Politics
Chappell Roan’s Grammy Awards Look Explained By Prosthetics Artist
The makeup artist responsible for Chappell Roan’s headline-grabbing Grammy Awards outfit has opened up about all of the work that went into creating the show-stopping look.
On Sunday night, the Pink Pony Club singer undoubtedly stole the show as she made her way into the Grammys, where she was pictured on the red carpet in a sheer maroon dress that appeared to be held up by two nipple piercings.
In fact, the “piercings” were created with the use of prosthetics, which makeup artist and prosthetics expert Sasha Glasser discussed at length during a new interview with Allure.
The idea behind Chappell’s prosthetics, Sasha explained, “was for her to not be so naked”, echoing Popsugar’s previous claim that the intention was to create a “Barbie-like illusion”.
Sasha told Allure that these were created in collaboration with Out Of Kit, and had to be reinforced to make sure they could support the weight of the Grammy winner’s dress without coming off on the red carpet (in what would surely have been a wardrobe malfunction for the ages).
“It’s not like any other type of prosthetic because it has a sticky backing, like a Band-Aid, so you don’t have to glue it down,” she noted.
As a result, Telesis glue was used to secure the prosthetic pasties in place, although further problems arose when trying to pierce these fake nipples.
“Genesis [Webb, Chappell’s stylist] and I tested it,” she recalled. “We’d put the ring in the prosthetic and tug, and it would rip out, so that was scary.”
To stop this from happening, Sasha and Genesis applied power mesh – yes, the fabric used in gymwear – to the back of the prosthetics to reinforce them.
“I cut a dime-size piece, glued it to the back of the prosthetic, and then we stuck the earring through both the prosthetic and the mesh,” she revealed.
After that, they had to be painted to perfectly match Chappell’s skin tone, so Sasha applied bubblegum wrappers to the newly-added piercings to protect them from the paint, before completing the look with the dress.
Chappell’s red carpet look was inspired by a design previously showcased by Thierry Mugler at a fashion show in the late 1990s.
Miquel Benitez/Shutterstock
While Chappell may have come away empty-handed at Sunday night’s Grammys, she did get her moment in the spotlight when she appeared on stage to present the Best New Artist prize to Olivia Dean, a year on from her own win in the same category.