Makeup artist, Mark Carrasquillo backstage with M.A.C Cosmetics at Chalayan.
I wasn’t expecting to have a chat about feminism[1] and makeup when I interviewed Mark Carrasquillo backstage at Chalayan, but he launched into the discussion while effortlessly drawing in an arched and angled brow on a model.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with young women who are feminists[2],” says Carrasquillo. “And I started thinking we went really far away from female beauty for a long time. So now I’m playing with every trick of the female.”
Tricks of the female? “An eyebrow is a trick; a lip is a trick,” he says. “That’s why I did a lot of lips this season. I am playing with the idea of femininity in a female, feminist way. So it’s empowering. We are using the colour blue on the eye, because often women are afraid of colour. It can feel beautiful and uplifting and powerful. It’s not making your eye bigger or more sexy or changing anything. Wear it because you love it. We’ve been telling them to use no-makeup makeup for so long that we’ve basically embarrassed women out of wearing colour, and I’m bored of that.”
This isn’t your “old-lady’ blue” either. Using products from M.A.C Cosmetics, Carrasquillo blended Acrylic Paint in Pure White with Hi-Def Cyan to create a soft blue colour that he then applied to the crease of the eye and covered with a clear lip gloss on top.
He says young women are smart, savvy and secure in who they are so that when they use a “beauty trick” it’s because they want to; it’s not to correct some perceived failing. “It’s not like they are saying they want bigger lips,” he said. “No, it’s like, ‘I want to wear fuscia lipstick, so I am going to wear fuscia lipstick. And if I don’t wear it, I don’t care either.’ They flip-flop back and forth from being scrubbed clean to made-up. They live their lives much broader.”
“Sometimes it seems makeup is becoming a shameful thing,” he says, his eyebrows raising in disbelief. “How did that happen? I still love when I go out and i see a woman in a full-blown look. I’m excited by it. It’s so boring to see people with no haircut, so to speak. It’s all under the umbrella of good taste. “
He considers what he just said for a moment, and shakes his head. “Maybe we need to un-umbrella ourselves and get some bad taste.”
READ MORE
ELLE Canada on Feminism
Why a fashion girl can also be a feminist
Feminism’s online renaissance[3][4][5]
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About Noreen Flanagan
Here’s how a fashion and beauty fantasy day for me might unfold. First, I’d meet Alber Elbaz for an espresso and a croissant. Then Stella McCartney and I would go for a run to work off my bakery sins with Alber. At home, Guido Palau would be waiting to do my hair and then the charming Peter Philips would perform a makeup miracle. I’d then slip into a shift dress from Céline (it’s Look 10 from the fall collection, if you’re curious.) Because I’d be lunching with Haider Ackermann, I’d likely wear one of his long woven jackets. I’m thinking Look 14 would be perfect. Later that night, I’d have cocktails with Raf Simons wearing Look 5—or perhaps Look 3. And then—if I have the stamina—I’d join Karl at one of his swish afterparties. Yes, that’s pretty much my fantasy day.
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