Instagram Babe Jean Coneja on Directing Music Videos & Her Style Inspiration
Jean Coneja is not your average Instagram girl.
In addition to her singular style that’s attracted 56,000+ followers, she’s also a makeup artist, music video director, and all around creative boss b*tch. We talked to her about her aesthetic inspiration and how her upbringing affects her work. Read on for more.
You have such distinctive style. Name three icons you like to emulate.
1. Brigitte Bardot, overlined nude lips, dark bedroom eyes and big blonde hair! My shit. I def like to mix this look with some 1992 Gianni Versace all black looks and some old school metal head stripper attire.
2. My uncle stomper’s baby mama. She was a cholita from Florencia back in the day, she gave looks with her oversized pro club white T’s and baggy ass pants. She wore huge gangster “mens” clothing but still rocked the fuck out of some brown Jordana lipliner.
3. Aaliyah. Babygirl had the perfect mix of that gangsta “men’s attire” with cute lil crop tops.
Hands down best feeling is when Bonnie crawls on me n her fur tickles me a lil
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A lot of people think they’d be good music video directors but it’s harder than it looks. What was the most challenging part of directing your latest video “Hideaway”?
Really organization, coordinating everyone and everything together. Some people like to be divas. A person who was supposed to be a bigger part in the video ended up flaking the second day of shooting. I had a huge live butterfly set up that was supposed to go off in the bedroom scene but they kept escaping the bird cage i got from them. My production assistant actually raised them from little caterpillars.
Another huge obstacle I always cross is location. People are always shooing my crew and I off. It’s a lot of work and takes months of meticulous planning. Especially building a solid crew that’s in it for the gusto. Luckily I have just that. I’m very lucky to have such a great crew backing me up.
What’s one filmmaking “rule” that you’d love to get rid of?
A photo posted by Chupparosa (@c0neja) on
Where did you grow up and how does your upbringing affect your art?
I grew up in the 562 — Paramount, CA. I went to Catholic school my whole life. Our Lady of the Rosary. Ruled by really fuckin old Irish nuns but the whole student population was Mexican, just like the city. I’m super proud of being Xicana and always keep this with me in everything I do.
If you look closely, there’s always something in my work that alludes to my culture. I also grew up seeing old pinta drawings pinned up on my tio’s bedroom wall in my grandmother’s house in Paramount. Gorgeous Mexican women with big hair and even bigger breasts. I remember feeling bad that I loved seeing these naked drawing so much, but that feeling was apart of the thrill and beauty. I’m obsessed with the sexuality and power of a woman.
Pretty much all my art is based around just that. While attending school, I became an altar server. I was super mesmerized by all the gorgeous old religious relics. Everything dripped in gold, all the colorful mosaics. I also loved the contrast of the sense of purity alongside old biblical stories of satan and evil.
Catholicism is just as erotic and dark as it is magical and pure. I LOVE IT. Most of my art has that irony. Beauty, light, lace/grit, shadows and leather.
