Sofia Coppola's hotly anticipated biopic Priscilla, an adaptation of Priscilla Presley's 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, lands in cinemas on New Year's Day. Spanning Priscilla's transformation from fresh-faced teen to siren, known for her razor sharp cat-eye flick and sky-high beehive, it's a smorgasbord of delights for beauty lovers.
Key to the storytelling is the transformation in Pricilla's (played by Cailee Spaeny) appearance and beauty choices over the course of her relationship with rock star Elvis Presley – from naive adolescent to the Queen of Graceland and finally, at the age of 27, embracing a more natural version of herself when she and Elvis separate.
“Our film is more about private undocumented moments between Elvis and Priscilla, which allowed for creative license,” hair department head Cliona Furey told GLAMOUR. “For me, Priscilla's signature look is classy and feminine big hair. Rather than impersonate Priscilla, I tried to find a balance and capture the essence of her tastes in styles that worked for Cailee. All while respecting the historical, iconic beats. I designed looks that Priscilla may not have worn, but might have liked, by imagining how she would style her hair for a roller rink date or school."
A re-examination of Elvis and Priscilla's legacy.
The 30-day shoot, which was filmed out of sequence, meant that the only way for Cliona to create Priscilla's 13-year hair evolution accurately was by using custom wigs. “The hair helps tell the story," she says. "I narrowed it down to five main wigs, each subtly different in colour, shape and length. To achieve more looks from each wig I added extensions, pieces and switches (like a tail).”
Likewise, self-confessed “life-long Elvis fan” Jo-Ann MacNeil – the makeup department head on Priscilla – told us that she “wanted to look at it from a different perspective. The specifics of this story… I started researching the era from 1959 to 1973, when they got divorced, looking for references and specific brands and styles.”
In the film, we first meet teenage Priscilla in 1959 on a U.S. Air Force base in West Germany, her baby face free of makeup. “We started Priscilla simple and fresh faced, wearing an almost no makeup look until she meets Elvis,” Jo-Ann says. “During the courting process she starts to add a little makeup…mascara, lipstick, rouge."
Her hair reflects her youthfulness, too. “At 14, Priscilla has a natural, mid-brown, simple ponytail," Cliona adds. "From there the hair gets longer, richer in colour and bigger over the years.”
This part of the film sees Priscilla enter a more grown-up, glamorous era – and the cat-eye she wears as a school girl gradually turns into a deep-seated love affair with copious amounts of eyeliner, a dramatic cut crease and kitten lashes for her marriage to Elvis in 1967.
“When she moves to Graceland, Elvis takes her for a makeover, which she embraces, and starts to wear more and more makeup at his request,” says Jo-Ann, who opted for pale pinks and nude tones elsewhere on the face. “We carried this through the '60s.”
This also marks Priscilla's transformation into the high priestess of bouffant hair. “Between the years of 1959 and 1961, Priscilla starts to grow length and tease her natural hair," says Cliona. “As her life journey arcs, so does the hair. She's still in high school when she first lives at Graceland and opts for a jet black bouffant with bangs. By the '60s, she loses the bangs and her hair is a softer, richer almost-black colour and more mature. Post-baby at the hospital was her biggest bouffant.”
“In the early '70s as her relationship with Elvis breaks down, so does her makeup,” notes Jo-Ann, who leaned more towards a glowing, sun-kissed aesthetic for the latter part of the film. "She stripped it back and became more natural-looking, finding her independence through her look.”
Priscilla's move to Los Angeles also coincides with a dramatic change in her hair. Gone is the volume she once furiously back-combed into existence and the copious amount of hairspray. “Her hair is back to its more natural tones and centre parted,” says Cliona of the longer, lighter-coloured style Priscilla begins to explore.
How to create Priscilla's most iconic beauty looks
When it comes to her signature look, Jo-Ann references what Priscilla herself called her “Cleopatra phase”. In other words, “her winged eyeliner, her dark arched eyebrows, her lashes and neutral eyeshadow with a dramatic cut crease shade,” she explains. "We used Tom Ford liquid eyeliner for the crisp winged eyeliner look. My best hack is to probably use a template and stencils to get the clean lines.”
Priscilla was so wedded to her false lashes that she can be seen rushing to the bathroom to apply them before giving birth to her and Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie, in 1968. “When you apply the glue to your lashes, wave them about for 30 seconds to allow the glue to get tacky so it doesn't slide when applied," Jo-Ann advises. "We used Ardell lashes that I custom trimmed and shaped to Cailee's face.”
“Cailee's '70s look was my favourite,” says Jo-Ann. “I thought Cailee looked so beautiful stripped back with a glowy California tan. It embraced the sun-kissed aesthetic of the era. For this look I used the Jones Road Miracle Balm in Tawny and Golden Hour, Tom Ford's 4 Quad Eye Shadow Palette in Orchid Haze and Tom Ford's Blush Nude Lip colour.”
“I created the black bouffant up-do using a black wig with bangs,” Cliona notes. "I teased it into the beehive up-do shape and pinned a human hair switch, which is like a pony tail, under her French roll at the back." But it is possible to recreate a version of Priscilla's bouffant at home, she says:
Set your hair in large hot rollers. “Direct them from front to back. Let the hair cool at least 20 minutes.”
Brush through your set hair with a paddle brush. “Wait until the hair is cooled – if you brush while it's still warm you will brush out your set, which gives the hair more volume.”
Tease the hair. “Starting with the front hairline, tease the hair straight up in horizontal sections. Hold up the hair section with a teasing rat tail comb to pull the shorter broken hairs down to the root. This creates a little nest of hair per section.”
Lightly mist the base of each section with hairspray. “Sebastian Professional Shaper Zero Gravity helps keep your teasing work from sliding out if you have soft hair.”
Smooth the shape. “Using the paddle brush, gently brush over the top layer of all teased hair sections from front to back.”
Once you have the desired height and shape, use hairspray to set it in place. “Use the end of a rat tail comb to poke into the hair and push it up for more height.”
Priscilla opens in cinemas on 1 January, 2024, with special preview screenings from 26th December.
For more from Fiona Embleton, GLAMOUR's Acting Associate Beauty Director, follow her on @fiembleton.
