to do the hair design for the project and Marina Stat did the make-up design. Basilique did the styling in season 2 and that’s why the girls are so amazingly styled in each separate webisode. We had full creative freedom and we could go as much over the top as we wanted to. This is not typical drag and it has nothing to do with impersonating celebrities.

Season 1 was filmed during one afternoon in July. I went through all of the wigs I own and suggested a pastel ash/golden blond layered bob for Savannah. That wig previously belonged to my aunt and as women did back then, she wore it occasionally to some events back in the sixties and early seventies. I managed to create the biggest bouffant I could out of it and Shook Yang Kids loved it. It remained for season 2. It made Savannah look much older than Beatrice, which everyone thought was funny. It’s a different story behind Beatrice’s hair. The wig for season 1 was a choppy black fringed bob I was given by my friend Olivia many years ago. I was inspired by the early 1990s disastrous bobs with a really big part of the fringe stuck high up going sideways (with half a bottle of hairspary emptied on it) and a tiny amount of wisps lying flat (or even worse curled inwards) on the forehead, plus extreme feathering on both sides of the face. Think Whitney Houston in “The Bodyguard”. I teased it to the extreme and thus paired the disastrous 1990s front with a bouffant. For season 2, we felt we should make Beatrice a little sexier (as sexy as a Baronette can be though, lol) and because the first wig was too choppy, a new wig was bought and I cut the exact same disastrous fringe. Beatrice now had “sexy” waves. Still an early 1990s rich woman but a bit more put together.

Savannah Papadopoulos and the seventies pastel bouffant.

Beatrice Papadopoulos in season 1. The “Whitney” look. (photo by Stavros Kirimlidis

http://stavroskirimlidisphotography.blogspot.com/ )

Whitney Houston in “The Bodyguard” (above) and at a concert, both pictures circa 1992 (couldn’t find photo credit for these pictures).

Beatrice Papadopoulos in season 2. The “sexy” look.

Then came season 2 which was filmed over three days in October. Apart from keeping the same wig for Savannah, a lot of challenges came up. I had to find a new wig for Beatrice plus design the hair of seven more guests. All I had in mind was that everything had to be way more over the top than season 1. And things went extreme.

First, there was the teaser a.k.a. the Baronettes makeover. Apart from the Baronettes, Marina Stat and this boy I know also starred in it. It is pretty obvious that the inspiration behind Marina’s hair was Amy Winehouse (R.I.P.) although I’m still not sure which one’s hair was bigger. Marina wore her beehive with a short pin-up fringe and super long waves (no extensions were used to add length!!!).

Marina Stat, one of my best friends playing the make-up artist in the teaser (also being the make-up artist though). Hidden in her beehive is a full super long wig. She didn’t let me backcomb at all. Sometimes your best friends won’t let you touch their hair (photo by Stavros Kirimlidis http://stavroskirimlidisphotography.blogspot.com/ ).

The legendary Amy Winehouse (Photo: Reuters / Andrea De Silva).

The next guest was Blueworks, a friend of mine who is an amazing dj. The inspirations for the “real star” were obviously 1960’s big hair and also Victoria Beckham. Em-Kei, my fabulous artist friend lent me the wig and I teased it to extreme heights.

Mr Blueworks a.k.a. the real star.

Big hair in the 1960’s (couldn’t find photo credit for this picture).

Victoria Beckham was what I had in mind while working at the back of that wig (couldn’t find photo credit for this picture).

Next was actor Michael O. who has featured before in this blog. The inspiration behind his hair was Greek superstar actress Rena Vlahopoulou (R.I.P.). The wig he wore was an original from the 1960s belonging to Mrs Voula, a.k.a. the true Baronette.

Actor Michael O posing as the super elegant Lady M.

Greek Actress Rena Vlahopoulou (couldn’t find photo credit for these pictures).

Guest no. 4 was actress Pelagia B. and the inspiration behind the hairdo was of course actress Itatí Cantoral who played Soraya Montenegro in the trashy Mexican soap opera “Maria la del Barrio” (1995-96), as Pelagia was also playing the same villain. That was the hardest hairdo of all and it took two hours and fifteen minutes to perfect. I worked with Pelagia’s natural hair and it is super long. Not only did I want to make a fake bob but I also wanted it to be very, very big. To add to the level of difficulty, Soraya was going to beat up the Baronettes and there was going to be a lot movement, so I had to make sure everything would stay in place.

Pelagia B and her big, big fake bob.

Mexican actress Itatí Cantoral as Soraya Montenegro (couldn’t find photo credit for this picture).

Then was the maid (of course the Baronettes would have a domestic servant), played by Toni L. The inspiration behind her hair was the forties. Think Eva Peron, the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to 1952. The thing is I had to make a 22 year old girl look much older. The maid played in 2 episodes, filming on different days, so she had to be done twice.

Toni L. as the maid.

Eva Peron and her fabulous hairdo (couldn’t find photo credit for this picture).

Last but not least was Penelope A. , a famous actress/tv persona/singer who played the pregnant bride. The inspiration behind her hair was Marilyn Monroe but Penelope’s yellow hair colour at the time (this girl like to change!) made it look more like Madonna doing Marilyn in the early 1990s. Penelope’s make-up was done by Aphrodite Misiakouli.