I can totally relate to the editor with the broken heels. I once wore a new pair of Proenza Schouler heels to the opera, and on my way down the stairs, a heel promptly broke off- leaving me to limp on tippy-toe for the rest of the evening. They went back to the store the next day, but I was still pissed because an expensive pair of shoes- and by extension, the designers- had let me down.
@PaigeTurner: Leighton is one of those women whose eye's actually look smaller with more eye make up on. As a woman with the same affliction, I think she should stay away from the Lita Ford circa 1985 look.
Re the less make up thing: I was never taught by my mother to apply makeup and I have never really made the effort to learn. Now thirty-one, I feel increase pressure to start wearing makeup to hide the fact that I'm aging slightly, but I still do not know how to apply it. Was thinking about getting a makeover at MAC, but I am still of the opinion that when I wear makeup, I look awful.
I know some women who wake up two hours before they are due in to work to 'put on their face'. I woke up 8:10 this morning, had to be at work at 8:30. Jumped in the shower, threw on my clothes, applied a bit of moisturizer to my face, ran my fingers through my hair (afro), grabbed my bag and made it to work in 20 minutes. I want to look polished, but I don't want to put in the effort to make it so.
And then I wonder, why is this even an issue? Shouldn't I be out marching for world peace or something?
@AtelierCeleste: I think about make-up a lot, and come to similar conclusions. But I think it's nigh-impossible not to dwell on it, given Our Society & Gender Roles etc etc ye gods blah blah fishcakes.
I just started experimenting with wearing it this year, which I call Project: Ladydrag, but I totally can't be bothered to do it every day - try every fortnight. (Where do people learn this stuff? It takes real skill, and I feel like a ten-thumbed putz half the time.) In many ways, I like the freedom of not being shackled to the eye brush and the lip liner. Stick to the moisturiser, I bet you look fab.
@BestEuphemismEver: There's a book called "Making Faces" by the same guy who did The Mane Thing. It covers some basics and not-so-basics very well... I highly recommend it!
@elysse: That rings a bell - Kevin A-summat? I picked up a free book from work, Marie Claire on Makeup, and it was the biggest pile of cobblers ever. Thanks for the tip. I am ashamed to say the most helpful thing I've found so far is watching women on the Tube do their makeup - I would never do that in a trillion years, but boy, is it instructional.
@BestEuphemismEver: Kevin Aucoin! His make-up books are incredible. Even if you never replicate the looks, it's fun to see how he can completely transform someone. I would suggest Bobbi Brown's books if you want something more natural, as her philosophy is "less is more."
@AtelierCeleste: I can relate, since my awesome second-waver mother abjures all tools of the patriarchy like makeup, and thus had nothing to teach me on the subject.
From my experiences with various makeup artists, I have learned this: good skin is (duh) the most important thing, because decoration is a lot easier and more fun than camouflage. Three things you might find useful are: A very light-textured cream concealer, possibly one with some light-reflecting properties like YSL Touche Eclat, or what I used to use, MAC Strobe Cream mixed with drugstore L'Oreal foundation, to go on your spots/under eye circles; A natural-toned blush/bronzer combo like NARS in "Orgasm" to give you some color and set the concealer; And mascara (Maybelline Great Lash is outstanding). Those three product classes are probably all you really "need." (And they can be applied in about two minutes.)
The rest is pretty much just for fun. A good eyeshadow in a color just ever so slightly darker than your skin tone, for contouring over your lid, in the crease, and along your lash line, is also a very subtle way of bringing out your eyes. A dab of some kind of shimmer powder under the arc of your eyebrows and perhaps your cheekbones can also be a nice touch, but you gotta watch that it doesn't get too stage-y.
Also, if you want lipstick to last: exfoliate your lips thoroughly with a wet washcloth (or an old soft bristled toothbrush, or by rubbing some sugar on your lips), put on a light chapstick and let it sink in, then draw all over your lips with a lip pencil in a shade that matches (more or less) the lipstick. Really thoroughly. Then do the lipstick, blot, and repeat. This turns basically any lipstick into long-lasting stuff, without the cakiness. The above process has resulted in lipstick that's lasted 12 hours on shoots, with only the most minimal re-applications. (I won't pretend that I often have the patience to replicate it at home, though.)
It helps me to justify makeup wearing by thinking of it as the equivalent of male shaving of the face. You don't GOTTA do it, but if you choose not to, it's sort of a statement that you might not want to be making in every context in your life.
And as a long time makeup wearer, I'd like to share a couple of tips for anyone who feels uncomfortable with it. Stop reading if you care to, obviously, and don't lay into me if you don't.
If you're over 30, I promise you your skin has lost some smoothness, and the colors in your eyebrows and lips have faded out a bit.
Here is the minimum you need to do: smooth out your skin -- you don't have to wear liquid foundation, but dab out circles and redness with a little concealer, and then use powder foundation (Clinique makes a good one.) It's just like putting on powder from a compact.Then, color in your lips with a Revlon Colorstay product -- I like Pomegranate -- it will stay all day. Finally, pencil lightly over your eyebrows, and if you are worried at all about their shape, go to a salon for waxing.
Lips, skin, eyebrows -- you are good to go.
I seriously, seriously hope this is helpful to someone.
Ah, the JC Penney catalogue. When I was in 5th grade or thereabouts, I used to hotly anticipate the arrival of this thick tome, and dog-ear the pages which featured stuff I liked. I don't my mother ever ordered me anything! :(
@Mary McCarthyite: I miss those catalogs! It was so exciting. I would sit with them for hours. I know I've gotten clothes from the regular, small catalogs before but never from the huge one. I definitely never got a guitar or motorized scooter, or other awesome things on the pages with turned down corners.
Leighton, I watched your music video the other week. After seeing that, I agree that you WOULD look much better without makeup (or at least with a lot less). Get on it.
Also, I'd much rather dress like Blair than you in that video or on the red carpet. Don't diss Blair. You look amazing as her.
Elements of Style, By Lauren Conrad, Chapter 1: "Never wear waterproof mascara. Nobody will believe in your fake drama on your scripted reality show unless your fake tears cause your mascara to drip down your face."
so, photography is a new art medium, but artists have been in LOVE with depictions of death since cavemen drew on walls. renaissance art is chock full of it - and it's shocking, stunning, arresting. women look like they have no agency, but they make beautiful (submission, dainty, obedient, pure, religious) corpses. talking about art using death to create heightened emotion is absolutely *nothing* new... the *kind* of death the slideshow demonstrates here is a whole nother question. are we uncomfortable with death in art period, or just violent crime death? #deadmodels
@miss.terious: I think we're uncomfortable with death being used to flog us a dress or a pair of boots.
Fashion photography is not art, not in the strictest sense, because it has a commericial endevour beyond trying to sell you the image itself - it's trying to get you to pony up your hard earned cash for an item.
I don't care about depictions of death in art; I care when the violent murder of a woman is seen as a good way to get me to buy a new pair of jeans. #deadmodels
@jenrobe: Since when did works of art begin losing artistic value due to their intrinsic commercial motivations?
The frescos of the Sistine Chapel were only commissioned to attract more visitors and feed the Pope's sense of grandeur. Even Michelangelo resented his work there, but hey, he needed the money.
@FADviral: I think that could well be a good argument, that the Sistine Chapel was a commercial work, although it had a religious context and was created arguably by someone who believed in that faith.
However, Michelangelo was pissed about the commission because he was already working on sculptures for the Pope's tomb, not because he hated the church. And then he demanded to be able to do the work the way his vision told him to, not according to what the Church initially invisaged.
I didn't mean to suggest they lost their "artistic" value, but that there is clearly a divide between a work being created for its own self (art for art's sake) and to sell stuff. #deadmodels
#1 is kind of funny, death by roller skating around a mansion is ridiculous enough to not be gruesome. Just about everything else made me squirm though. #deadmodels
I guess no one ever told the photographers that at some point every photographer shoots a dead girl in couture and thinks they're a freaking genius for 15 minutes. #deadmodels
Hmm...I think it's a little hypocritical of us to get our panties in a twist about this, when every third article on Jez is rape this captivity that. We're fascinated by it as a society - hell, we're fascinated by it as a blog! Yes, the teddy bear is upsetting. So is reality.
I'm not saying it's all fine and dandy, but it shouldn't be surprising in the least when art imitates life. #deadmodels
@Seize: Hypocritical, how? The one offends me because of the reality of the other. Glamorized, sexy images of dead-eyed women stuffed in car trunks, scenes arranged to look like sex workers killed by clients, we're surrounded by fictional images of sexy male violence against women. Sex workers really are sought out for rape and murder, men really do take women out to the woods and kill them. Women really are treated as disposable, interchangeable, valuable only in our usefulness to men. The images reinforce that. You can't reflect society without contributing to it. #deadmodels
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
"I actually think I'm prettier without makeup."
I think you're right, Leighton.
11/19/09
@PaigeTurner: Leighton is one of those women whose eye's actually look smaller with more eye make up on. As a woman with the same affliction, I think she should stay away from the Lita Ford circa 1985 look.
11/19/09
I know some women who wake up two hours before they are due in to work to 'put on their face'. I woke up 8:10 this morning, had to be at work at 8:30. Jumped in the shower, threw on my clothes, applied a bit of moisturizer to my face, ran my fingers through my hair (afro), grabbed my bag and made it to work in 20 minutes. I want to look polished, but I don't want to put in the effort to make it so.
And then I wonder, why is this even an issue? Shouldn't I be out marching for world peace or something?
11/19/09
I just started experimenting with wearing it this year, which I call Project: Ladydrag, but I totally can't be bothered to do it every day - try every fortnight. (Where do people learn this stuff? It takes real skill, and I feel like a ten-thumbed putz half the time.) In many ways, I like the freedom of not being shackled to the eye brush and the lip liner. Stick to the moisturiser, I bet you look fab.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
I want a chapter entitled, "On Not Poking Your Eyeball Loose With The Wand Thingy."
11/19/09
From my experiences with various makeup artists, I have learned this: good skin is (duh) the most important thing, because decoration is a lot easier and more fun than camouflage. Three things you might find useful are: A very light-textured cream concealer, possibly one with some light-reflecting properties like YSL Touche Eclat, or what I used to use, MAC Strobe Cream mixed with drugstore L'Oreal foundation, to go on your spots/under eye circles; A natural-toned blush/bronzer combo like NARS in "Orgasm" to give you some color and set the concealer; And mascara (Maybelline Great Lash is outstanding). Those three product classes are probably all you really "need." (And they can be applied in about two minutes.)
The rest is pretty much just for fun. A good eyeshadow in a color just ever so slightly darker than your skin tone, for contouring over your lid, in the crease, and along your lash line, is also a very subtle way of bringing out your eyes. A dab of some kind of shimmer powder under the arc of your eyebrows and perhaps your cheekbones can also be a nice touch, but you gotta watch that it doesn't get too stage-y.
Also, if you want lipstick to last: exfoliate your lips thoroughly with a wet washcloth (or an old soft bristled toothbrush, or by rubbing some sugar on your lips), put on a light chapstick and let it sink in, then draw all over your lips with a lip pencil in a shade that matches (more or less) the lipstick. Really thoroughly. Then do the lipstick, blot, and repeat. This turns basically any lipstick into long-lasting stuff, without the cakiness. The above process has resulted in lipstick that's lasted 12 hours on shoots, with only the most minimal re-applications. (I won't pretend that I often have the patience to replicate it at home, though.)
11/19/09
11/19/09
And as a long time makeup wearer, I'd like to share a couple of tips for anyone who feels uncomfortable with it. Stop reading if you care to, obviously, and don't lay into me if you don't.
If you're over 30, I promise you your skin has lost some smoothness, and the colors in your eyebrows and lips have faded out a bit.
Here is the minimum you need to do: smooth out your skin -- you don't have to wear liquid foundation, but dab out circles and redness with a little concealer, and then use powder foundation (Clinique makes a good one.) It's just like putting on powder from a compact.Then, color in your lips with a Revlon Colorstay product -- I like Pomegranate -- it will stay all day. Finally, pencil lightly over your eyebrows, and if you are worried at all about their shape, go to a salon for waxing.
Lips, skin, eyebrows -- you are good to go.
I seriously, seriously hope this is helpful to someone.
11/19/09
11/19/09
In between, they got stacked on my chair so I could eat at the dinner table.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
Also, I'd much rather dress like Blair than you in that video or on the red carpet. Don't diss Blair. You look amazing as her.
11/19/09
11/19/09
@hortense: i want to forgive you, and i want to forget you.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
Fashion photography is not art, not in the strictest sense, because it has a commericial endevour beyond trying to sell you the image itself - it's trying to get you to pony up your hard earned cash for an item.
I don't care about depictions of death in art; I care when the violent murder of a woman is seen as a good way to get me to buy a new pair of jeans. #deadmodels
11/03/09
The frescos of the Sistine Chapel were only commissioned to attract more visitors and feed the Pope's sense of grandeur. Even Michelangelo resented his work there, but hey, he needed the money.
Not art in its strictest sense then? #deadmodels
11/03/09
However, Michelangelo was pissed about the commission because he was already working on sculptures for the Pope's tomb, not because he hated the church. And then he demanded to be able to do the work the way his vision told him to, not according to what the Church initially invisaged.
I didn't mean to suggest they lost their "artistic" value, but that there is clearly a divide between a work being created for its own self (art for art's sake) and to sell stuff. #deadmodels
11/02/09
All that death really makes me want boots! No, wait... #deadmodels
11/02/09
11/02/09
11/02/09
11/02/09
They're hilarious and awk and funny and intriguing.
Why yes, I do have a morbid fascination with death and crime scenes, how funny you should ask.
Also, I really like the K-Fed slasher pic for the laugh factor. #deadmodels
11/02/09
I'm not saying it's all fine and dandy, but it shouldn't be surprising in the least when art imitates life. #deadmodels
11/02/09
11/02/09
I'm generally very blase about violence in video games and TV, but I neglected to see this as the part of rape culture that it is.
My bad. #deadmodels
11/03/09
11/02/09
Lunchtime Poll: Seriously, has anyone here ever seen a crime-scene photo and thought "cute shoes!" ? #deadmodels