Elliot Joseph Rentz, a makeup artist and drag queen who goes by the stage name Alexis Stone, transformed into the Mona Lisa for the debut of Boss’s womenswear Spring/Summer 2026 collection in Milan earlier this week.
Rentz, through his drag persona, is popular on TikTok and Instagram—where he has 890,000 and 1.3 million followers, respectively—for his elaborate and meticulous transformations into many of the world’s most recognizable celebrities, from a young Judy Garland to Dolly Parton and Barbara Streisand. He documents these transformations with behind-the-scenes videos showing his expert use of prosthetics, and special effects make-up.
While there are many such make-up influencers on social media, Rentz goes beyond full face makeup to do whole body transformations.
Earlier this week, Rentz did just that to promote Boss—a subbrand of Hugo Boss—attending the runway show as the Mona Lisa, though of course dressed in the new collection, which creative director Marco Falcioni told WWD was “all about evoking the German sturm and drang.” It was not immediately clear how that tied to the Mona Lisa, but nevertheless, Rentz was striking.
It’s not the first time that Rentz has transformed for a fashion show. Rentz has a made a habit of showing up at runway shows, transformed into a familiar face. He previously attended a Balenciaga show in 2022 as Robin Williams’s character in Mrs. Doubtfire and then this year attended as Angelica Huston-as-Morticia Adams, from the 1991 film The Addams Family.
In June 2024, Rentz went as The Devil Wears Prada‘s Miranda Priestly, a thinly veiled analogue for fashion media icon Anna Wintour who was memorably played by Meryl Streep.
“Brands love to be part of these viral stunts,” Stone told CNN of the stunts in July. “It is, in essence, the ultimate marketing campaign because it’s this sort of moving billboard, and so many people recognize these cult or classic characters, having watched them growing up. For brands, this is a way of being part of that magic.”
Watch Rentz transform into the iconic Da Vinci subject here:
