[...] I am usually content on This Side of a fashion show. As a style editor, I’m lucky enough to be among those invited to see runway presentations — music, cameras, glam models, clothes and designer bows at the end. Rarely do i venture to the Other Side, the “backstage” side, where preparations begin hours and hours before the show. So, when Heather Park of MAC cosmetics recently invited me to be a makeup artist for a day, working on models during San Francisco Fashion Week, I was game. (photo by Jose Lepe/Mercury News) I even had a moment where I fantasized that this might be the start of a new career. It was a fleeting moment. I said yes and two seconds later, I was trying to back out. “Well…what if I just did a little lip gloss?” ”I’ll just get in the way.” Heather would have none of it. I’ll be fine, she said. We’ll make sure a real make up artist is there to oversee your work, she reassured me. That would be senior artist Victor Cembellin, a friend from our professional paths crossing all the time and and well-known pro within the fashion industry. He lives in the East Bay but seems to spend most of the year at fashion weeks in Milan, Paris and London when he’s not jetting off to Taipei or Hong Kong for MAC. I arrived at 3 p.m. wearing MAC black to the tent behind The Galleria at the San Francisco Design Center where the runway shows are taking place. Hair, makeup and models — the building blocks of a fashion show. Sixteen MAC makeup artists were broken up into teams of 4 or 5 and each team was designated to work a specific designer’s runway segment. Victor estimated about 45 models needed to be done in three hours time. As part of Victor’s team I’ll be working on a model for Pink Elf, a line designed by Kaushie Adisehan and based in Palo Alto. Victor’s vision for the makeup: “Kate Moss as a New York socialite.” What that means in MAC-speak is a sort of a it’s-3 p.m.-the-day-after-too-much-clubbing look with blue-gray rimmed eyes (Graphite cream shadow, Smolder eye kohl pencil and Reflex, a fine glitter that looked like tiny crystals adhered to the eyelid). A little foundation, a bronzer highlighting cheekbones and a gloss called Smoke Signals. The makeup artists gathered ’round Victor as he demonstrated on the first model, Jette Newell, a Christy Turlington look-alike from San Rafael. Victor’s first tip: start with a light touch at the center of the eye near the lashes, building outward for a gradiation of color. Donna’s first scare: Move too slowly with the brush and that cream shadow won’t budge off the lid without a remover and a mess. I had gone from nervous to confident to over-confident and then terrified once model Julie LaBonty sat down in my chair. A dab of Graphite on the lid and, whoa! I didn’t mean to make it so dark from the start. I need to rub it off fast or it won’t come off. Oh no, it’s already not moving. Help, Victor! The kohl eye pencil isn’t drawing a line as evenly as I envisioned as I fear blinding Julie with a slip of the tip. And, the glitter, while fun to apply, is like fairy dust and spreads over everything. Victor’s warning that too much will ruin the entire makeup application is ticker-taping it’s way across my brain. A good sport, Julie let me poke and brush and smudge with a not-so-deft touch. Twenty minutes and many Victor “clean ups” later, I’m done. I consider admiring my work and showing it off to Heather and others but the canvas is a real person and Julie needs to get moving. [...]
August 25th, 2007 at 3:18 am
[...] I am usually content on This Side of a fashion show. As a style editor, I’m lucky enough to be among those invited to see runway presentations — music, cameras, glam models, clothes and designer bows at the end. Rarely do i venture to the Other Side, the “backstage” side, where preparations begin hours and hours before the show. So, when Heather Park of MAC cosmetics recently invited me to be a makeup artist for a day, working on models during San Francisco Fashion Week, I was game. (photo by Jose Lepe/Mercury News) I even had a moment where I fantasized that this might be the start of a new career. It was a fleeting moment. I said yes and two seconds later, I was trying to back out. “Well…what if I just did a little lip gloss?” ”I’ll just get in the way.” Heather would have none of it. I’ll be fine, she said. We’ll make sure a real make up artist is there to oversee your work, she reassured me. That would be senior artist Victor Cembellin, a friend from our professional paths crossing all the time and and well-known pro within the fashion industry. He lives in the East Bay but seems to spend most of the year at fashion weeks in Milan, Paris and London when he’s not jetting off to Taipei or Hong Kong for MAC. I arrived at 3 p.m. wearing MAC black to the tent behind The Galleria at the San Francisco Design Center where the runway shows are taking place. Hair, makeup and models — the building blocks of a fashion show. Sixteen MAC makeup artists were broken up into teams of 4 or 5 and each team was designated to work a specific designer’s runway segment. Victor estimated about 45 models needed to be done in three hours time. As part of Victor’s team I’ll be working on a model for Pink Elf, a line designed by Kaushie Adisehan and based in Palo Alto. Victor’s vision for the makeup: “Kate Moss as a New York socialite.” What that means in MAC-speak is a sort of a it’s-3 p.m.-the-day-after-too-much-clubbing look with blue-gray rimmed eyes (Graphite cream shadow, Smolder eye kohl pencil and Reflex, a fine glitter that looked like tiny crystals adhered to the eyelid). A little foundation, a bronzer highlighting cheekbones and a gloss called Smoke Signals. The makeup artists gathered ’round Victor as he demonstrated on the first model, Jette Newell, a Christy Turlington look-alike from San Rafael. Victor’s first tip: start with a light touch at the center of the eye near the lashes, building outward for a gradiation of color. Donna’s first scare: Move too slowly with the brush and that cream shadow won’t budge off the lid without a remover and a mess. I had gone from nervous to confident to over-confident and then terrified once model Julie LaBonty sat down in my chair. A dab of Graphite on the lid and, whoa! I didn’t mean to make it so dark from the start. I need to rub it off fast or it won’t come off. Oh no, it’s already not moving. Help, Victor! The kohl eye pencil isn’t drawing a line as evenly as I envisioned as I fear blinding Julie with a slip of the tip. And, the glitter, while fun to apply, is like fairy dust and spreads over everything. Victor’s warning that too much will ruin the entire makeup application is ticker-taping it’s way across my brain. A good sport, Julie let me poke and brush and smudge with a not-so-deft touch. Twenty minutes and many Victor “clean ups” later, I’m done. I consider admiring my work and showing it off to Heather and others but the canvas is a real person and Julie needs to get moving. [...]