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At the swansong for a never-ending fashion month, Paris Fashion Week, a new vanguard of midwestern pop girls and swamp princesses made a statement with their glam. The latter, Floridian rapper Doechii, brought a brigade of looks to the City of Light. She kicked off her first PFW at Le Grand Dîner du Louvre looking like a gilded, golden Valentino princess, and with a performance at the Louvre plus a front row seat at Tom Ford, Chloé, Schiaparelli, and Louis Vuitton, she kept up the looks—even when that meant getting reglammed in the back of a moving van.
“All of the looks were created to complement the story that was being told through the fashion,” says LA-based hairstylist Malcolm Marquez, whose other clients include Rihanna and Keke Palmer. Alongside makeup artist Chelsea, Malcolm works closely with Doechii and her stylist Sam Woolf in the lead up to any event. They were at the fashion week fittings, experimenting with hair and face. “It’s all about becoming a character,” agrees Chelsea.
First, some prep. Chelsea shares that Doechii has oily combination skin, so she prioritized skin prep and primers to be able to weather multiple glam changes. “The base was full coverage but fresh. We both love a full beat,” she says. She used the Danessa Myricks Balm Powder and a mattifying Powder Serum to reduce texture and pores, with a loose powder from Makeup by Mario to set it. ONE/SIZE setting spray kept it all locked in.
For Le Grand Dîner du Louvre, Malcolm went for a classic, clean, regal updo to go with Doechii’s golden Valentino couture ballgown. “It was important to me that her hair had some height to balance the proportion of the dress, without becoming too big or distracting,” Malcolm explains. “I slicked up her base and added some hair, which I curled with a 1.5-inch iron. From there, I just freehand sculpted the curls into place and locked them in using Elnett Extra Strong Hold Hair Spray.”
“We wanted super clean, glossy skin,” says Chelsea. “I suggested we do an almost bruised lip, because that could offset the dress. I didn’t want the glam to be screaming. The gown was the moment. But she looks like a doll!” For the lip, Chelsea used Danessa Myricks Colorfix in the berry-like shade Vamp, and created an accentuated smoky halo eye using the Pat McGrath Mothership V Palette.
For her Louvre performance that evening, the next look was what Chelsea describes as “giving African queen!” Doechii wore a tight denim Schiaparelli two-piece with golden buttons and a headwrap that Malcolm made using velvet. “We were inspired by the head wraps they did on the runway, and we wanted to do our own take on a tall, African-style head wrap,” Malcolm says. He sewed clips into the inside of the velvet to secure it. “Doechii loves to dance, so I have to be ready! As I built it into her head, I hand-sewed the shape into place for extra hold.” While the stylist isn’t opposed to Pinterest deep dives, he finds more of his inspiration in books, like Hair In African Art and Culture.
On one of many time crunches across the week, Chelsea switched it up by amping up the smoky eye with a gold shimmer from Pat McGrath on the lid. “This was a performance look, so you always want to go a bit extra for it to shine and pop. She had to look dipped in gold,” Chelsea says. She took a small bullet brush and black eyeshadow to round out the inner corners, responding to the outfit’s round buttons and circular jewelry shapes. Lips were metallic, using the Makeup by Mario Ultra Suede Sculpting Lip Pencil in a deep brown shade called Jeff and two of the Blurring Balm Lowlighter by Danessa Myricks in a golden mauve tone, Unbothered, and a cinnamon shade, Off The Grid.
For the Acne Studios show, the glam delighted in the quirky outfit: All twisted layers of plaids and spectacles. Malcolm took her hair into two zigzag braids and kinky pigtail buns for what he calls a “hybrid, futuristic, private school girl look.” “Doechii actually shared a reference with me of a funky braid look I’ve had saved forever and been waiting for a day to try,” he says. The makeup followed suit with a bratty ’90s kid beat. Chelsea did a quick skinny brow and added green eyeshadow, changing the lip up with a black eyeliner and packing on an orange blush to warm her up.
Alas, it wouldn’t be a star’s first major fashion month without some chaos. They had 30 minutes to do a total revamp in the car between Acne Studios and Tom Ford. “Part of the fashion week magic is the quick changes,” says Malcolm.
“I had pre-cut the wig already—we wanted a choppy look to add some edge to her all black outfit. I took her braids down in the car and installed the wig…Quite the challenge in a moving car, I will say,” he adds. “I love my GHD cordless flat iron for moments like this. I’d be lying if I said we’ve never done it before. It felt like an America’s Next Top Model challenge. The amount of bodies alone with hair, makeup, and styling all working in a moving car was ambitious, but we pulled it off. As a team we will do anything for the look!”
Chelsea was armed with just her touch-up kit…Because she left her full bag in the other car. She achieved it with a highly pigmented black shade from the Makeup by Mario Palette to cover the Acne Studios green look. Despite the pressure, this ended up being Chelsea’s favorite look. “Pressure makes diamonds babe!” she says. “The way she immediately went into character with the long cigarette and slow strut…No one knew what had just happened!”
For the boho babe at Chloé vibe, where Doechii went barefoot and swathed in frills and faux fur, the glam followed suit. Braids were an obvious choice. “We used a 40-inch braided wig with human hair ends,” says Malcolm. “We wanted to lean into the frizz the human hair created around the braids to give them a natural, lived-in type of look.”
“I first wanted to do something with pastels, but we took a lot of inspiration from Erykah Badu,” says Chelsea of the Chloé glam. “Warm, red brick eyes and black eyeliner. Blown out!” Shades of burgundy and orange from a 42-color Beauty Bay eyeshadow palette completed the look and blended into the blush, and a Danessa Myricks balm in the middle of the eye was added for some sheen.
Schiaparelli was the glam team’s grand finale: Old Hollywood star levels of glam. Malcolm colored Doechii’s hair black to give it a crispy, shiny look. “I cut a lot of layers, with extra focus on her face frame,” he explains. “I curled her whole head using a 1.5-inch GHD curling iron. The secret was curling each curl in opposite directions. This creates much more volume, but also keeps the curls from clumping together.” Doechii wanted curls but for them to look lived-in: A starlet rolling through into day two of the party circuit. Rather than a parting, it was tossed to the side for a tousled look, finished with R+Co Trophy Shine and Texture Spray.
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“We wanted the flirtiest, bombshelly-ish look,” says Chelsea. She used three blushes: “You want this look? You need to be extra.” She captured it with a Made By Mitchell Curve Case of blushes, using the true pink on the apples of her cheeks, and a peachy shade under her eyes to create an ombré effect. The lips were simple and juicy with a clear MAC Lipglass and a Danessa Myricks Lip Palette. Chelsea shares another trick: Because Doechii’s dress was white, they couldn’t use body makeup, so instead they used Aquaphor and Sol de Janeiro’s GlowMotion Glow Oil to get that glisten.
Malcolm and Chelsea can just about sit back and rejoice now. “She celebrates my creativity and is always open to my ideas,” Malcolm says. Both he and Chelsea share their own ideas and visions, while Doechii comes armed with her own. “Sometimes we’re in sync immediately, and sometimes we’ll challenge each other creatively,” he says. The constant collaboration is where the magic happens. That process is not only fulfilling for me, but I think it creates the most authentic looks.” What will the era of the glam swamp princess deliver next? Qui sait!
