Behind the Scenes With The Advocate's Queer Beauty Guru Cover Stars
| 02/09/22
The New Faces of Beauty
Go behind the scenes with our January/February cover stars Patrick Starrr, Patrick Ta, Plastique Tiara, and Michelle Phan. These groundbreaking beauty gurus are queering and changing their industry for the better. At a photo shoot late last year, photographer BJ Pascual captured their essence and joy.
"It's exciting to expand because I think once upon a time, there were only a handful of brands [that] only catered to a certain type of consumer in terms of standard," Starrr tells writer Raffy Ermac in the cover story. "But now the vast variety of beauty, whether you're a drag queen, whether you're a minimalist, whether you love clean, next-to-nothing makeup, or whether you're a beat-face kind of girl or guy, there's such a variety for everyone."
"Growing up, I was never comfortable with being gay, so I always surrounded myself with women who allowed me to feel comfortable in my own skin, allowed me to talk the way that I want to talk, that allowed me to dress the way I would and play with girly things," Ta says in the story about identity. "I'm so lucky that I've been around so many strong, beautiful women, and I think it really has helped shape me."
The creative team on the shoot consisted of:
Photographer & Creative Director: BJ Pascual; Digital Tech: Jeff Salomon; Photography Assistant: Gabriella Salinardo; Executive Producer: Fabian Quinonez; Assistant Producers: CJ Williams Ellis, Peter Simondac; Production Assistant: Hillary Bingham; Makeup Artist: Apollo Barragan; Production Assistant: Jose Rodriguez; Hair Stylist: Cristina Williams; Hair Stylist Assistant: Karina Belisario; Wardrobe Stylists: Karla Miranda, Annie & Hannah; Assistant Wardrobe Stylist: Asia Xiong; Set Designer: Haley Bowan; Assistant Set Designer: Shannon Pollak
BTS photos are courtesy of BJ Pascual
Patrick Starrr and Photographer BJ Pascual
Patrick Starrr Finds the Light
BJ Pascual Photographs Michelle Phan
Patrick Starrr and Plastique Tiara
Starrr, Phan, and Plastique Check Out the Monitors
Plastique Prepares
Ta and Starrr
Ta With Pascual
Ready for Their Close-Up
Behind the Scenes
A Peek Behind the Curtain
A Real Production
The Finished Product
