This year’s Halloween might have looked a little different without the usual witching-hour festivities, but that hasn’t stopped celebrities pulling off a number of spectacular outfits from the comfort of their homes. And nobody more so than model-of-the-moment Kaia Gerber and her Euphoria actor boyfriend Jacob Elordi. Working with Gerber’s regular collaborator, the 20-year-old makeup prodigy Sam Visser, along with avant-garde hairstylist Charlie Le Mindu, the pair decided to channel the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll couple: Elvis and Priscilla Presley.
“Kaia had sent me the idea, as there was a specific photo of Priscilla and Elvis that they wanted to recreate,” Visser explains. Rather than attempt to imitate the couple’s most famous look from their 1967 Las Vegas wedding, Gerber was drawn to a lesser-known reference—but one that will still leave you all shook up. “It was more of a ’70s Presley look instead of the ’60s vibe,” says Le Mindu, noting that inspiration came from a photo of Priscilla driving her classic white Mercedes from later in their relationship, with Gerber wearing a purple blouse and flares by London label Charlotte Knowles to lend it a final retro touch.
Here, Visser and Le Mindu offer a behind-the-scenes peek into Gerber and Elordi’s pitch-perfect looks, from the steps behind recreating Priscilla Presley’s signature smoky eye, to the drag queen’s trick used to build that unmistakeable bouffant.
Photo: Sam Visser1/7“I love Kaia. She’s always open to trying new things and isn’t afraid to go outside of her comfort zone. We’ve been working together for almost a year and I think we share a love for a lot of the same beauty references, which translates into what we create together.” — Sam Visser, makeup artist
Photo: Sam Visser2/7“We definitely wanted to incorporate the lavender-grayish toned eyeshadow Priscilla would wear. Along with that, we wanted to do a variation of her famous eyeliner. We settled on this one eyeliner look of her in a car where she has a pale cream eyeliner on the inner rim of her eye and a dark black line underneath her lower lash line and upper lash line. It was dramatic and still sexy.” — Sam Visser, makeup artist
Photo: Sam Visser3/7“I used my famous drag technique to backcomb the hair, but also having worked in so many opera houses now, the most important part is that the tulle in front than needed to be fitted and cut specially to her head. That’s what makes it look like her own hair.” — Charlie Le Mindu, hairstylist
Photo: Sam Visser4/7“Charlie did Jacob’s hair. He added these amazing sideburns and really kept the hair high. Jacob is naturally tan so there wasn’t much that needed to be done to achieve Elvis’s look.” — Sam Visser, makeup artist
Photo: Sam Visser5/7“I think we wanted it to be accurate to how Priscilla would do her makeup, so we made the lips pale lavender-pink and kept the skin quite matte as Priscilla would wear.” — Sam Visser, makeup artist
Photo: Sam Visser6/7“I only used natural products, as her bouffant needed to move and to keep some softness in the hair. The handmade lace front was a must to achieve that look.” — Charlie Le Mindu, hairstylist
Photo: Sam Visser7/7“For me, the most important thing was the match. I need to keep the sexy feeling, but not make it too extreme. It was easy, as they are such a beautiful couple anyway. But I married both their hairstyles with a shine, so it looked like both of them had a matching shimmer.” — Charlie Le Mindu, hairstylist
