During the past few days make up artist Thomas De Kluyver has partnered with photographers Harley Weir, Fumiko Imano, Shama Osborne, Lea Colombo among others for the release of an IDEA book entitled All I Want To Be. The book, launched at Dover Street Market last week features exclusive work created by de Kluyver and his team of creatives as they explore themes of gender identity, politics, representation and individual expression in beauty and fashion. ”I want people to have fun with make-up and experiment with their identity,” he explains.
Throughout the book, the 150 pages are brought to life by the colourful images of these talented creatives which are introduced with a beautiful poem by Wilson Oryema on the fluidity of identity.
“It talks about how our identities are never fixed, or set, and how important it is to be able to express ourselves the way we want to. Our starting point for All I Want To Be was making sure we captured the people that feature in it somewhere they felt safe. So many of the images are shot in bedrooms, bathrooms… The kind of places we’re able to shut the door and experiment with who we are freely and without any judgement,” explains the photographer. The book concludes with photographer Harley Weir’s chapter which features a cast of full body painted subjects. Given the themes of the book, the photographer will also be donating a share of the proceeds to gender non conformity charity Mermaids UK.
“The world of fashion and beauty has a long history of challenging gender norms but more needs to be done to represent the beauty within all of us, regardless of our gender. We hope Thomas will continue to be a powerful force in gender acceptance in an industry that shapes the way our society understands power and beauty” said Susie Green Mermaids UK CEO. Thomas De Kluyver’s All I Want To Be is currently on shelves at Dover Street Market London.
inner/ outer / self by Oliver Hadlee PearchAwake by Lea Colombo
MAC Cosmetics is chiming in 2013 – known in the Chinese New Year as year of the snake – with an intriguing new make up collection.
Not only are the swirly scales of the animal embossed into every lipstick, eye shadow and powder, but thanks to a shimmering colour palette of rich golds, plums and reds, each product creates a lushly dramatic effect.
Whether it’s a simple swipe of pearl blush to brighten up your complexion or a full-on crimson lip, consider yourself cosmetically prepared for the new year.
Last season’s vogue for minimalism wasn’t something I could buy into wholeheartedly. To eschew brights and patterns from my wardrobe, and colour from my make-up palette would make me very sad and disheartened indeed. Minimalism was something I quite liked to buy into on occassional days – days when I felt rigour and understatement were called for – a visit to my therapist for example! So there is the odd day when I find that natural make up, nay a dearth of make-up and clothes in camel and black are appropriate. These are like detox days in a sense, a holiday from the rabid sartorial mayhem that usually makes my heart sing. I wash my face, scrape my hair back and apply the bare minimum of maquillage – usually Givenchy Phenomen’eyes mascara in black, eyebrow pencil by Laura Mercier and if I’m feeling particularly lavish some Clinique Chubby Stick in Richer Raisin. The latter is Clinique‘s latest innovation for lips and its rather wonderful. A fat, waxy little stick that you stroke on lips and that imparts nourishing balm and a veil of colour. Richer Raisin reminds me of a cult lip colour that Clinique used to make in the Nineties called Black Honey. Everyone wore it for that slightly enhanced nude look that so epitomised the nineties.
Anyway, those are my tips for a reductive make up routine. I’m loathe to say less is more because in general I don’t really agree with the aphorism, but there are occassional days when it feels like it really is.
After high profile fashion pairings such as Lanvin for H&M and Valentino for Gap, perhaps it was only natural that beauty companies too should want a piece of the collaborative action. Cult and cultured Aussie beauty brand Aesop were one of the first – teaming up with clothing brand A.P.C to create a special hand washing detergent earlier in 2010. Then came Marchesa and Le Metier De Beaute who produced a capsule collection of palettes and lipglosses; subtle and subliminal, the perfect accompaniment to a Marchesa evening gown.
Now, there’s Marcel Wanders for MAC, a capsule collection, only available online (maccosmetics.co.uk) that takes make up packaging design to the next level. The beautiful baroque curvilinear packaging stands in marked contrast to the minimalist Nineties design of regular MAC products. These items look like glossy black chess pieces rather than an aesthetes’ make up arsenal.
Wanders claims he was inspired by Vermeer and, Girl With a Pearl Earring and as a result some of the colours are curiously naturalistic. For example there are light gold and golden nude lipglosses that add very lucent party season sparkle to your face. “Designing beauty packaging immediately made me think of the painterly connection,” says Wanders of his work. Indeed the suitably artistic brush roll (£60) is one of the standout items.
Whilst we love Wanders for MAC – it’s doing something truly innovative with product design, more collaborations are on their way. February 1st sees Milly for Clinique hit counters (a palette designed by the cutesy floral NYC brand), and later in spring there’s Tibi for Bobbi Brown, another niche fashion brand allied to a beauty monolith. For now, December, it’s all about Marcel Wanders for us.
Twitter
Tumblr
YouTube
Facebook
Instagram
