Hairstyles and makeup choices for a hardcore Empress of the Terran Empire ducking her duties in Starfleet’s under-the-radar black ops espionage division Section 31 to run a space disco and casino on the outer fringes of Federation space means that nothing exceeds like excess, as the old saying goes.
For “Star Trek: Section 31’s” Emmy-nominated makeup department head, Shauna Llewellyn, and Ryan Reed, the hair department head, this Paramount+ project set outside the rules and regulations of Starfleet meant that they were free to explore a wide variety of wildly different looks for the characters, especially star Michelle Yeoh’s cunning ex-tyrant Philippa Georgiou.
Mild spoilers for “Star Trek: Section 31” ahead! If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our How to Watch Section 31 guide.
Llewellyn and Reed previously worked together on “Star Trek: Discovery,” providing them with a baseline of knowledge regarding the franchise’s set aesthetics and canonical character appearances, but this film allowed them to expand the horizons of what’s been seen before.
“They gave us pretty much open rein because we built trust over the different shows that we’ve done together within the space world,” Llewellyn tells Space.com. “It started with costumes and we all took a hint off of each other and tied it together look-wise. We’ve never been in this part of space before so it was pretty open. We weren’t tied into existing looks so we got to play and be creative and they trusted what we did. We are very proud of this work.”
In the initial scenes at The Baraam nightclub, Georgiou has a slightly over-the-top glitzy appearance that will contrast towards the end of the movie with a softer, gentler Starfleet look that’s not so scary.
“The first time we see the adult Philippa Georgiou she’s in her disguise mode so I lent a lot from the costume,” notes Reed. “The color was a really cool collaboration with Balenciaga and the costume designer Gersha Phillips and they made this amazing iridescent purple-blue turquoise costume. So I decided it would be cool if we played that up and had elements of that in the hair.
“And they really wanted an ‘up-do.’ My challenge was trying to make her look different from how she looked in ‘Wicked.’ So we had to make a differentiation between the two and I think we accomplished that. We had a lot of structure and cool shapes and colors but also something for the wig that would stay on her head for all those amazing fight scenes. It was really great that the producers were willing to trust us and let us have fun and I feel like it showed in the movie, which is different from other previous ‘Trek’ movies I think.”
After the elevated hairstyle was decided upon it was up to Llewellyn to work her makeup magic.
“Once that was established I was able to take the approach of complimentary colors so that it wasn’t monotone,” Llewellyn adds. “We made custom lashes and stuff that looked completely different from how we’ve seen her, but workable for the fight scenes and low maintenance because she did a lot of her own fighting.”
Following their successful Section 31 mission of destroying the Mirror Universe portal with The Godsend device, the whole team gathers back at The Baraam to toast their victory. Here we see Georgiou’s simpler, toned-down Starfleet exterior wearing another Balenciaga gown.
“That was actually my favorite look of the show,” admits Llewellyn. “To Ryan’s point, the dress spoke volumes. I tied in and made it almost like a stud eyeliner. Elegant, but we also pushed the limits a bit with a different set of custom color lashes and nails to compliment the dress. Our goal was to make her look different than any other show she’s been in, and she’s been in a lot of stuff. I do feel that we accomplished that and it was a lot of fun to design that look as well.
“For the very beginning with the young Georgiou we really got to do a breakdown look that was not as glamorous. We made her look really rough so I loved doing that transition. So there were different elements all in one show that we got to play with. In other ‘Treks’ you’re more locked into preexisting looks like the Vulcans and certain things that you really can’t push the boundaries on. That’s why I loved working on ‘Section 31’ because anything goes and we weren’t micromanaged in any way so I think it paid off letting us play.”
“Star Trek: Section 31” is currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+.