Combining old-school glamour with theatrical elements, Julian Stoller is bringing his signature aesthetic to everyone from Julia Fox to Eartheater
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Julian Stoller is obsessed with women who are almost distastefully glamorous. “When I was a kid, I began sketching pictures and writing little movies about washed-up actresses and disgruntled housewives,” he says. “Make-up became a sort of distillation of my interest in these characters and stories.” This obsession comes through in his work where glamour is married with elements of stage make-up, the circus and subcultures to push it just over the edge of propriety. His signature powdery matte face, intricate swirled eye make-up often in metallic shades and brows that are pencil-thin if there at all, recall the best of New Romantic make-up mixed with a 90s Pam Anderson aesthetic. He describes the look as “cold, concentrated and knock-off”.
Feeling frustrated with the practical constraints of traditional make-up, Stoller has also been working with prosthetics, creating jaw bones that jut out through the skin and bodies almost bursting out of his face. While it’s a practice that requires an entirely different skill set – one of technicality and precision – the end goal of manipulating the face and body to your will remains the same. He also loves seeing the shift people go through when they have make-up on. “The power of communicating only through augmenting or accentuating certain features has always attracted me,” he says.
At just 20 years old, Stoller has only just embarked on his career, but already his roster of clients – Julia Fox, Eartheater, Sky Ferreira, Richie Shazam, Isamaya Ffrench – suggests he’s started how he means to go on. Last year he assisted Ffrench in creating the prosthetic animals at Collina Strada, while Fox has become such a fan that it’s his make-up which adorns her face on the cover of her memoir, Down the Drain.
We speak to Stoller about his creative upbringing, performing in The Nutcracker and mewing.
Where do you live and where are you from?
Julian Stoller: I was born and raised in Seattle, but I’ve been living in New York City for the past two years. I moved here to study film in college, and I am now in my junior year.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and where you grew up?
Julian Stoller: I grew up with parents who really nurtured creativity. My mom spent a lot of her life dancing and my dad is a bassist, so they encouraged me to fuck around with art and see what I was interested in. I was a pretty isolated kid, so I began building characters that excited me more than my surroundings. After latching onto eccentric figures in pop culture and films, I decided that I wanted to make my own.
How did you get into make-up?
Julian Stoller: I started when I was 13, doing make-up for the performers at a local rock venue who thought I was cute enough to let me put eyeliner on them. In high school, I started posting more elaborate looks done on myself to Instagram, but I think things started really happening when I was 17, after I did a look for Jean Paul Gaultier’s RTW relaunch. When I moved to New York a few months later, I had already built up a tiny network of people that allowed me to hit the ground running.
What are you trying to communicate through your work?
Julian Stoller: Sex and money.
What’s your earliest beauty-related memory?
Julian Stoller: The smell of Ben Nye cream foundation that was slathered all over my face before performing in The Nutcracker as a child.
What’s been your career highlight so far?
Julian Stoller: Being able to work with the people who made me want to start doing this in the first place, like Isamaya Ffrench and Patti Wilson.
Which fictional character do you most relate to and why?
Julian Stoller: I aspire to relate to Valerie Cherish from The Comeback by the time I am 37.
What is your favourite look of all time?
Julian Stoller: I have so many favourite looks. A lot of Grace Jones, a lot of Serge Lutens. Debi Mazar’s make-up as Spice in Batman Forever is perfect. Gaga is forever a beauty icon for me. And I love the make-up on women in David Lynch films, Diane Ladd’s glam in Wild At Heart is fab.
What is your current obsession?
Julian Stoller: ‘Untouched’ by The Veronicas.
What does beauty mean to you?
Julian Stoller: Beauty is power.
When do you feel most beautiful?
Julian Stoller: Mewing.
Are you optimistic about the future?
Julian Stoller: Yaaas.
What is the future of beauty?
Julian Stoller: Plastic.
You’ve had an accident which causes you to lose your sense of smell. The doctors can’t return it fully but can give you the ability to smell one scent. What do you pick?
Julian Stoller: Liquid latex.
You have to donate a feature/limb of your body to an icon of yours. You get nothing in return. What feature/limb do you give and who do you give it to?
Julian Stoller: I would give everything to Anjelica Huston, just for funsies.