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      <p><span>Hair artist Nikki Nelms talks to <em>L'OFFICIEL</em> about her creative process, working with celebrity clients, and her biggest motivations.&nbsp;</span></p>
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      <p><span>If you follow entertainment keenly, you&rsquo;ve probably seen one of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nikkinelms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nikki Nelms&rsquo;</a> works on stars like Janelle Monae, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/yara-shahidi-facts-family-parents" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yara Shahidi</a>, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/music/solange-knowles-believe-in-time-louis-xiii-film-saint-heron" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solange Knowles</a>, and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/zoe-kravitz-red-carpet-street-style-evolution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zo&euml; Kravitz</a> for red-carpet events, music videos, or movies. And considering the sculptural hair artist&rsquo;s illustrious career, it&rsquo;s no wonder Hollywood&rsquo;s biggest names continue to scramble for a chance to work with her. </span></p>
      <p><span>Earning her stripes through hard work, Nelms found herself pursuing her passion in her earlier years. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t always know I wanted to pursue a career in hair,&rdquo; she tells <em>L'OFFICIEL</em>. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think of being a hairstylist as something to take seriously because it came so easily to me; I thought it would be more of a hobby. But along the way, I discovered people that were doing different things on a higher level; I made the connection and realized that I could pursue this full-time.&rdquo; </span></p>
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      <p>L'OFFICIEL: <em>What motivates you to take on a new project? Is there anything you look for before accepting a request?</em></p>
      <p><span>Nikki Nelms: I&rsquo;m always looking to do something different. I am motivated by opportunities that allow me to express my creativity. I work best when I am pushed to create something unique and innovative. </span></p>
      <p><span>I like fresh energy, an openness, and a willingness to try something different or, you know, a go-with-the-flow type of project. I&rsquo;m always looking for projects that inspire and drive me to be excited enough to get out of bed and get creative. </span></p>
      <p>L'O: <em>Tell us about your creative process. How do you go about crafting a look or structural hairpiece?</em></p>
      <p><span>NN: It sounds crazy, but my <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/hermes-perfumer-christine-nagel-tutti-twilly-beauty-fragrance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">process</a> is to not have a process. To me, it&rsquo;s the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">most effective way to get something original &mdash; to not necessarily have a formal approach. I kind of let the moment tell me what to do. No two moments are the same and that allows me to create something original and exciting every time. I just live in the moment and feel the vibe.</span></p>
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            <p><span>With all of that, I try to stay prepared. I do bring all the things that will support any crazy ideas I might have on set, but I tend to try not to think too much about what I&rsquo;m going to do because, for the most part, it always changes once we&rsquo;re there. I find that people tend to over-plan. You can have a bunch of Zoom calls and mood boards going into a project, but when we get on set, everything can change. That&rsquo;s the beauty of collaboration between creatives.</span></p>
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                  <p><span>The moment always tells you what&rsquo;s best anyway, so I just try and live there. </span></p>
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      <p>L'O: <em>You&rsquo;ve built quite a loyal celebrity clientele, crafting some of pop culture&rsquo;s most iconic looks for music videos and entertainment&rsquo;s biggest events. What&rsquo;s the best thing about having your work showcased in such a capacity? </em></p>
      <p><span>NN: I feel so blessed whenever I see my work showcased on a billboard or <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/men/nicholas-galitzine-movies-actor-fendi-cover-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a cover</a>, but my favorite is when my grandma would be in the grocery store and I would catch her telling the cashiers how her granddaughter did all of the hair on all of those magazines on the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">stand in the front. And I would correct her and say, &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t do all of the hair&rdquo;. She would then say, &ldquo;If you did one, you did them all to me&rdquo;. Moments like that mean the most to me.</span></p>
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      <p>L'O: <em>What are your favorite looks that you&rsquo;ve done on celebrity clients?</em></p>
      <p><span>NN: For me, it&rsquo;s not about the look. It&rsquo;s about the backstory and what it took to get to that place that makes me love specific looks. </span></p>
      <p><span>For example, seeing <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/zoe-kravitz-lost-audition-for-christopher-nolan-the-dark-night-rises-batman-racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zo&euml; Kravitz</a> on the big billboards when she was <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/zoe-kravitz-robert-pattinson-the-batman-movie-premiere-red-carpet-fashion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Catwoman</a>. Seeing my work or my haircut on her, I loved it so much. Even though she&rsquo;s worn a pixie before, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">it was so special because of how big that moment was. It makes me think about how we first met, how long we&rsquo;ve known each other, all of the moments we&rsquo;ve shared and just us moving up the ladder to get to that moment.</span></p>
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            <p><span>Or it could be something like how I really, really wanted to work with someone, but I didn&rsquo;t want to reach out to them. I wanted to work harder and position myself to where they ended up reaching out to me. So the look that I gave them the first time might mean a lot to me because of the route that I took to get to it, you know? </span></p>
            <p><span>For a more concrete look that I loved, I would say Janelle Monae&rsquo;s &ldquo;googly-eye&rdquo; look. It was something so different </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">for us and there was something so gratifying seeing so many people across the globe enjoying it!</span></p>
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      <p>L'O: <em>Is there anyone you&rsquo;d like to work with but haven&rsquo;t gotten the chance to yet? </em></p>
      <p><span>NN: There is... and they are coming. </span></p>
      <p>L'O: <em>What do you do for self-care when you&rsquo;re not on the job? Do you have a beauty routine?</em></p>
      <p><span>NN: When I&rsquo;m not working, I love to sleep! I love to vintage shop and really do things to take my mind off work and wind down. For a hair routine, I like to trim my ends when the moon is growing. That&rsquo;s what my grandmother told me to do. </span></p>
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Nikki Nelms. (Photo: Courtesy of Nikki Nelms)

For Hair Artist Nikki Nelms, Creativity Is About Living In The Moment

L'OFFICIEL USA December 2024 - Julianne Moore Cover

For Hair Artist Nikki Nelms, Creativity Is About Living In The Moment

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