Coolest Person in the Room: Genesis Webb

Hi Genesis! It’s so nice to talk to you. I’m from Missouri so I love to see Midwest baddies on the rise.

It's true. There's just a specific mindset that everyone in the Midwest has. I grew up in Oklahoma, so it's a little iffy on if it's the Midwest or the South, but it feels Midwest way more than it feels like the South.

I feel you. Missouri and Oklahoma are like the South of the Midwest. But what have you been working on lately?

I really, truly just live in Chappell Land most of the time, and right now, I'm trying to get my studio put together enough to have interns start so I can get some more help. Then in November and December, I'm thinking about taking some time off, for sure, but also doing some of my own shoots that are nice editorials with models and explore some fashion and explore some art in a different realm.

Was styling even something you wanted to do?

I actually designed jewelry for a long time. I had a jewelry brand for a bit, and then I sold vintage clothes online, too. That brought me into thrifting and eBay and sourcing and those fundamentals. Then 2020 happened, and my brand really went downhill. I couldn't live off it anymore. Out of necessity, my friends had told me I should just try styling. And then I did. It's kind of accidental. I followed like every stylist I could find on Instagram. And then Davey Sutton posted that he was going to be in LA from London, and he needed an assistant. I DMed him, and that was my first job. I literally was like, “I'm going to be a stylist,” and I had my first job with him within a week. I closed all the doors, and I opened that one.

How did you end up working with Chappell Roan?

Davey is friends with Nicola Formichetti, who asked Davey if he knew of any assistants in LA, and he recommended me. I started with Nicola and worked with him for like six months, and then we did a V Magazine shoot with Chappell. From that shoot, she hired me.

Did you two just kick it off vibe and energy-wise?

She's just so for the girls, and there were not many women on that shoot anyways. I was the only woman there to dress her. She thrifts so much, so we talked about thrifting. For that shoot, she wore Versace and Coperni and stuff like that, and it was like, How can we make it not so off the runway? So we kind of clicked immediately from that. And I trauma-dumped so hard, because I had just gotten broken up with and moved out, and I was distraught. We connected very easily, because we’re both from similar places and had similar upbringings. It just worked.

The trauma dumping was meant to be!

Truly, and it was a bit mutual but definitely more on my end. She gave a little, and I took it and ran. I was like, “Oh, perfect! Therapy session. Exactly what I needed today.”

On your own, apart from your work with Chappell, what aesthetics and visuals are you influenced by?

It's definitely changed being in the industry and working so much now. Before, I was very much anti fashion and into black. And though that's my own personal style, I have more of a love for avant-garde style now. For my own shoots that I would do on models, it would definitely be more grayscale, very interesting shapes. I keep it all open and honest and try to learn as much as possible and experiment in whatever ways I can. I take a lot of inspiration from other designers and other stylists. I just try to do what feels right in the moment and with what I have.

When you're a creative, I feel like so many things can inform your current inspiration: the music you're listening to, a movie that you watched recently or a time period that you're diving into.

I go on kicks of things that I'm really interested in. I watched the documentary series Love Has Won with Mother God. She's essentially a cult leader, she drank colloidal silver, and she turned blue before she passed away. I feel like finding what’s beautiful in things that shouldn't make sense, and in a lot of the ugly that other people see, is what I like to do most.

It seems like you found someone so open to also diving into that world.

She's definitely pushed me in the sense of like glitter and sequins because that's very far off from what I'm normally interested in. But it's also a very perfect combination when our brains come together because we have different attributes that come together, and it builds something entirely different. That's what makes it so unique.

It’s also taking drag into a realm that feels more editorial.

There are definitely drag artists out there, like Violet Chachki, who are pushing that shit, too. Fashion sits at such an interesting place now. Think about Galliano in the early 2000s at Dior. That is very pageantry and very drag. I'm glad that we're kind of having a resurgence of more pageantry within shows. Putting on a show within a show is really cool.

How do you approach your work with Chappell? Are you building an entire universe or taking things step-by-step?

Before, I definitely was thinking about the larger picture, before this fashion space even allowed us to be in it, which changed very recently and very quickly and on a very intense level. Obviously, I wanted to get into the space with her, because it's becomes a lot easier in general to dress someone when they're accepted into the space. Having the tools and being able to play with all that's available was really important to me. She's not just gonna wear brands. That was never the thought. It’s a more thoughtful way of like, “How can we get people's attention, but also be true to what's going on with her?” Now we almost have too many options that it feels so overwhelming. Before when I had no options, it was almost easier, because I was like, “Well, I have these limited options, and I'm gonna try to do as much with what I can.” And now it's like, “Fuck, I feel like everyone's watching.” And there's a set precedent of everything needing to be new and fresh, which is really fun. So now it's on a singular basis, unless it's very large things that get built on to have moments of importance.

How are you handling the sudden changes and success?

It's making things a lot easier, even though it feels a lot more pressurized, because I finally have assistance and help. And people are starting to take me more seriously, which is very nice. Those things are incredible pluses. I'm just not used to people knowing who I am and being perceived by people I don't know, and then being able to see their comments. The hardest part is just to be like, What is actually important in what people are saying? I do want to know what they say because I'm styling someone who has a lot of fans, and they’re fans of hers for very specific reasons. The fashion is a big part of the entity in general. So of course I want to make sure that I don't disappoint those people who look up to her. There's a lot of emotion in her fan base because it’s allowed a lot of freedom. It's amazing, but it's definitely more pressure.

Are you excited to pursue your own projects?

I'm excited to be able to learn more in a different way and build more experiences. I would love to work on a film eventually, sooner than later. I just want to do as much as humanly possible. Being a stylist was never my choice of profession, and I hope that it doesn't stop at that either. I'm just trying to take the opportunities that I have and use them to become better with what I do.

Sometimes you can't just do one form of expression as a creative/artist.

That would be insane and sad. Everything builds on itself. Even doing the VMAs, I learned so much about TV production and how that world works. When you're doing all these things, you're learning so much that's setting you up for the next thing, or setting you up to be able to help others do something, or setting you up to be able to do something completely different. I'm just really interested in how things work, and I want to be on every possible set in general. I would love to style runway too. That's like the top tier for a stylist.

I have a feeling you’ll be able to do it all very soon.

That'd be sick. I swear I'm a witch. At the beginning of this year in January on a full moon, I wrote a bunch of things on strips of paper and burned them every day in the cycle. One of them was to style my first PAPER cover, which I did. I just did like 10 more the other day, and two of them have already happened.

What does cool mean to you?

Cool is something that looks and feels natural to yourself. Everyone intrinsically knows what cool is to them, and it's only when we look at other people for what cool is that it gets a little lost.

Photography: Diego Villagra Motta
Styling: Angelina Cantú
Hair: Dom Forletta
Makeup: Andrew Dahling

Styling assistants: Joyce Esquenazi Mitrani, Mo Johnson
Makeup assistant: Tommy Tafoya

Editor-in-chief: Justin Moran
Managing editor: Matt Wille
Editorial producer: Angelina Cantú
Story: Andrew Nguyen
Location: Rash