Alexis Stone has done it again. After fooling onlookers with her spot-on impersonations of Jennifer Coolidge and Dolly Parton, the drag queen and makeup artist attended Balenciaga's Fall 2023 couture show as actor Jessica Lange.
Donning a celebrity disguise to sit front row at Balenciaga has become something of a habit for Stone. The house's creative director, Demna, reached out to Stone at the beginning of pandemic, and the two forged a working relationship. "It's transpired and transformed into a really cool celebration of each other’s worlds," Stone tells Highsnobiety. "I didn’t really care for fashion before I was introduced into the world of Balenciaga, as I wasn’t inspired by clothes as Elliot [Elliot Rentz is Alexis Stone's real name].
Stone shape-shifted into Mrs. Doubtfire to attend the the brand's Fall/Winter 2022 show. A few months later, she sat front row at Balenciaga Resort 2023 as Dolly Parton. And for Balenciaga's Fall 2022 Couture show she became Jocelyn Wildenstein, also known as "Catwoman." Stone works with Balenciaga behind-the-scenes, too — last October, she served as key makeup artist at Balenciaga's muddy Spring/Summer 2023 show.
Stone's talent is catching the rest of the industry's eye. In February, she attended Diesel's FW23 show in Milan as Jennifer Coolidge, who gave the transformation her seal of approval. "You are a brilliant superstar... I really thought it was me," the White Lotus star DMed Stone on Instagram.
This time around, Stone opted for another blonde-haired bombshell: Lange, the two-time Oscar winner who regularly appears in American Horror Story. "Both Demna and I are huge fans of Jessica. My first exposure to her work was her iconic role in King Kong in the late '70s," Stone says, citing the film's revolutionary use of special effects. "That, paired with Demna’s love for her in American Horror Story, seemed very appropriate aesthetically."
According to Stone, the look — which captures the look and feel of Lange's brooding, glamorous character in American Horror Story: Coven — required six weeks of production. "We have about 10 artists that bring these movie-quality prosthetics to life from sculpting, contact lenses, teeth, eyebrows, and wigs," she explains.
So, who's next? "It changes every week," Stone says. "I’m very blessed that lots of amazing artists I love and respect see the value in my work and want to be a part of it. The decision on who we do is very much collaborative — I want them to be an inspired as I am when we take on a transformation."
