Kosovar-Bosnian bride

A Kosovar Bosnian bride, Senita Demirovic, has her face painted by a woman on her wedding day for a traditional ceremony in the village of Donje Ljubinje, Kosovo. The tradition, whose origins date from beyond living memory, is virtually viewed by almost all residents with universal pride as it has come to symbolize this place’s special identity. The bride has her face painted to prevent bad luck during the wedding ceremony. Donje Ljubinje is situated in the Shar mountains that form the border between Kosovo and FYROM. The inhabitants call themselves ‘Torbesh.’

Boo Ritson

"Boo Ritson paints people, but not on canvas or on board – she literally coats people with paint. Presented as photographs, Ritson’s portraits are a double masquerade: her subjects coated in sticky disguise, and the documentary image a surrogate representation of the tangible painterly, sculptural, and performative qualities of work. By using photography Ritson capitalises on the associations of snapshot memory and filmic narrative, with each of her characters playing out readily recognisable stereotypes.

Bathed beneath the gooeyness of common household paint, Ritson’s subjects are transformed into athletes, cowgirls, and slot-jockeys. Highlighting the malleability of identity, Ritson’s impostors are rendered oddly totemic as the dripping contours of their wet ‘skins’ create a statuesque effect that’s equally stoically chiselled and insincerely plastic. Balancing between social masks and suffocating veneers, Ritson’s painted effigies stand as psychological animi; a sentiment epitomised in Godfather, where the eyes of her living model are exposed, giving a jarring humility to his hard man mafioso exterior."

Via The Saatchi Gallery

 

Cowgirl, 2006

Girlfriend, 2006

Godfather, 2006

Slotplayer, 2006

Blue Swimmer, 2006

Illamsqua supports student collections

It is always exciting to see a Cosmetic brand like Illamasqua support burgeoning new talent, so I thought I would post the video they filmed of the Media Fashion Styling students at their fashion show a few weeks ago. 

Jon Clark - The Ultimate 'Look'

Based on Patrick Suskind's famous book Perfume,  Illustrator Jon Clark shows that the links between reading and consuming the written word are closer than we may imagine.  By examining the indulgence of one mans greatest passion, his sense of smell, and the relationship with the emotional meaning that scents may carry, Clark's skin imprints insinuate that the link between the murderous intention of the central character and fashion's obsession with procuring identity through the decorated body are intertwined.  As the book goes on, smell assumes such an importance that it becomes close to the building bricks of human interaction.  Charm, innocence, courage, godliness - all of the just scents, all of them within Grenouille's reach.  It is this obsession with procuring the perfect scent that will make Grenouille fully human, thereby allowing him to consume and envelop himself in the originator of the scent, subsequently allowing Clark to mirror fashions cosmetic desire to uncover the ultimate 'look'.

The Pillow Book - handwriting more important than the surface of the face

The Pillow Book is Peter Greenaway's movie (1996) which dramatize the ceremonial of calligraphy on human skin. The brush's slight caress on the body and the mystery of those signs, develop an irresistible eroticism.  The film's central character, Nagiko flees from Kyoto to Hong Kong, where eventually she finds work as a fashion model and begins to seek lovers who will fulfill her dreams. For her the appearance of a person's handwriting is more important than the surfaces of his face; she wants to be used as a book, to be written on, to be read.

Her fetish ties in with two ancient Japanese artistic practices. One is the art of tattooing, which can be much more elegant and artistic than in the west, and is used by the yakuza as a way of bonding with their criminal brothers.  It can be seen as a form of submission - to the will of the tattoo artist, to the will of the group dictating the tattoos, or simply in the willingness of a person to be used as an object.

The funniest thing I have read today.......

Sometimes, it does one good to see what other people are saying on their make up blogs....or maybe not.

"Women often think about what guys want, but what about when applying their makeup? When it comes to makeup, what women find attractive can be completely different than what men find attractive. This brings us to the topic of what men want women to know when it comes to our makeup. Luckily, the handsome men around me enlightened me to their opinion on the subject and guess what? Too much makeup is a big DON’T."

Laugh? I almost smeared my lip gloss. Almost.

Destination Uslu

While browsing 10 Corso Como in Milan this weekend, I came across the decorative cosmetics brand Uslu Airlines and their wonderful videos that support the use of a cosmetic grade airbrush system, "bringing the ease and beauty of airflow to make-up".  The micronized liquid airbrush make up is available in a variety range of shades and can be used as foundation, rouge, eyeshadow and lip colour.    But ultimately it is the unrestrained way in which the brand proposes users engage with airbrushing that will be so exciting for the future of make up that I find particularly enchanting.