Lady Gaga’s transformation into Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci”This film was a highlight of the Oscars race. It made it onto the Oscar shortlist for makeup and hairstyling before the Jan. 30 bake off. Should the film earn a nomination, Gaga’s hairstylist, Frederic Aspiras, who is of Vietnamese-Filipino descent and is part of the Oscar shortlisted team, would be just the second Asian American to be nominated in the category.
Kazuhiro Takuji, a Japanese-American visual artist and special make-up artist, is the only Asian American to have been nominated for and won. “The Darkest Hour”And “Bombshell.”
Aspiras was Lady Gaga’s personal hairstylist for over 13 years. She created 52 looks using 10 hero wigs to style Patrizia. spoke with VarietyAbout bringing the character alive.
Hair Designer Frederic Aspiras, Head of prosthetics Göran Lundström, Patrick Starrr, Costume Designer Janty Yates, Pamela Abdy, Head of Makeup Jana Carboni and Makeup Artist Sarah Tanno
Alex J. Berliner/ABImages
What is the best way to find these awards?
It’s an honor, but I find it to be socially responsible to bring light and positivity to my heritage and to my community as an Asian American. My parent was a refugee and I believe it speaks to many young artists who want to make an even bigger impact on this country.
The Asian community teaches us to work hard and strive for perfection. It was my mom’s hard work ethic, which included being honest, hardworking, and providing for her family. She worked three jobs so we didn’t have to worry about our future. That’s what Asian parents do. They will give up their own personal pleasures to provide for their children. It’s something I have to repay her for.
If I can help other Asian Americans to break out of the mold and become more than they believe they can, then there is a bright future for Asian Americans. The possibilities are endless. My drive has always been a reflection of my mom’s upbringing in that if something doesn’t work out, you have to keep trying, and you never give up.
I’ve worked with Lady Gaga for 13 years and fans write to me and tell me that they have become hairdressers. This is my favorite part.
Your mom was the one who helped you get into hair. But what inspired you to want to pursue this career?
I was 13 years old and I knew I had something different about me, and my mother saw that in me too — that I could pick up a hairbrush and start styling someone’s hair. I watched her style hair and saw the impact it had on people. This was something I enjoyed doing. I’d go to her salon every weekend and sometimes on weekdays, and she would teach me.
Every penny was saved by my mother. Her determination affected me. I’m the first generation in my family to go to college and break that mold. When I look back on it, it’s something I will cherish forever because it was something passed on to me.
What was it like telling Patrizia Reggiani’s story through your work?
To contribute to the storytelling through Gaga’s hair and the way she delivered that performance, I had to nail it in identifying the appropriate hair look for every scene. It took five months to go through the entire script, writing every hairstyle and explaining why. I eventually created a 400-page directory listing all of the hairstyles.
There were few photos of her — some when she got married and some in her 30s —but otherwise, it was about interviewing locals and watching Italian films from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s and what influenced her. Because she was real, I tried my best to get inside her mind and understand what her hair would look like.
It was like creating an investigative board and mapping out everything. Gaga was impressed by the look I created and appreciated the detail. It helped her to understand her character.
Originally, Ridley Scott wanted two wigs, but it would have been a different movie if there were just two or three, and you wouldn’t see the changes and her change. We were able to manipulate her age through hair, and I could age the hair by creating texture, and go through those little things like she can have this hair because she’s this age, and she has children now, so her hair looks like this. Finding references wasn’t easy because in America we just know Sophia Loren, so I had to dig deep into Italian research and look at what Italian actresses were looking like, and that’s how I found her look.