CONTESSA GALLERY
The Art of Pin-Up
“THIS MODEL IS A BURLESQUE DANCER IN THE VANCOUVER AREA. HER NAME IS LITTLE MISS RISK. SHE’S LIKE OUR OWN DITA VON TEESE.”
Jimmy Lapointe speaks about his labour of love— styling burlesque-inspired hair
I
Edited by Morella Aguirre
wanted my Contessa 17 Session Hairstylist
collection to have an almost surreal quality. And I wanted it to be about the full package, which is why all the photos are full body shots, not just shots of hair and shoulders. Aside from doing the hair, I took on the role of art director—meaning I sourced and decided on the placement of elements like the gun and the guitar (in the photo of the redhead). Then I supervised the makeup and wardrobe and made sure the models were getting the right poses during the shoot. So in other words, I really did my own thing. The hair needed to be perfect and extremely clean, not messy and over-texturized. I did not colour over the models’ natural hair, but I was conscious of choosing a brunette, a blonde and a redhead—the three classic pin-up girl hair colours. I trimmed and shaped each model’s hair, not taking off more than about an inch from their base line. Most of my time went towards brushing, blow-drying and styling. In total, each girl took about four hours to prepare and and wardrobe and two for shooting.
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photograph—one hour for hair, one for makeup
HAIR: JIMMY LAPOINTE OF PIN-UP HAIR, NOW BASED OUT OF AXIS HAIR SALON, VANCOUVER MAKEUP/WARDROBE: TANYA FOURNIER WARDROBE: CARA LONG DIGITAL ARTIST: KEVIN GENVEL PHOTOS: JONATHAN CRUZ
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