Celebrity hair, makeup, and nail stylists: How Hollywood hits influenced glam squads

NEW YORK (AP) — Movies, TV, fashion: you name it and Kim Kimble has done it in her more than 30 years as a hairstylist. in Hollywood —but even during the good times, she never gave up on her backup plan.

Until the epidemic.

“I had a salon where I could work if I had to, and I closed it,” she said. “So far I don’t even have that.”

Kimble and a world of Hollywood hairstylists, makeup artists, and nail artists are disabled actors and screenwriters strike, In an era of declining rates as they were still rebuilding their livelihoods from the painful months of the coronavirus lockdown.

They are not alone, of course Writers and actors march in picket lines in their contract disputes with studios and broadcast services. Crews and support staff from all sides of the entertainment equation — production, promotion, assistants — are also out of work from coast to coast.

“For three, four, five months before the book came out, the studios weren’t willing to greenlight projects, so a lot of us were out of work for a while longer,” said Linda Dodds, a Los Angeles-based makeup artist in her 60s. Who has been working in film and television since 1987.

the I hit the book on May 2nd; the The following actors 14 july. It is unclear how long the strikes will last. In more than a dozen interviews, wardrobe, hair, makeup, and nail professionals said they fear losing homes and health insurance as they seek a hub. Even if studios and broadcast screens reach agreements with the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA sooner rather than later, it will still take weeks for productions to ramp up.

Dodds, who shared an Academy Award for her work “Eyes of Tammy Fay” She said she was in “extreme anxiety” about the blows. But she considers herself among the lucky ones. She has spent years working on back-to-back projects, which allows her to maintain her health insurance for the time being through the Association of Estheticians and Hairstylists.

“But this is only sustainable for so long,” she said.

Kimble, 52, who has worked with Beyoncé, Taraji P. Henson, Dreamgirls, and “A Wrinkle in Time,” He belongs to the same guild as the Dowds. She has no idea what else to do.

“The hair is what I love,” said Kimble in Los Angeles. “There’s really nothing else, you know. And I love this job, so it’s really hard for me to understand, ‘Where am I going?'”

Makeup artist Mateen Mulawizada is based in New York but frequently travels the world, working with actors and other celebrities on television, red carpets, and talk show appearances.

“My business has mostly been wiped out. Honestly, I don’t have a Plan B,” he said.

He said the strikes came after years of low pay for their work.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say we make a tenth of the same job we did in 2005,” said Mulawizada. “If you work with an A-list client, you can easily earn anywhere from $3,500 to $5,000 for the red carpet. Now you’re in luck if you make $500.”

Celebrity New York manicurist Julie Kandalec has been working on the A-list (Emily Blunt, Storm Reid, and Selena Gomez) for nearly 13 years. She also teaches entrepreneurial skills to beauty professionals online, a lucrative side business that keeps her going. In addition, she works with brands and has maintained a network of connections outside the Hollywood bubble.

Still worried about the rent.

with the Emmys are paid, “That alone is difficult,” Kandalek said.

Like others, she’s maintained her salon space over the years while she’s been busy with the red carpet and other work. For some, finding enough salon clients to make a dent in lost income was a problem.

“I have a salon suite but most of my clients are actors. Not many of them get their hair cut regularly now because they don’t work. I do everything I can to do house calls and hairstyles,” said celebrity stylist and men’s groomer Andrea Paisello, 38, in Los Angeles, too. Study online.

a The actors’ strike for too long will be make or break for 59-year-old Maulawizada. If it extends into December, he and his partner, the teacher, will have to sell their home.

He just picked up a day job to help prepare Sarah Jessica Parker for a round of Zoom interviews in collaboration with a French skincare brand to help a women’s mental health organization.

“A lot of us used to do beauty and we used to do celebrities but it became a lot more in demand just for celebrities. That’s what we were focusing on, which really worked against us in a way because of times like this,” Mulawizada said. “If I don’t get a job next month, I’m going to be worried about paying my bills.”

He made money from branding consulting, but these days “brands put more money into influencers than they do actual professionals.”

Mollouizadeh is particularly interested in colleagues whose sole focus is on film.

“They don’t have an online persona, they don’t have an online presence, because they work 16 hours a day sitting behind the scenes, watching their screens to make sure the actors and actresses look good. And those are the experts.”

He’s been trying to change that during strikes, urging brands to donate money to professional makeup artists in exchange for video posts on social media showing how-to products. He has a couple of brands already lined up.

“It’s money they usually pay some kids dancing and doing their makeup on TikTok unlike professionals who do Oscar-winning movies but don’t have a lot of followers on Instagram,” said Moluizada.

Glam squads find themselves in The same dire hardships as those who do dozens of other jobs in the entertainment industry.

Whitney Ann Adams is a fashion designer who works mostly in feature films.

“The work for me has completely dried up, with nothing in sight,” she said. “Besides a two-month small project, I haven’t worked since November 2022 since the slowdown started last year.”

The only work I could find was doing background design for two days on a non-union music video.

“There is nothing else to focus on at this moment,” she said.

Adams, based in Richmond, Virginia, is dedicated to union work, sharing information about grant programs and other resources. She belongs to local trade unionists, both of whom are affiliated with International Alliance of Stage and Theater Employees and motion picture technicians, artists, and associated crafts. It’s the same umbrella organization for the union’s hair stylists and makeup artists.

“We’re negotiating our contracts next year. We hope the solidarity they feel from us now will come back to us later,” Adams said of the union workers currently on strike. “We all have very similar needs and we all work side by side. If they don’t get a fair contract it will be really bad for all of us in the industry.”