Celeb stylist Lysa Cooper, noted as one of the masterminds behind Rihanna’s bad gal makeover and Beyoncé’s sexy February GQ cover look, recently sat down with Vogue Italia for a candid chat.
Cooper dished to the mag about what it’s really like to work with Queen Bey and Rihanna, discussed the current state of the fashion industry and explained why she ended her gig as Rihanna’s stylist.
Check out a few highlights from the interview below!
On the evolution of fashion:
“I think we’re all in this weird moment right now and the World Wide Web, as I like to call it because I’m an old lady, has really f*cked some sh*t up. It’s true that there are many pluses to everybody having access to information, but, what happens, when people have access to information, is that they think they are the authority of that information. Or quite frankly, that they made it up themselves. Or even better, that they know better than you do.”
On working with Rihanna for the first time:
“I worked with her without knowing who she was. She was just some cute girl, and Ellen von Unwerth and I were shooting her. The one good thing she had was Ursula Stephen, who I knew. And so when I walked in, to tell you the truth, the only person out of her crew that I knew was Ursula. And I thought, Ursula is here, so at least I know the level I’m on…So that was how I kind of connected with her. It was on a job with Ellen. They’re all looking at me like “you don’t even know who you’re working with?” And I was like “no, I don’t really care.” She’s cute. She’s nice. She’s an island girl. I had a good time. We did some really sexy pictures. I kept it moving. I’m not a big practitioner of staying too long. Her and Shakira were probably the two girls that I worked with for a long period of time. I’m more of a hit and run kind of a person. I like to hit it and run.”
On why she cut ties as Rihanna’s stylist:
“…you don’t become somebody’s slave. That way there are boundaries. And those boundaries got blurred with Rihanna. And with her previous management, we had some major falling out. Also, I’m a lot older than her. I don’t entourage it up. I don’t like to hang out like that.”
On what it’s like working with Beyoncé:
“I love, love, love, love [her]. I’m not joking. She has to be one of the nicest people on the planet. She is a joy to be around. She is kind…..And it’s weird that people can’t tell [how nice she is]. And for me, that’s a problem. If people only they knew exactly how sweet she was.”
On styling Beyoncé‘s GQ cover:
“Magazines now are so nervous. Everyone is afraid to lose their job. They’ve already planned every shot. Nothing is very organic anymore. They had an idea of what they wanted to do. And then Beyoncé told me that she didn’t want to do any of that; so we didn’t. And, what I loved, is that Beyoncé knows what she’s going to do, and what she’s not going to do. And what’s she’s comfortable with and what she’s not. And I thought that was a very racy shoot for her. And I kept teasing her and saying that this is going to become the cover. It was amazing. And of course that’s not what they wanted. They wanted some white t-shirt GQ bullsh*t. And I kept saying to her “Watch, this is the cover.” And it was. And it was so cute. Little vintage shirt. And you know, they wanted to put their designers on it. And really at the end of the day, I think a lot of the way things are run now is about selling sh*t and they forget that they’re dealing with personalities. She looked great.”
For more of the interview with the celeb dresser, check out Vogue.It
CREDIT: FASHION BOMB DAILY/Vogue.It
