If you can remember the iconic Dazed and Confused front cover from December 2008 (Ayami Nishimura - Makeup Artist) then you will love this short film by Miikka Lommi created in collaboration with artist/painter Jenni Hiltunen. Originally this film was made for an exhibition of Jenni Hiltunen paintings, but as always in the work of Lommi it is the make up that really engages the viewer.

24/7 shiva from miikka lommi on Vimeo.

Cosmetic Identity

There has been a wide range of creative make up applications seen on this blog so far, sometimes the link to cosmetic application has been incredibly subtle, and the materials used, symbols and representations have been as important to acknowledge as the ways in which the make up creatives share identities and distinguish themselves and/or their work as different from others.  In light of this, having recently re read an old article from the Independent on Sunday (September 2009) written by Rhiannon Harries, titled "In the Twinkling of an Eye', it is interesting to put her views in perspective.  She discusses the use of extreme make up as a feature of catwalk fashion, and the dissemination of the approach to avant garde beauty onto the high street via musical icons such as Lady Gaga, La Roux, Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine), and Beth Ditto.  In it, Alex Box (Illamasqua) is cited as believing that the experimental vibe that is transforming our attitudes to make up can be attributed to one person,

"There was a tipping point and it was Amy Winehouse", she says emphatically.  "A while ago she was absolutely the zeitgeist with her east London rockabilly look and I noticed the influence immediately.  Chanel did a take on it for one of its shows, Italian Vogue did a take on it.  Everbody took something from her look."

"Suddenly girls everywhere were going bigger with their eyes, their hair, their lips.  But not in a Jordan way - it wasn't just sexy glamour, it had an edge and people were putting their own personality into it.  In a short space of time, that has become so normal.  For me, it was a massive turning point in people's personal make-up."

However I am loathe to attribute the inspiration for the use of the avant garde within make up to popular culture alone.  Pushing the boundaries so that make up is used in ways that diverges from its traditional function of enhancing areas of the face in an attempt to define sexual attractiveness, is one that has also been explored within ClubCulture and by image makers for some time now.  In this sense, although as individuals we have to take up identities actively, those identities are necessarily the product of the society in which we live and our relationship with others. Identity provides a link between individuals and the world in which they live. Identity combines how I see myself and how others see me. Identity involves the internal and the subjective, and the external. It is a socially recognised position, recognised by others, not just by me.

The concept of identity encompasses some notion of human agency; an idea that we can have some control in constructing our own identities. There are, of course, constraints which may lie in the external world, where material and social factors may limit the degree of agency which individuals may have.  This construction of new representations, of new models, is a complex phenomenon, which implies several levels of analysis. The goal of this blog is to highlight the various social aspects, which might be related to the process of constructing an identity. The choice of such a goal is not an accident; it is repeatedly demonstrated that body representation, and especially feminine body representation, is the central pillar of any power relationship, either in the case of a man/woman relationship, or in the case of the more general relationship between politics and femininity.  It is one that popular music culture utilises for its own ends.  One only has to look to Bowie and the New Romantics/Blitz Kids to confirm this appropriation of style and attitude.

This is a fine line to balance, once the desire to construct a formal identification with beauty is removed, what are we left with?  As Box so succinctly puts it, "Where does doing something interesting and different tip over into ugliness?'

How angry can one person get?

Last night faceCULTURE had the opportunity to attend a talk at the V&A Museum in London, Stephen Bayley - 'Woman as Design'.  In some ways this is a lesson to all that one should do the homework before subscribing to the deliberations of writers, but in this case because it was at the V&A my assumption that this would be of worth to attend.  I was wrong.

Verging on the misogynistic, this was 70 minutes of disappointing musings on the female form, where Bayley enthused on the objectification of women and continually expounded his glee that he had used methaphors for woman that were architectural or mechanical in his book, also titled 'Woman as Design'.  While the audience watched pages from the said book flashing on a screen behind Bayley, it was clear to all that his view of women was peculiar to his own sexual tastes.  These were women viewed in erotic and highly sexualized postions, seen from a 'heterosexual male perspective' (his emphasis not mine) - we began to quickly question why he did not incorporate some understanding of how women see themselves.  Subsequently the sexually loaded images of fantasy women and the comments expounded by the interviewer and interviewee merely put the writer in the box that says 'old fashioned attitudes'.

This was frustrating, indeed there was no real link to design, apart from a few cursory references to architecture and cars.  If this was woman as design, where was the design? Grasping at the concept that women for sale are an aspect of consumerism, that they are firmly consumerable objects whether they are prostitutes or models/actresses, it all amounts to the same thing to Bayley.  Andrew and I politely stayed until the end, but we should have walked out like several others did.  Ultimately this was a lesson learned - in the words of Public Enemy "don't believe the hype"!

A useful re-evaluation of the female body or a sexy makeover of female objectification?  
Link to BBC Radio Four Woman's Hour

It was always ok to dream.

 

Alexander McQueen. Mourning the loss of the visionary who inspired many make up artists, designers and artists to take chances and turn the impossible into the sublime. 

A Manifesto to Celebrate Difference and Self-Expression

After listening to the make-up artist Alex Box (Illamasqua) talk at the IMATS show this weekend, it is clear that she uses make-up as a language, and references her fine art background to investigate alternate methods of representing the self. As she so succinctly puts it, "I want to fly the flag for a very different way of wearing make-up". While fashion may have given her the context to develop the concept for identity as a make up artist, being told to dilute her work when first venturing out as a make up artist had the opposite effect and she vehemently opposed amending her vision. It is only now that the fashion industry understands that she is capable of saying so much more through make-up and that she herself has a vision for the future of make-up.

During the dicussion Alex proposed a new way of demonstrating beauty, and cited the Alexander McQueen Spring 2010 catwalk show and the film Avatar as symbols of the almost casual way society has begun to accept human augmentation and radical cosmetic transformation. This in turn has given the fashion industry a better understanding of how she intends to develop her work.

Used as a tool to subvert dominant patriarchal ideals of beauty, designed cosmetic bodies have the potential to be used to stage new non gendered identities. Refashioning the face and body opens up the possibility of highlighting the artificial nature of beauty while undermining neo-romantic conceptions of the body as 'natural'. Although conventional make up practices present the altered face as natural, it is possible to envisage the normalising of cosmetic practice that actively seeks the artificial construction of the face.

Is Beauty Gendered?

In discussing the work of the artist Elaine Clance, Polly F. Radosh, Ph.D.. Director of Women's Studies at Western Illinois University defines beauty as a gendered trait, yet my gathering of alternative methods of transforming the face offers an alternative view of beauty, one that negates gender in favour of a more prosaic method of claiming the self.

In all cultures beauty is a gendered trait. Only women are beautiful. Women's rituals of defining, elaborating, and adorning are among our oldest documented cultural characteristics. Through time and across cultures, women assign meaning to objects and adorn themselves with color that accentuates their physical appearance. Standards of beauty emerge, evolve, change, and endure all at the same time, while the perennial definitions of beauty remain feminine.

Definitions of beauty as internalized elements of good character or inner radiance are often de-valued in favor of a greater emphasis on physical attributes, which are commonly sexualized and hold nearly supernatural importance. Spellbinding, dazzling, and irresistible beauty is enhanced by sexual innocence and fraught with danger, which is both mystical and mundane. Women and girls are cautioned both to control or repress their beauty and to cultivate, package, and exploit their most gorgeous traits. Beauty is encumbered by contradictions that excite and repel, enamor and corrupt, and covet and shun. Likewise, the rituals of beauty foster stereotypic, pervasive judgments that control and limit women's potential at the same time that they satisfy by cultivating admiration, influence, and recognition.

Social scientific research indicates that children who possess physical characteristics of attractiveness receive fewer reprimands by teachers and more classroom honors. Numerous studies indicate that attractive people are imputed to have greater warmth, poise, to be more sincere, and to lead more successful lives. In experiments where "stranded" strangers look "helpless," beautiful people are more likely to have others stop to help. Interestingly, none of the early studies on beauty included male subjects. The researchers recognized patterns that women understand, implicitly. Beauty is feminine and it is important to women's success in life. The findings are congruent with knowledge that women and girls internalize through socialization.

What I am documenting is not beauty in the conventional sense, yet it provides the viewer with an alternate state of being that engages on a mystical level. This is seen often within non Westernised ritualistic performance, and interestingly it is often men who are on the receiving end of this cosmetic application. This ritual art is always performed by men, females are not involved, an example of this is the colourful ritual of Theyyam, where males wear exotic make up and colorful costumes.

Estelle Hanania

French photographer Estelle Hanania has always been fascinated with costumes and pagan rituals, and the way people transform themselves into these new beings when they gather together. She is constantly inspired by nature and the natural elements: she likes working with these live materials because they can often take on surprising new forms when they are photographed.