Update, 11/15/2015: The Makeup Museum's fall 2015 exhibition was already devoted to Paris, but in the wake of the recent tragic attacks there, I want to dedicate the exhibition now to peace and healing in the city. Paris, your lights will never be dimmed!
In case you hadn't already guessed, in lieu of a regular seasonal exhibition this fall I'm whisking you away (virtually) to Paris! Much has been written about the allure of French beauty, from makeup artists giving some quick advice to entire books. Indeed, the constant stream of how-to articles on achieving the highly coveted French girl look demonstrate that many women the world over – especially us Americans – are more or less obsessed with how French women beautify themselves. There's even a whole skincare line to ensure one can achieve the seemingly effortless, "je ne sais quoi" French women possess. But this exhibition isn't about French beauty per se, since, as I pointed out, there are entire books on the subject and it would be too broad of a topic to tackle currently with the Museum's rather meager resources. Additionally, some consider the "typical" French beauty ideals to be rather offensive or completely baseless and false. My premise is much simpler: I wanted to focus on how Paris, the epicenter of French fashion and style, is represented in beauty product packaging and advertising. Whatever your stance is on the notion of French beauty, the fact remains that items with scenes from Paris are still quite appealing to most beauty consumers (or at least, popular with the brand's marketing department). So grab some croissants, macarons, or [insert French treat of choice here] and gaze upon the many lovely depictions of the City of Light.
(I apologize in advance for the poor photos. They're bad even for me. I think it was a combination of it being totally overcast and the fact that I had had 3 glasses of prosecco before attempting to take pictures.)
Top shelves, left to right.
While I adore the ad I purchased, I must say I wish I could have tracked down these:
(image from pinterest.com)
(image from pinterest.com)
Coty wasn't the only one trying to put Paris in a bottle.
![Lancome Auda[city] palette and ad](https://makeupmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/6a00e553d45a2a883301b7c7da59d3970b.png "Lancome Auda[city] palette and ad")
Too-Faced has just released their "Christmas in Paris" holiday line and I want every single thing in it! Alas, I had to narrow it to just one so I chose Le Grand Palais.
Remember how much I loved these Bourjois containers illustrated by Nathalie Leté?
I found a relatively rare compact on Ebay and thought this Cutex ad would go nicely with it.
Hard to tell from the photo, but this compact is actually red. There's also a black version, which is featured on page 108 of this book. Too bad I couldn't find any information on the company.
Third row, left to right.
T. LeClerc Paris in Winter powder:
Maison Lancôme Highlighting Powder:
The "Vibrant" line from Coty deserves its own post, but you'll get the gist of it from the exhibition label (I hope).
This set is too cute! While it's not officially named "Vibrant" (it says "Co-Ed Makeup Ensemble" on the box lid, which I didn't include in the exhibition), I suspect it contains the colors from the Vibrant range, since the shade names are the same as in all the Vibrant ads.
Bottom row, left to right.
You remember this set from the holiday 2014 exhibition, right?
This was quite an interesting find! Fortunately Collecting Vintage Compacts had the complete story, so I made sure to credit the author appropriately.
Another adorable collection from Bourjois.
Exhibition background
I had been wanting to do exhibitions on both New York and Paris in beauty products for roughly 4 years. Last year I got the idea of do a joint exhibition featuring both (working title was "A Tale of Two Cities: Depictions of Paris and New York in Beauty Products"). But I realized my collection had a few gaps when it came to NY. For example, I had missed purchasing the Makeup Forever Highline palette (despite my assertion that it would be good for a NY-themed exhibition) and this Sephora palette. I was also having a difficult time finding vintage NY-related pieces that were also as visually appealing as the ones I was finding for Paris. However, I did want to keep New York in the picture since I felt most of the items I had for Paris were from the same brands (Bourjois, Coty and Lancome) and I didn't want it to be repetitive. In the end, I determined that the pieces were different enough despite being from the same brand, so I abandoned the idea of including New York-themed items and decided to just focus on Paris. This doesn't mean, however, that the idea of a joint exhibition that includes New York will never be revisited. 😉
In terms of why I decided to launch this exhibition now, I was reflecting on my five-year wedding anniversary back in August and the amazing trip the husband and I took to Paris for our honeymoon, so I just had Paris on the brain. Plus, I couldn't seem to make a cohesive fall exhibition. Sometimes there's no particular seasonal theme that calls to me and I knew I had enough Paris items, so I thought, why not fall 2015?
Things I would have included but couldn't acquire
I made two collages of items that I'd give my eye teeth for. The pieces I have in the current exhibition are nice, but there are some others that would really enhance it.
First, some vintage pieces. On the left we have Bourjois Printemps de Paris powder and an ad for the fragrance beneath it. This perfume was released in 1931 and the ad is from 1933, so I'm guessing the powder is from around then too. On the right is a rare Dorin face powder from 1925. Funnily enough, Dorin still makes Un Air de Paris fragrance, although I suspect it's significantly different from the original. At the bottom we have the exquisite Guerlain Poudre aux Ballons from 1918, which I've been drooling over for quite a while.
(images from pinterest.com, hprints.com, liveauctioneers.com, and artfrancais.nl)
More contemporary items include the Fancl fall 2012 French chic collection (still kicking myself for not buying these when I had the chance – when I posted about them 3 years ago I was already envisioning them in a French/Paris-themed exhibition), the Clinique travel box which was only available at duty-free shops (grrr!), Catrice Big City collection from 2012 (again, another one I'm kicking myself for not buying and also one I had mentioned as being useful for a Paris or New York exhibition), and the lovely Kerrie Hess-illustrated collection for Lancôme, which unfortunately was only available in Australia.
Something surprising
When rounding up items for this exhibition, I was shocked to see that some of the quintessential French brands – Chantecaille, L'Occitane, Givenchy, Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, etc. – did not have any items depicting Paris. And Paul & Joe always seems to have a Parisian theme for their collections, but there are no actual illustrations of the city on their products. I'm not saying it's the responsibility of any of these brands to have Paris-themed products, just that I found it really odd.
And that's the exhibition! Does it make you want to take a fabulous trip to Paris?
For the third year in a row I managed to get myself up to NYC to go to the Makeup in NY show, which usually features an exhilarating exhibition of vintage beauty items (see recaps from 2013 and 2014). I wish I could say I had a great time, but truthfully, it was not the best trip. This year the show moved to a very convenient location right across from Penn Station, but it also switched dates – normally the show is towards the end of September, but this year it was the second week of the month, which is horrible for me work-wise as we always have a big quarterly meeting then. Tuesday of that week was spent running around like mad trying to get 2 days of meeting prep condensed into one day due to Labor Day, then Wednesday was the meeting, so Thursday was the only day I could make it to New York. I got to the train station only to find the train was a half hour late, then it proceeded to break down completely in NJ, so I arrived in Manhattan an hour later than expected. I also managed to miss meeting up with the fabulous Meli of Wild Beauty, who happened to be at the show almost at the same time! If I hadn't been so late I may have been able to meet up, but by the time I got there I basically had to make a quick pass through the show and then immediately head back to the train station to get home. Oh, and the train also got held up in NJ on the way back, so I was an hour late coming home as well. So after two hellish days of work and all the train issues, overall I was not pleased, but at least I got there!
Anyway, onto the show. Compared to the past 2 years it was very small. There were only about 10 cases total. I'd estimate that the amount of items was about half of what it's been for the past couple of years, which was a bit disappointing, especially given how annoyed I was by then from dealing with stupid Amtrak. However, I did get quite the surprise which totally made up for everything – keep reading to see what it was. 😉
There was a neat old book listing the types of packaging for various cosmetic items (or "toilet paints").
Vintage compacts are great, but boy do I love the graphics on old powder boxes.
How ridiculously cute is this soap container?!
More powder boxes.
Here's a very nice selection of vintage Guerlain items.
Stendhal – I don't know much about this brand but the packaging sure was fancy.
As I noted in my recap of last year's exhibition, I was a little taken aback that celebrities had their own beauty lines back then. This Josephine Baker stuff is crazy, no?
Now for the surprise that made the annoying trip completely worth it. I MET Jean-Marie Martin Hattemberg. Like, I actually talked to him!! I noticed a well-groomed man wearing a pretty spiffy shirt and a tie with a print of pairs of lips sitting at a table at the entrance to the exhibition. The table had copies of the Ode to the Complexion book that I've been trying to track down, so I asked to buy a copy. He smiled and started writing in it. At first I was puzzled, then it dawned on me that it was HIM!! I couldn't believe I was meeting the man behind these exhibitions, whose exquisite collection has traveled the world and that I've been admiring for years.
Not only did he write a lovely inscription in the book, he asked for my mailing address so he could send me auction catalogs containing vintage items. And he told me I should become a member of the International Perfume Bottle Association, as they include vintage powder boxes, compacts and lipsticks – I had no idea! He also suggested coming to their convention in Portland next April since they have tons of things available for sale. We swapped business cards and I told him a bit about the Makeup Museum…I think he thought I was a dope. I also really wanted to ask for a selfie with him – I felt like I was with a celebrity – but the conversation was already so awkward (thank you, crippling social anxiety) that I didn't. Plus he was gracious enough to autograph my book and chat with me a little so I didn't want to push my luck and bother him more than I already had.
After going through the exhibition I went upstairs to check out some of the booths. I have to say that while the Penn Plaza Pavilion was certainly convenient if you were coming from Penn Station, it was really cramped compared to the previous location, plus the air conditioning wasn't working very well so it was fairly stuffy. Rumor has it the show will move again next year, so I guess they received some negative feedback on the location. Anyway, I had to move quickly so I couldn't take a lot of photos. This creepy face chair got my attention though.
As did these oversize mascara wands – I would totally use these as decor in the Museum!! I almost burst out laughing when I saw them…they reminded me of something out of Pee Wee's Big Adventure (or, if you prefer, the giant underwear bit.)
So that was my trip to the Makeup in NY show. Not as enjoyable as years past, but meeting Mr. Hattemberg was so worth it (although sadly, I have not heard anything from him since.)
I wonder what the exhibition will be next year…can't wait! Hopefully I will have an easier time getting there and back. 🙂
I think this is the latest I've ever gotten up the summer exhibition, but as I always say, better late than never. I did a sea and safari theme this year, inspired by underwater treasures of the deep and the marvels found in lush jungles. Diving for pearls and swimming among coral reefs would be on my itinerary, along with watching a variety of animals in the wild and observing colorful tropical flowers. Additionally, for some reason I haven't been able to get this song out of my head, so that was another source of inspiration. "Send it by giraffe on jungle telegraph…"
So grab your safari hat and scuba gear, because we're in for quite an exotic adventure!
Top shelves:
Bottom shelves:
Top row, left to right.
Here's a shelf with Elizabeth Arden Sunkissed Pearls Bronzer and a Cutex ad. Can you guess what decade the latter is from? (This is an easy one!)
I had to include a closeup of the model – this is what mermaids were wearing in the '80s, I suppose.
The date for this is listed as 1986, two years after the movie Splash debuted. I just found it interesting that the copy included a line about changing back into a mermaid, as in the film Madison (played by Darryl Hannah) was able to switch back and forth between human and mermaid form…wonder if Cutex was influenced by this.
Givenchy Terre Exotique bronzer – this was in last year's summer exhibition so I was hesitant to repeat it, but it just fit this year's theme too well.
Chantecaille coral compact and a 1951 Dorothy Gray ad:
I loved the ad copy – "stolen from the mermaids…" Looks like we humans have been going for a mermaid look for over 60 years!
I also adore this seahorse with a little crown. All hail Queen Seahorse! I'd give anything to track down that lipstick tube and powder box. I know I have a Volupté compact with a seahorse on it, but this particular seahorse is clearly royalty!
Speaking of Volupté, here's an animal-themed compact from the '40s, along with a 1959 Chen Yu ad for their Safari collection. The ad has a photographer listed so I'm wondering if a real leopard cub posed with the model – it's not like they could have Photoshopped it in back then. (I also can't help but wonder whether said cub went berserk immediately after the picture was taken and clawed off everyone's faces.)
Second row, left to right.
Chantecaille L'Elephant palette…sadly the shimmery overspray is wearing off. I actually think the cover it comes with is responsible for the damage, as it's made of paper and the powder adheres to it more easily than it would to a plastic cover.
Here's this Baudelaire sea sponge, which I spotted at Anthropologie a little while ago. I saw at the Baudelaire website that it was "award-winning" packaging, so because I'm insane I called the company and asked which award it won and who was responsible for designing the box. I actually talked to the owner (who was super nice) and he told me about it.
Here's the other side so you can see the dolphins:
Whoops, editing fail. "Navy and blue stripes"? I think I meant navy and white stripes. Duh.
Third row, left to right.
Here's an ad and powder compact for Savage, a popular brand in the '30s. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find an original Savage ad, so I had to print out an image of one. I would have also liked to have gotten my hands on a lipstick tube, especially since there's an ad for their "Jungle Red" shade, which would have been perfect for the exhibition. I was able to track down a powder, which isn't in the best condition, but I do like how the powder puff has the same design as the outer case. Of course, as I mentioned in a previous post on Savage, implying that jungle/tropical regions and the native people who inhabit them are "savage" is quite problematic. But I thought this was important to include in the exhibition to show what kind of advertising messages were acceptable back then.
Estée Lauder Sea Star bronzer, always a favorite.
Paul & Joe spring 2015 collection:
Here's the lovely Clarins Aquatic Treasures bronzer, which was not available in the U.S. An extremely kind Canadian at Makeup Alley was willing to CP (custom purchase) it for me. I can't thank her enough, as it was truly a critical element for this year's theme.
Bottom row, left to right.
Paul & Joe Cap'n Kitty pressed powder. I had been calling him Sailor Cat and then I found out he had a real name! I included this and the MAC Hey Sailor collection because I figured one wouldn't be able to find an amazing coral reef to swim around without a seasoned sailor to lead the way. (And also because Sailor Babo graciously let me "borrow" these items for the exhibition. As he declared previously, they belong to him now.)
Here's the Guerlain Exotic Paradise eye shadow quad from spring 2009. When I wrote about it originally I completely missed how pretty the promo is.
Sephora makeup bag and eye shadow:
I thought Stila's Cruise to Cairo trio and postcard was still appropriate for the exhibition theme, even though Cairo is more of a desert than a jungle/wildlife destination. Her outfit is indubitably safari-esque. I really wish I could find this trio in pristine condition. I swapped for this one years ago despite the writing on the case since I knew it was hard to find by that point, so I guess it's better than not having the trio in my collection at all, but still…anyway, the postcard, you might recall, is part of an amazing package of Stila memorabilia bestowed upon the Museum.
So what did you think of the exhibition? Even though we're already getting glimpses of fall collections, I hope this put you in a summery mood!
Last week I noticed a huge spike in blog traffic – nearly 3,000 page views (or, sadly, roughly 14 times the usual amount of daily views). Clearly the counter must be broken, I thought, there's probably some kind of glitch that's inflating the number. As it turns out, it was actually correct as one of my posts was linked in one of those silly Buzzfeed lists so that's what was driving all the traffic. Naturally I perused the list to see where the Makeup Museum was mentioned and saw that one of the items included was new work by May Sum. You may remember this lipstick sculptor as being the first Makeup as Muse post I did back in 2013. The Buzzfeed list highlighted some more recent and quite spectacular work of hers that I somehow missed, so I thought I'd talk about her latest makeup-as-art endeavor: a collaboration with Make Up For Ever.
In the fall of 2014 Make Up For Ever celebrated their 30th anniversary by launching a new range of eye shadows that were showcased at an event at Club Lusitano in Hong Kong. Five new eye shadow finishes were introduced in the new line and captured in a photoshoot, with each model wearing one of the finishes. (I have to say I'm fuzzy on the details for this, as the Google translation was awful and I couldn't find any articles in English.) In addition, May Sum created an "Artist Shadow Wonderland", an exhibition consisting of a more elaborate, forest/floral-themed take on her famous lipstick sculptures. She also was behind the intricate flower garden sculptures that seem to sprout from the eye shadows themselves.
These objects in particular were very intriguing. I'm not 100% sure because as I noted earlier, Google Translate made no sense, but I think the one on the far left is supposed to be a lipstick likeness of Make Up For Ever founder Dany Sanz. I really have no idea what the others are, but they might be sculptures based on sketches by Sanz.
(images from doublepworkshop.blogspot.com)
Be sure to check out some real-life photos here and here by people who were lucky enough to attend the event and accompanying exhibition. The sculptures look even more amazing than they do in the stock photos. And I liked the simple vitrines used to display the objects. I'm also wondering what happened to the pieces she made, like if they ended up in the Make Up For Ever archives or if they were sold.
So what do you think of May Sum's latest work? Do you like her Make Up For Ever creations more than her previous lipstick sculptures? I think it's all amazing and I can't choose one over the other! All I know is that the Makeup Museum is in desperate need of one of her works.
I'm pleased to bring you the Makeup Museum's holiday 2014/winter 2015 exhibition! As you may have guessed, I went for a stars and angels theme this year. I have never seen makeup companies release as many products with stars on them as they did this holiday season. Plus, I thought it would be a nice change of pace from the usual glitzy, bling/gold-ridden exhibitions of seasons past (not that there's anything wrong with those, of course – I love anything shiny and gemlike, especially for the holidays.) There's still a festive feel but it's a little more quiet and understated. Think "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" instead of "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree". Basically my vision was of a calm, starry winter's night and the notion of peace (represented by the angels) rather than a holiday party vibe. I wanted to incorporate some dark blue too instead of metallics or white, as I find blue to be a soothing color.
Anyway, let's get to it. Yes, there is an empty shelf. Sadly the ArtDeco holiday items I ordered from Beautybay still have not arrived, but I will update the photos once they do.
The top row is the "angel row". Since angels reside in the sky I thought it would be best to have them all at the top. Yep, I deliberately planned it that way…that's the ticket, yeah. Okay, obviously I'm totally lying. It just so happened that there were a lot of angel-themed vintage ads and I couldn't fit them on the spaces above the lower shelves, so they all had to go on the top shelves. Oh well.
This Stila palette is labeled as a powder, but I forgot it's actually an eye shadow quad. Whoops.
I've had my eye on this 1945 Avon ad for probably a year. I love that it's an angel dropping off presents instead of Santa.
Remember how much I loved the Kanebo Milano compacts? Well, I was able to get my hands on the 2014 one! So excited.
While I love these compacts the embossing on the powder isn't quite as sharp as it could be – you can barely make out the little guy.
Lancôme Sparkling Cherub palette, plus an awesome ad where I think they got the design from:
Helena Rubinstein Heaven Sent powder and ad…I would have given my eye teeth to track down the Heaven Sent compact I saw on display at the Makeup in New York show, but this powder is pretty adorable.
Second row, left to right.
Charlotte Tilbury Fallen Angel palette and mini lipstick charms:
Lancôme Starry Eyes set:
While this pressed powder from Dior's Golden Shock holiday collection looked like a vaguely Scandinavian-esque snowflake to me, according to Dior's website it is indeed meant to be a star:
Chanel Rêve d'Orient quad:
Third row, left to right.
I included the Chanel Camélia de Plumes Highlighter even though it doesn't incorporate angels or stars into the design. It might be a reach, but the feathery plumes are like angel wings, yes?
Clé de Peau Beauté Céleste collection:
Paul & Joe holiday 2014 pressed powder:
Bottom row, left to right.
Estée Lauder Glittering Stars compact:
While Guerlain's holiday 2014 Météorites do not have technically have a star or angel motif, I thought since the name had the word "star" in it they could be part of the exhibition. Again, kind of a reach but I think they added a nice balance.
Armani Orient Excess palette:
Anna Sui lipsticks and Sephora Midnight Magic glitter pot:
So that is the Makeup Museum's holiday/winter exhibition this year. I hope you have a peaceful, calm and cozy season!
I can't even remember what I was researching when I stumbled across this site chock full of vintage compacts, but I'm so glad I did. I was dazzled by both the quantity and quality of this person's collection, and then I saw that it formed an exhibition that took place a decade ago. "The Art of Allure: Powder Compacts and Vanities of the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries" was on display at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in April and May of 2004, so at this point it's a vintage exhibition of vintage compacts.
The collector behind this wonderful compilation is Noelle Soren, whose bio I pored over and have decided it's movie-worthy. She and her husband both hold advanced degrees in archaeology and art history (ahem) and have traveled the world digging up various artifacts. Eventually she found her way to collecting vintage compacts, and she also wrote and photographed the catalogue for the exhibition. The catalogue is available online and is incredibly informative. She also mentioned that hard copies of the catalogue do appear on Ebay from time to time, so I'm going to keep my eyes peeled in the hopes of snagging one. Definitely check it out (but only if you have plenty of time – you can easily spend an hour looking at everything!)
I spotted a very intriguing exhibition at Art Daily a few weeks ago. Two years in the making, "Beauty by Design: Fashioning the Renaissance" has finally opened at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. I was hoping there would be something about cosmetics or beauty included (not that a fashion exhibition wouldn't be great by itself) and sure enough, there is! From the museum's website: "The exhibition showcases two different, but inter-connected strands of research activity: responding to old-master paintings in the National Galleries’ collections, UK-based fashion designers have created new works using high-quality materials such as lace, while renaissance art specialists have explored ideas about beauty and cosmetics. The theme of body image is central: the historic paintings have been approached both as a means of challenging current perceptions of physical beauty, and as inspiration for a more diverse and emotionally considerate practice on the part of today’s fashion designers."
This is quite a novel approach of linking Renaissance art to contemporary fashion and notions of beauty. Rather than simply gathering and displaying Renaissance clothing and portraits, which, again, would still make for a terrific exhibition on its own, the organizers developed a unique concept in demonstrating how art from the Renaissance can be reinterpreted as a counterpoint to today's beauty standards. They explain it better than I can: "The beautiful bodies of the Renaissance – the fleshy women of Titian or Rubens or the androgynous forms of Michelangelo or Leonardo – are a long way away from today’s size zero model, yet both have been considered ideals of beauty in these diverse societies..the project aims to promote and reinstate a healthier attitude towards diversity of body image and beauty. The research team will seek to unravel historical codes of beauty and innovate towards new fashion design and communication solutions."
While I find the fashion aspect fascinating, obviously my attention is mostly on the cosmetics and beauty part of the exhibition. Since I can't catch a plane to Scotland at the moment I'm unable to delve into any details about these topics, but there is a short essay about beauty ideals depicted in one of the paintings here. Additionally, that page led me to Making Up the Renaissance, which is described as "a collaborative project to research and disseminate information about renaissance cosmetics." The site doesn't appear to be active now, but offers a wealth of resources and research on Renaissance makeup and beauty practices. Make sure to check out the "further reading" page, as there are lots of good sources to look up. I was especially heartened to see that this site is maintained by Dr. Jill Burke, an art historian (my failed dream career!) specializing in Italian Renaissance visual culture.
Another interesting person of note: the contributors section of the Beauty by Design website lists Sharon Lloyd, a faculty member at Southampton Solent University who teaches in the Media and Fashion Styling program there and specializes in "theoretical application and debate surrounding beauty, make-up and hair design." I would love to see the specific work she did for the Beauty by Design exhibition, but in lieu of that, I enjoyed abstracts of various papers she's written about makeup here – I wish I could read the full papers.
If anyone lives in Scotland or will be traveling there before the exhibition closes on May 3rd, 2015, I'm all ears for a full review (and pictures if you were allowed to take them!)
The holiday collections are rolling in and little peeks of other holiday swag are starting to make their way into stores, so it’s high time I address the fall 2014 exhibition situation. As you may have guessed from the title of this post and from several other hints I’ve been dropping since, oh, February, my plan was to not do a traditional seasonal exhibition but do one on ’90s beauty and the revival that ’90s trends have been enjoying lately. This is an area in which that I declare myself to be an expert, and thought, would it really be so difficult? The answer: yes.
Here’s my story about the various challenges that prevented me from executing the exhibition, or even a week’s worth of posts on the subject (that was my alternate plan). Figured I might as well make it a ’90s gif party to better express my tale of woe.
First, there was the packaging issue. Look, I love the ’90s. It was “my” decade. However, from a design/packaging standpoint, there wasn’t a whole lot to look at. Pretty embossed powders, to my knowledge, didn’t really begin to take off until the early aughts. To make an exhibition focused heavily on ’90s products work, you have to add in many more elements. I could have sat a vintage bottle of Hard Candy’s Sky nail polish or Revlon Toast of New York lipstick on my shelves, but it just wouldn’t have much visual impact even with the addition of ads or other ephemera.
My rudimentary home museum setup works well enough for seasonal exhibitions, but wouldn’t properly capture an entire decade. It would be necessary to highlight these objects in more grandiose ways than I’m capable of. If I had a real museum you better believe visiting a ’90s beauty exhibition would be like stepping back in time – it would be a multi-sensory experience.
Secondly, accessible resources are lacking unless you’re in the beauty industry or in academia. While I have plenty of beauty history books, they don’t have extensive info about the ’90s beauty or even good, easy-to-find sources (I looked in the footnotes). I don’t have access to the Condé Nast archive or Women’s Wear Daily, and many important articles about beauty are trapped within those and others like them. It’s just evil that they don’t make these more easily available or affordable (looking at you, WWD).
So I ended up ordering a bunch of ’90s issues of Allure on E-bay, which proved to be not only expensive but also incomplete. I couldn’t do a whole exhibition based on a few measly magazines.
While I gleaned some useful information and ads from them, in the end it didn’t feel like enough. Plus the thought of tearing out and scanning vintage ads made me very sad.
Plenty of information about ’90s beauty is online but I found it consists mostly of slideshows of the same ’90s products everyone already remembers, or a quick report of some celebrity updating a ’90s trend. There are tons of articles which are helpful as a starting-off point, but they all just barely scratch the surface. I’m guessing this is in part because most online articles are written by milennials who were mere children in the ’90s.
I wanted to remind people of things they hadn’t remembered, or at least explore the bigger trends and topics much more in-depth than you would see anywhere else, since, as someone who came of age in the ’90s and started nurturing my beauty addiction back then, I’m in an excellent position to do so.
For example, it occurred to me that I wanted to have a totally kick-ass infographic with a timeline and fun facts about beauty in the ’90s that you didn’t already know – sort of like Allure’s “By the Numbers” feature but with spectacular design. Good idea, yes?
But with such meager resources I couldn’t do it.
The lack of time was also a huge obstacle. I regularly fantasize about quitting my job and writing about beauty and various other topics and also establishing a physical beauty museum.
In reality I have to work a regular boring full-time job and squeeze in blogging whenver I can, and it’s a rather sad blog as I have virtually no readers.
Anyway, to make a good exhibition that goes well beyond the usual seasonal ones would essentially be a full-time job. The alternative of putting up a mediocre exhibition on such a rich topic didn’t sit well with me.
The final nail in the coffin was technology. Since I am a bit older (that’s how you know I truly am a ’90s woman) I was planning on uploading my ultimate ’90s playlist for readers to listen to while they browsed the exhibition, but figuring out how to create an online playlist proved too complicated and overwhelming for me.
The bottom line is that it was too broad of a topic to cover the way I wanted to, and rather than put up something that’s just meh, I scrapped the exhibition/posts entirely.
It would make a good book though, I think. Wouldn’t it be cool if I could write the definitive book on beauty in the ’90s?
Note: I already have a title picked out and so help me if anyone steals it I will have no choice but to get violent.
So that is my very long-winded explanation about why there is no fall exhibition this year. But keep your eyes peeled for the holiday exhibition – that one is definitely a go. As a matter of fact I’m off to order some more objects for it. Bye now!
Last year I made a pilgrimage up to Manhattan to catch the exhibition of vintage lipsticks at the Makeup in New York show. This year I realized I had to go back for the 2014 show since it featured an exhibition of vintage compacts and powder boxes.
The banner was cool but I'm laughing at the date typo at the top. Those June dates were for the 2014 Makeup in Paris show. Whoops.
Inside there was a directory, which in hindsight I should have looked at before blindly wandering upstairs. I walked around the 2nd and 3rd floors before realizing the exhibition was on the 4th floor. I was just so eager and there weren't any maps being given out like last year.
I made it! I think there might have been an issue with this banner too, although this time I think it's a translation issue rather than a typo. In the directory banner and online the exhibition is referred to as "Praise of Complexion" while on the exhibition banner it says "An Ode to the Complexion". Oh well. I think perhaps they were just re-using the name of the 2012 Guerlain-sponsored exhibition, which featured many of the same items.
Exhibition view:
The tall handsome man on the far right holding a coffee cup and politely pretending to be interested is the husband. Isn't he sweet to come with me to the exhibition?
So let's get started. I didn't take pictures of every object but I did get a nice selection. These two ladies greeted me by the front door. They're papier maché powder boxes from 1920.
By the windows there was a great lineup, starting with some oddly surrealist powder boxes.
There were some lovely French 18th-century-inspired compacts and boxes from the 1920s. So even in the '20s companies were doing the retro packaging thing.
This display of Bourjois boxes was pretty cool.
I was thinking that if I ever did a bird-themed exhibition I'd definitely have to have a peacock display. Looks like Praise of Complexion beat me to it! The top box from Nylotis is from 1920 while the other box and compact are from 1930.
These two 1962 Heaven Sent compacts by Helena Rubinstein are so cute. The one on the left would be perfect for a holiday exhibition.
Here's the famous "Golden Gesture" compact by Volupté from 1945. (Why yes, that IS a Babo iPhone case. Come on, did you really expect me to have something else?)
Here's a bakelite bangle containing powder flanked by two lipsticks (1928).
As we know, celebrity collabs are nothing new. Check out these compacts featuring the A-list performers of their time.
There were also some quite fancy compacts on display that seem to be closer to the objects at the Ultra Vanities exhibition. On the left is a 1945 gold and silver compact encrusted with rubies by Boucheron and on the right is Hermès (1960).
I think what I enjoyed most though were the really old boxes, like these French ones from the 18th century.
The small one at the top has a picture of Marie Antoinette on the outer side of the case.
I was curious to know whether these selections were from a book, and indeed they were. This book is from 2012 but doesn't seem to be available for sale anywhere, which is a shame as it also was the impetus for the aforementioned Guerlain exhibition. 🙁
I didn't dare touch the book in the display, but I tried picking up the copy laying on the table to flip through it, only to find that the back cover was adhered to the table with putty. Respectful exhibition goer that I am, I took it as a sign that no one wanted it to be moved so I just perused it carefully while it was still laying flat. Not 10 minutes later I glanced back and it was gone. And NO, I didn't steal it! I'd be pissed if it were my exhibition and someone walked off with a copy of a book that was deliberately not supposed to be moved. I couldn't believe someone just snatched it. It's not like it could be mistaken for a free catalogue – there was only 1 besides the one standing upright in the display. Plus someone took the time to adhere it to the table with putty, indicating that you should only flip through it at the table.
Anyway, I thought display-wise it was a big improvement over last year. The labels were more informative and better designed, and there were pretty floral patterns on the backgrounds of the cases holding the compacts.
After I was done drooling over the exhibition we wandered around and a couple of other things caught my eye. Right behind the exhibition there was a booth from a company called Qualipac, which, apparently, was responsible for the spiky Louboutin nail polish bottle along with many other objects I recognized.
I asked the woman working there about the bottle and she said the Louboutin people were "very picky". I thought that was pretty funny. Then again, if they want people to shell out $50 for their nail polish they can't afford to put it in just any old packaging, right? Plus I imagine beauty companies would have the upper hand in terms of choosing a packaging vendor, given the sheer volume of them I witnessed at this show, so I bet they can be as picky as they want.
I can't remember which company this was but I loved the little lipstick tree they had set up.
This is a terrible picture but you can sort of make out the really cool floral print nail polish bottle caps in the lower right. I spied an array of wooden caps above too, so I'm speculating that this company (Pinkpac) may do the packaging for Sheswai.
I spotted something very interesting at this company's display. If you look towards the middle-left you'll see two Tom Ford lipsticks (one burgundy, the other ivory) covered in a croc-patterned leather case. I'm assuming this is just an example of what they would look like with leather casing and weren't actually put into production. Still, I wonder if we'll see them at a later time?
I couldn't resist picking up a t-shirt – something that wasn't available last year.
There was also a bag like last year with bits of swag. It had the same Pantone-esque collection of vendors and a pencil, but this year the pencil had glitter (ooh!) and there were also lipstick and nail polish samples.
So that's my tale from the 2014 Makeup in New York show. I hope there's an equally cool exhibition next year.
What are your thoughts?