Guido Palau was sitting in an airport lounge in Miami, on his way to New York. Kaia Gerber was sitting in a car in Los Angeles, on her way to the airport.
“This is exactly what our life is like,” Mr. Palau said on their group call. “Story of our life,” Ms. Gerber echoed.
Still, at the end of 2022, they found a day off to “play together,” Mr. Palau said.
He made some wigs. Ms. Gerber modeled them. Mr. Palau and his assistants filmed her on their iPhones, then took screenshots from their videos. Those screenshots became images in Mr. Palau’s latest book, “Hidden Identities,” to be released on May 4 by Idea.
“We live in a world where so many of the images we’re seeing are high-definition and curated,” Ms. Gerber said — unlike the pixelated and blurry images of “Hidden Identities,” which Mr. Palau has described as banal and amateurish.
“Not being precious about it created a sense of artistic freedom,” she said.
Ms. Gerber, 22, is a model and actress. She has starred in campaigns for Alaïa and Celine, as well as comedies like the Apple TV+ series “Palm Royale” and the lesbian teen romp “Bottoms.” She has a book club and an off-duty style that has been described variously as “hot girl librarian” and “granny chic.”
Mr. Palau, 62, is a prolific hairstylist, known for his unconventional but influential work, beginning with George Michael’s “Freedom ’90” video, which starred Ms. Gerber’s mother, Cindy Crawford. Later he shaped images of the “anti-supermodel” Kate Moss; of Lee Alexander McQueen’s rebellious runways; of, more recently, the Miu Miu girl, with her windswept, deliberately frizzy hair.
“I like to find all the nuances in hair,” said Mr. Palau, who first worked with Ms. Gerber in 2015, when she was 13. “And for Kaia to pick up on those things and act them out.”
In the edited interview below, Mr. Palau and Ms. Gerber discussed their collaboration — its past, present and future. (Before she hung up, Ms. Gerber reminded Mr. Palau that they still had to discuss her hair for the Met Gala.)
When did you first work together?
Guido Palau It was Italian Vogue with Steven Meisel, and then I did something for Interview magazine. Do you remember that story, where I did the really big hair on you?
Kaia Gerber Yes. What I think is really specific about Guido — that I haven’t really seen in anyone else — is what he’s capable of creating on set. You’ll walk off set and be like, how did he do that with just his hands and some bobby pins?
GP Kaia comes in and she’s Kaia. And then she walks out and she’s somebody we’ve created.
How exactly do you use hair to get into character?
KG When I’m playing characters, the more specific it is and the more far-off it is from who I actually am, the easier it is to transform. That all comes from the visuals. And hair is such a big part of that.
GP Hair is such a big indicator of who you are. That’s what really interests me about it. Many photographers have said to me that without the hair being right, it’s very hard to take the right picture because you don’t really know who you’re photographing.
For every hairstyle Kaia wears, is that a totally distinct, made-up character? Or is it always the same person (Kaia), just embodying slightly different roles?
KG Each new wig changed my mannerisms and my essence, and I really tried to express all these different parts of myself. I don’t think any of them are made-up parts. I don’t think any characters are really made up — they highlight different versions of who we are.
GP I wouldn’t call this a book. I like the idea of it as a document of somebody’s personas. I think we all have these personas inside us that we’d like to act out.
We don’t really know who people are. We just perceive them by the way they present themselves.
For the people who are looking at this “document,” what effect do you hope the pixelation of these images will have?
GP Maybe they’ll think it’s some old-school, late ’70s, early ’80s, B-movie-still kind of thing. It feels punk in a broad sense, like rebellious, anarchic, a bit disruptive.
KG We’re seeing people start to gravitate back toward things like vinyl, even though we don’t need to listen to vinyl anymore, or shooting on film when we have access to digital. We all tend to be drawn toward the nostalgic.
Is there a picture in the book that was particularly memorable for you?
GP My favorite one looks like the hair is from a country-western singer. She feels very innocent, but the hair is very un-innocent and the nails are very un-innocent and the makeup is very un-innocent. I like the juxtaposition.
KG Oftentimes it can be hard for me to — people might not believe this — look at images of myself. What I love about this book is that I really just see the characters.
