Moving on from one type of theatrical makeup to another, today I’d like to talk about high fashion makeup. A friend recently emailed to ask what I thought about the ‘no eyebrow’ trend. She wasn’t into it and thought it would look ridiculous. And you know what? It would look ridiculous not to have any eyebrows. Sometimes there is trickle down from experimental high fashion makeup, in a more subtle variety, but in this case I’m going to have to agree with my friend that it’s probably not going to happen.

However, that wasn’t really the intention of the first artist who did it and then the others who followed. The point was to have fun! To do something interesting and complete an image that is considered art. Maybe it’s the short-term, mass-market presentation of high fashion to a consumer market that makes it lose some of it’s art cred , but it’s not literal and hardly ever intends to be literal. No, you shouldn’t bleach your eyebrows and wear raccoon eye makeup to work tomorrow with a high-collared Marie Antoinette-esk bodice. Don’t be silly.

Working in the Miami market which is almost exclusively commercial (think American Eagle or Cosmo Magazine) and very pretty and very literal, I sometimes forget that high fashion makeup IS about fun and humor. I can tell you for sure that almost every ladies fashion look is created with a touch of humor. The glossy appearance and larger than life egos results in some confusion on the matter, but just maybe that’s the funniest part of all.

While up in NY a couple weeks ago I shot with Photographer David Morett. Initially we were going for pretty and it just wasn’t working. We abandoned ship and just as I clutched to the edge of the pretty life boat, David said, ‘Come on, it’s fashion, let’s have some fun.’ And you know, he was right.

Here’s a shot from the day, and no, I didn’t paint a forehead gold to imply that that’s what the cool kids are doing. It just looks cool- and kind of funny.

And a few out takes of model Alessandre having fun in her makeup…