Body: Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star

Jeffree star is a Dj, singer songwriter and model that has his own clothing range. I have used to have an interest in his music in my early teens and felt that he would be perfect to look at for this project. He is said to have work his mothers make up from a young age and began to cross dress properly in his teens. This led to his becoming a make up artist and started to build his profile as a model. His music career started with his self released electronica/ hip hop music with explicit lyrics on myspace. social networking made him very popular and he would frequently blog about his self image and would display many images of himself. These images were both self taken and professionally shot. By doing this he would boost his profile

 

I have chosen to look at the two images above for the same reason. They both show the process of what Star has had to do to get the result of how he looks not. It is similar to the way that Warhol was not subtle about showing the fact that he was a man dressed as a woman. Star has had a lot of surgery on his face to make himself appear 'beautiful' and to give him more feminine features.This story is told in the first of these images with the drawing on the face that are meant to mimic the markings drawn just before plastic surgery.

In the second image He is wearing a wig but an incomplete one where the bald cap and sections of hair are clearly visible. Jeffree star often refers to himself a fake in his music and presents the elements of him that are 'fake' with pride. This is shown in this image as it is quite clear that his hair is not real but is still vibrant. 

Jeffree star always tries to come across as glamorous which is quite typical of transvestites, drag queens etc. To take on a female persona many features much be enhanced or changed such as wearing fake eyelashes, drawing on new eyebrows and wearing wigs. This can look quite extreme when put all together on a man but but Star embraces this and in his photos he will have accessories like gucci bags and sunglasses to seem glamorous. The image above is more classic as he has chosen a jemmed fascinator with a veil and feathers.I think having feminine accessories within these images enhances his appearance and could maybe transfer this idea into my portrait. 

Because Jeffree star promoted himself mainly on networking sites like myspace and facebook he uploads a lot of images that he has taken of himself as many people do. This caught my attention because these images are more intimate. They are taken by him either in his room or dressing room by himself and are personal in the way that this is how he wishes to present himself to the public. I could achieve this same effect in my portrait images by having the models arm outstretched to the camera as if they are taking the image of themselves. This would then be showing that this is how they are choosing to present themselves.