ILLAMASQUA PRIDE: MEET THE STARS OF OUR FILM

We believe Pride is every single day. It’s in our veins.

We’ve always believed there is no one type of beauty and that celebration continues. We’re committing to elevating the voices within the LGBTQ+ community, their inspiring experiences and how they’ve come to express themselves.

https://youtu.be/9J1vCQFM52k

Teaming up with Director Ben Cole and creative agency The Digital Fairy, we produced a series of vignettes and interviews based around the stories and loves of six individuals, all part of the LGBTQIA+ community. The inspiration behind the series was to create something authentic by the queer community for the queer community, in turn allowing those involved to share their stories and have their voices heard - a project close to the heart of Director Ben Cole.

"I am so grateful to be part of such an original Pride campaign, one completely led by queer voices and created by queer people, for a brand as iconic and diverse as Illamasqua. Working around issues so close to my heart and collaborating so openly with the LGBTQIA+ community was a real dream come true."

Completely unscripted, these LGBTQ+ creators have produced content around topics and themes they want to discuss this Pride month. The freedom to create contributed to the beauty of this film says Digital Fairy Art Director Jan Macfarlane.

"Illamasqua let us approach this campaign with the energy it deserved, giving us freedom to support the talent and express unique stories to an under-represented audience. Collaborating on the films, with the Illamasqua team, crew and beautiful talent was a career-defining experience for us all."

We gave six members of the LGBTQ+ community full creative freedom and an open brief to discuss what beauty and empowerment means to them. From poetry to vogueing and football, self expression can take on many forms and we find beauty in all of them.

An important initiative for Illamasqua, supporting the LGBTQIA+ community goes beyond one month of celebration. Illamasqua Director of Artistry Pablo Rodriguez agrees.

"This series goes beyond Pride. It encapsulates everything that Illamasqua is about: celebrating individuality, self-expression and freedom to define your own beauty. Pride is a conversation that we want to continue all year around to support the LGBTQIA+ community and expand the dialogue as far as possible."

The campaign delves into the inspiring real-life stories from:

https://youtu.be/tA4VZ57Wt80

Aaron is a creative extrovert and makeup artist who identifies as gay and uses makeup to channel different versions of himself. In his video, he talks about the physical impacts of surviving cancer but also about being grateful for these life-affirming experiences.

https://youtu.be/n5X4mj2HaBs

Octagon is a transgender horse riding instructor from the West Country, who is redefining queer spaces through their work. As Octagon says, "queer and trans people are the hottest people in the world" and their video celebrates this in a new and refreshing way.

https://youtu.be/6tYgatSZn6I

Afi is a non-binary voguer originally from Somalia who expresses themself through movement, action and dance. Afi finds beauty in voguing as an inter-generational means of expression and communication for queer and trans people of colour.

https://youtu.be/0fFh8PXmetA

Kaysh uses sport as a means of self-expression - she is a super energetic footballer and sports teacher from London. As a gay woman, Kaysh highlights how her beauty comes through her confidence and energy, as well as rejecting femme beauty norms.

https://youtu.be/IpeTO7rXL90

Nan is a non-binary pansexual originally from South Africa, whose passion to embrace the subculture they exist within encouraged them to start the first LGBTQI+ society at their college. In Nan’s video, they speak about the freedom of gender fluidity and how it has enabled them to separate clothing and style from the traditional gender stereotypes placed upon them.

https://youtu.be/5tEz-DvSiSE

Chloe is a trans poet and performing artist. Her video revolves around a poem she wrote for this series, in which she delves into the beauty of being a black trans woman in a world that might not want you to exist.