Liam Martin loves to dress up ... like female pop stars. (Instagram)
For the last eight months, the
17-year-old New Zealander has regularly been recreating photos of
Hollywood's biggest female stars using elaborate costumes and props —
foil dresses, pink wigs, and cupcake bras! — all to make his readers
smile. While he's inspired smiles aplenty, he's also built up an
audience of over 1.5 million Instagram followers, including some of the
celebrities that he playfully mimics. And this week, his photos have
shown up on websites from the Today show and ABC News to Mashable.
"I just want to make people laugh," Martin tells Yahoo of the inspiration behind his project, which can be seen at the handle @waverider_.
"It's for the entertainment. I figured, it's not really something other
guys do, so why not try something different? The photos started doing
very well, so I decided to continue it."
Some of his recent subjects include Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Iggy Azalea, and Selena Gomez. However, he has several favorites he comes back to time and again.
"I do love dressing up as Miley
Cyrus," says Martin, who has channeled the twerker on several occasions.
"At the moment, though, I really like Ariana Grande, who now follows me
on Instagram."
Make no mistake, a lot of time,
energy — and money! — goes into each one of Martin's photos. He posts a
new picture pretty much weekly and it takes that much time to execute
his vision as far as coming up with a subject and buying the supplies.
The teen estimates that he spends about $45 on props for each shoot,
which take place at his family home "against one wall we use all the
time."
The hardest one to recreate so
far? "The Katy Perry photo from her 'Dark Horse' music video. It took me
three hours" to get just right. The headpiece was made out of "M&Ms
and string," he reveals. The shirt? It featured hand-cut pieces of
paper attached to the nude-colored top. Fortunately, all his hard work
paid off — the photo has 439,000 likes.
"My mom and my nana were helping
me with that one and it took hours," Martin recalls, adding that he
often leans on them for assistance. "Most of the time my mom helps me
get dressed up and she'll take the photo for me. If my [extended] family
is over, my nana and my pops — my grandpa — will help me. The whole
family loves it too. It's now become normal for them."
Among the photos tributes he
thinks turned out the best, "Ariana Grande with the green background and
polka dot shirt," he says, referring to the spot-on pic he created for
the "Problem" singer's birthday in June. (It has 325,000 likes.) "Also,
my recent one with Kim Kardashian, Effie from The Hunger Games with the butterfly dress and white wig, and Miley Cyrus with the pasta on my head."
Martin, who likes to keep a
positive vibe on his Instagram and has called out cyberbullies for
making mean comments, has received a lot of love from the celebrities he
pays tribute to. In addition to Grande, Tyra Banks is one of his followers and even did a regram of the picture he did of her. "Cara Delevingne also liked a few of my photos when I dressed up like her. So has Iggy Azalea and she commented, 'You are next level.' I was like, 'Thanks Iggy!'"
His success with the project has
really caught him off guard, especially with his follower count working
its way toward 2 million. "New Zealand, where I live, has a population
of just over 4 million people. So no, I never imagined it to get to
where it is now," he says with a laugh. "Never."
Martin recently started a social
media job at a New Zealand media company. And, yes, he landed it
through his Instagram account. Next up? Visiting America. "It's a goal
of mine," he notes.
Well, come on over! Fortunately, he can still post these great photos from wherever in the world he is.
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