Did Jack Nicholson really attend the Balenciaga show in a bathrobe?
Jack Nicholson wasn’t actually front row at the Balenciaga runway show in Paris — but pictures may say otherwise.
Dressed in a fluffy white robe, slippers and sunglasses, the Hollywood icon appeared to pose alongside the likes of Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek, Katy Perry and Anna Wintour at Monday’s presentation.
However, it was actually performance artist Alexis Stone, who is known using the magic of makeup to transform into other celebrities.
Stone, whose real name is Elliot Joseph Rentz, wore plenty of prosthetics to slip into character as the 87-year-old actor, who has retreated from the public eye in recent years.
The 30-year-old drag queen told the New York Times it took him over six hours to transform himself into Nicholson using silicone prosthetics, a bodysuit and chest piece, fake teeth, blue contacts and a wig.
The internet star, who boasts more than 1.3 million Instagram followers, even developed a custom fragrance to capture the essence of the “Shining” star, whom he felt would “smell like wet ashtray.”
“We’re very much doing grumpy Jack,” Stone told the outlet.
“Whenever we see these images of Jack over the last two decades, it’s always him smoking a cigarette in the water, putting sunscreen on whilst eating a hot dog or him at a Lakers show looking particularly grumpy.”
Stone leaned into that persona, completing the look with a glass of gin and a cigar in hand. He kept his sunglasses on, left his gray hair askew and contorted his face into an eerie — yet unmistakably Nicholson-esque — grin.
The artist told NYT he spends about three months perfecting each transformation, from testing out prosthetics and makeup to learning his subject’s body language.
The final product can cost upward of $50,000 to produce — but it’s usually covered by whatever brand invites him to its show.
He attended his first Balenciaga fashion show in March 2022 as Robin Williams’ character in “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
Stone, who has been hired for nearly a dozen fashion shows, has also stepped out as Glenn Close as Cruella DeVil, Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestley, Jennifer Coolidge and Madonna.
However, Nicholson is one of the first men Stone has dressed up as.
“They don’t offer me as much bite as women,” he said, joking, “Maybe it’s because I’m a raging homosexual.”
“I just think Jack’s a really bad-ass visual character to do,” he explained of his decision — which was OK’d by Balenciaga’s creative director, Demna, beforehand.
Although his looks always cause a stir online, Stone said he doesn’t consider himself to be “a troll or a prankster.”
“There is something entertaining about attending a show where most people are so consumed with looking their very best while presenting as someone else,” he said.
