Photography by Peter Stigter
See the top ’90s-inspired beauty products in Diane and Dick’s tool kit »
By Celia Ellenberg
About halfway through the spring 2013 shows in New York, one thing became clear: Contours, not colour, were set to define the season. Gone were the deep wine-stained lips and tinted lashes from fall; in their place was, well, very little to speak of.
“It is a reaction to the economic times we are in. Huge, glamorous, overdone hair and makeup don’t make sense,” says makeup artist Diane Kendal, who had a big hand in this sea change. Over the past few seasons, Kendal has made boyish, raw but beautiful faces something of a calling card as the backstage go-to for cool designers like Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang and, more recently, Victoria Beckham. “Their point of view is what I translate,” Kendal humbly insists, pointing out that there was a ’90s-era lens on the collective perspective for spring.
“The look seems to have a modern feel,” she says, explaining why designers requested the decade’s sparse style en masse. “People like the simplicity—the pureness of design. It’s clean.” It’s also significantly less undone than it was 20 years ago. “It’s less grungy this time around.” The new minimalism is about subtly accentuating features rather than cultivating a full-on “look.” The irony, of course, is that a full-on look is actually easier to pull off than the “nothing” makeup that Kendal and fellow face-painters such as Shiseido artistic director Dick Page pioneered. Read more »
