The makeup shake up - Kevyn Aucoin, make-up artist - Interview

Interview, Nov, 1997 by Courtney Love

Courtney Love, no stranger to a pretty face, unmasks the many layers of beauty with the legendary Kevyn Aucoin

Kevyn Aucoin is the Matisse of makeup. Since he first arrived in New York City in 1983, the thirty-five-year-old Louisiana native has established himself as one of the world's preeminent makeup artists, He's been a favorite to a long list of both familiar and unfamiliar faces, while earning the trust and devotion of skin-care companies and superstars alike. But he has also proven his ability to bring ideas to performers who don't usually listen to fashion and beauty types - because he's not just a formula man. This month marks the arrival of Aucoin's second book, Making Faces (Little Brown), a glossy compendium of makeup secrets and practical techniques that also features a clever homage to the glamour of yore starring a host of contemporary actresses and supermodels.

Courtney Love is no stranger to issues of glamour herself, She has both resisted its cliches and used its vocabulary to push the point that people have more dimensions than the slots they're put into. Much of her radical metamorphosis from grunge goddess to radiant Oscar nominee can be attributed to Aucoin's magic paintbrush (though Aucoin himself might argue that true beauty comes from within). It seemed only fitting, then, to bring these two friends together and let the pancake fly.

COURTNEY LOVE: My favorite thing in your book is the movie star images you've redone. Who's the biggest diva you never got to work with?

KEVYN AUCOIN: More than anyone, I'd probably have to say Marlene Dietrich.

CL: Is it true that Dietrich used to stick pins straight into her head?

KA: Well, I can't say firsthand. [laughs] But I've heard that story. That's why I fell in love with her: Anyone who'd stick pins in her head is my kind of gal. Bette Davis too; she had a unique look. It wasn't "classical" beauty, but the face was so expressive.

CL: What's it like to do makeup for someone contemporary like Kate Moss?

KA: Kate's face is one of the most transformative canvases you could ever ask for. She's really a composite of every great feature you can put on a face. Her mouth is insane, and the spacing of her eyes . . .

CL: When I sat with Kate, it reminded me how beauty can be such a pleasure. I was trying to tell this to a friend the other day: "Look, not everyone's beautiful - it's rare." That's why it's so great to have beauty around.

KA: Yes, but everyone is beautiful to someone. That's what my book is about. I tried to include as many different types and as many different sizes and ages as I could. In fashion magazines today, the majority of models you're looking at are eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old skinny white girls. There's a black model here and there; once in a while, there's an Asian or Hispanic model. There are some brunette white girls, which I guess the industry considers black. [laughs] But it's not just magazines. I think the responsibility lies with the fashion world as a collective. We have to demand more variety.

CL: How do you bring so much enthusiasm to a photo shoot after doing it for fourteen years?

KA: There are two types of people in the world: people who are passionate about things, and people who've had their passion punched, beaten, or whatever out of them. I'm very passionate about what I do. I also have this incredible love for women. When I was growing up, the men in my life were abusive; women were the ones I ran to for comfort. Whenever I do makeup for someone like Gena Rowlands or Tina Turner, all the people I grew up admiring - all of whom gave me hope that I could get out of a horrible situation - I feel like I'm returning a favor.

CL: Ever since you've been doing my makeup, people keep asking me if I had a face-lift. I look so much better now than I did, because of you.

KA: It's not better; it's different. I thought the way you looked before was fierce.

CL: What would you have done with Marilyn Monroe's face? I've heard plastic surgeons say that she didn't have a perfect face.

KA: No great beauty has a "perfect" face. You know what I mean?

CL: There are some. What about Vivien Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor?

KA: No, they weren't perfect. But they were extraordinary.

CL: Oh, come on! When you watch Gone with the Wind, don't you want to cry for all that heartbreaking beauty?

KA: Beauty has a lot to do with character. The faces I see in the modeling industry can get dull. A lot of those women are really "perfect" beauties, and a lot of them don't work because there's no edge.

CL: OK. Who's your ideal beauty?

KA: Growing up, my ideals were Barbra Streisand, Cher, and my mom.

CL: What about what I call morning show beauty? I'm not talking so much about Katie Couric as about huge hair and plastered makeup. Who dictates that?

KA: TV changes the way we measure beauty, mostly because it's so much more accessible than film. I'm going to insult a whole industry here, but it seems like TV is for people who can't do film. I'm not talking about actresses; I'm talking about lighting people. Lighting on TV is just so . . . it's sinful, it really is. Another thing that's pathetic is this rule that you have to look ugly to get respect as an actress. Jessica Lange had to make herself look really bad to prove that she had amazing talent. Like when Farrah Fawcett did The Burning Bed [1984]. I could make a list that goes on and on and on.