Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469328
THE ARTISAN SUMMER 2022 • 23 I was finishing Season 3 of Pose in New York City when I got a call from Department Head Make-up David Williams to see if I was available for an upcoming project certain to be a defining moment in both of our careers. David and I worked together on several shows in the past, but this would be our first full-time collaboration. The moment he mentioned Pamela Anderson, my interest piqued. As someone who grew up idolizing the beauty of women and the power that hair has to make a statement, Pam was always at the top of my list of beauty icons. Her look is a modern take on classic beauties like Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe, forever solidifying her place in the hair and make-up hall of fame. She lives and breathes beauty, glamour, and sophistication and will forever be a legend in the industry. When presented with the opportunity to recreate these looks, I immediately signed on. When designing a show that deals with sensitive material and traumatic events in pop culture history, it's important to create respectful portrayals of the individuals. My goal was to honor and protect their image by avoiding cliched, over-the-top recreations. I wanted to maintain aspects of each actors' personality while simultaneously making them disappear into their characters. The most successful character transformations allow the actor to shine through. The actor should never be fighting the hair, make-up, and prosthetics. When that happens, the performance suffers, and our work serves as a distraction from the story being presented. The majority of our principal cast wore custom lace front wigs, built by Wigmaker Associates in Beverly Hills. They were completely transformed with silhouettes, textures, and hair colors like never before. I used a number of lace front wigs from my personal stock, as well as rentals from Wigmaker Associates to complete the looks of the rotating cast of day players and background. In total, there were 27 lace front wigs for the principal cast and an additional 20 wigs for the supporting cast. Wigs were such an important tool when executing the vast number of historical looks that appeared throughout the series. In addition to '90s era Pam and Tommy, there were flashbacks to young Pam in 1989, young Tommy during his Mötley Crüe glory days, and a large number of supporting B Y B A R R Y L E E M O E D E P A R T M E N T H E A D H A I R — HAIR — Continued on page 24 Continued on page 26 Dyke. A set of teeth plumping Lily's upper lip, sculpted by Aaron Globerman, and colored contacts were the foundation to begin her make-up transformation. Pam had many iconic and signature looks: Baywatch, Playboy, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Barb Wire. All these looks needed to be immediately identifiable and believable. Throughout the series, Lily was also transformed back to Pam's teen years in the '80s, which included the pre-implant days of her first Playboy shoot in 1989. That first shoot was recreated to showcase her as the quintessential All-American girl next door. Lily's complete transformation took about four hours. This particular PHOTOS: ERIN SIMKIN/ HULU EXCEPT AS NOTED Photo: Erica Parise/Hulu