I was so pleased I was able to trek up to NYC last Thursday to see Makeup in New York's show and vintage lipstick exhibition! It was fun to walk around and see all the packaging companies, but the main draw for me, of course, was seeing some highlights from Lips of Luxury up close and in person.
The show was held at Center 548 in Chelsea, which is an area of NYC I'm not too familiar with – we normally stick to Soho and Union Square, with occasional jaunts to where all the department stores are (uptown? downtown?):
Nice little brochures were provided when you checked in.
I eagerly searched to find where the lipstick exhibition was.
Fortunately it was on the 2nd floor so I didn't have to climb too many steps to get there!
Right up front were the Revlon Couturines!!
Behind those was that crazy Lenox lipstick holder:
Some other treasures:
Why yes, that IS a mermaid-shaped lipstick case!!
Huge dork that I am, I had brought my copy of Lips of Luxury with me in the hopes of getting either Jean-Marie Martin-Hattenberg (the author) or Anne Camilli (Editorial Director) to sign it, if they happened to be at the exhibition. And I thought maybe I could give them my card. I did in fact meet Anne, but ultimately I was too chicken to actually ask for an autograph or start plugging the Makeup Museum. My husband pointed out that it may not have been as weird as I thought to ask her to sign the book, as she was the one who, you know, helped write it. But I thought I might come off as annoying or worse, some kind of creepy stalker, so I just said I was a big fan of the book and left her alone.
Overall, I thought it was a well-curated exhibition. The selections were definitely what I would have chosen from the book. I did think, however, that the presentation could use a little work. The glass jars with the pink tops were cute, but the acrylic stands that some of the lipsticks were sitting on within them looked pretty cheap. And the jar wasn't the best choice of display vessel for the Alberto Guardiani lipstick shoe – it looked squashed in there! I also would have made the label text nicer and with thicker paper. Good typography and quality paper goes a long way. Of course, I have little room to talk since I tend to cram items onto the shelves I use for my exhibitions and the shelves themselves aren't tremendously well-made. Still, I think for a formal exhibition in a "real" public space I'd go the extra mile to make sure everything looks amazing.
After I was done drooling over the exhibition, we explored the other booths and saw what conference sessions were taking place.
On the way out I helped myself to a goodie bag.
I thought this was cool – it's all the packaging companies that attended the expo in Pantone swatchbook form.
A bag of samples of the latest and greatest in packaging:
Copy of Beauty Packaging magazine and a pencil.
Then after that we hit up Soho for some shopping. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for my credit card balance) I didn't see anything I wanted, but as we were walking to catch a cab back to Penn Station I caught a glimpse of something very exciting – the space where a new outpost of Ladurée will be!! It's supposed to open in mid-November and will be the biggest in the world!! It will definitely make staying in Soho all the sweeter once it opens, literally.
You can see more photos from the Makeup In New York show here. 🙂
When I was researching the compact from my previous post, I came across this amazing blog that's chock full of great information and drool-worthy pictures of vintage and contemporary compacts. Run by Jane Johnston, Director of Vanroe Compacts, the blog has incredibly useful articles on a variety of topics related to vintage compacts, like how to start your own compact collection (invaluable for me, as I'm still just scratching the surface of vintage makeup), how to refill a vintage compact, and brand histories.
Ms. Johnston seems quite knowledgeable, so I'm wondering if she can help me track down another one of these vintage Stratton compacts with mermaids on it…that's one I definitely need. :)
How cool is this? A man in Torrance, California was helping a friend go through some old boxes in her garage, when he came across a virtual treasure trove of Max Factor memorabilia, including photos, corporate documents and even some makeup! The friend's father was a facilities manager at Max Factor Studios and
when these items were abandoned in company storage, he decided to store
them himself rather than throwing them out. Good for him.
One of the men in the videos, Stephen Woo, was the one who brought this to my attention. He also asked if I'd be interested in buying any of the items! Naturally I said yes, but I have not heard back. :(
See anything in the vid you'd like to get your hands on? I know I did – face powder and lipsticks!
I must say that the title of this blog entry is misleading. There isn't really much content to review in this book, but there sure are some wonderful vintage compacts to drool over! I guess it will be an overview of an overview.
Mueller provides a very brief (a mere 3-page) summary of American compact companies at the start of the book, and explains that it's not a pricing guide. While I am curious to know what these pieces might go for if they were for sale, I was not disappointed that the book doesn't contain pricing information. From there on it's all pictures of glorious compacts and even some ads for them. Each one includes the sizes of each piece and the manufacturer.
I thought I'd give you a little taste of what you'll find in the book if you decide to purchase it. And you really should if you like admiring pretty makeup* – because compacts are relatively small objects, there were usually 4-5 pictures of different ones per page. So. Much. Eye candy! You can buy it here.
Here are some of the compacts that jumped out to me immediately.
These iris and poppy compacts are from the early 1940s and according to the book, are very rare.
I love the little legs on this Volupté "Petit Boudoir" compact from 1950:
These four are by Rex Fifth Avenue. The two on the right bear the signature of cartoonist Hilda Terry, whose designs of "bobby soxers" somehow made their way onto these compacts.
In addition to illustrated compacts, there were some fantastic blingy pieces, like these from Volupté and Evans.
I thought I'd save my favorite for last: a zippered compact bearing a mermaid (!!!) and seahorse:
There are so many more pieces to ooh and aah over, including one with a map of New York designed especially for the 1939 World's Fair, the famous Dali compact, and even an enameled compact with a picture of fruit. Mueller notes that depictions of fruit were very rare in compacts – how unlike the abundance I found in vintage ads!
I know I'll enjoy re-perusing all the compacts in this book, and I do find it helped me get a sense of what to look for in terms of vintage compacts. As you know, the Makeup Museum is mostly focused on contemporary cosmetics, but I really want to add vintage pieces to the collection. This was a great primer.
*I am not affiliated with the author in any way and received no compensation for writing about this book.
While I was researching ads for a special exhibition (coming in February!) I noticed a theme common in vintage beauty ads – fruit. Fruit is an obvious and appealing choice for makeup shade names, and fruit-flavored or scented items aren't new, as these ads from 1964 and 1971 demonstrate:
And they're still popular today (see Stila's lip glazes and Lancome's Juicy Tubes, for starters). However, vintage ads featuring "nature's candy" are fairly different than contemporary ones in that they actually depict the fruit itself, making the connection between fruit and makeup much more literal.
Let's take a fruit-filled trip back in time! (You can click to enlarge most of these images, and you really should – the copy is priceless.)
I like the graphics in this 1964 ad for Estée Lauder's Swiss Strawberry lipstick.
But my favorite strawberry beauty ads appeared earlier, in 1958. I don't know why, but the phrase "Hot Strawberry" cracks me up. Cutex designed two versions of the ad for their matching lipstick and nail polish.
As we'll see, Revlon led the way in naming products after fruit, and launched extensive campaigns to coincide with them. Here are two ads for Cherries in the Snow, a color introduced in 1952 and that is still around today, and one for Cherries a la Mode (1955).
Sometimes fruit made it into an ad even though the product advertised was not at all related to fruit, as in these examples from Cover Girl (1976) and Max Factor (1962):
Now let's take a peek at the comparatively tiny amount of fruit-based contemporary ads. Here's a Japanese one for Stila lip glazes, circa 2009 (from the Museum's collection).
As for Lancome's fruit-scented and named Juicy Tube lip glosses, I believe this is the only ad for them that depicts fruit itself, for their limited edition "Juicy Mood" line.
Lastly, there was MAC's 2008 Cult of Cherry collection.
The underlying message in these contemporary ads is also pretty different than that of their predecessors. With the exception of MAC's Cult of Cherry, all of them convey a sense of freshness and light, whereas most of the vintage ads have a decidedly darker, more provocative bend. "Who knows about the black-lace thoughts you think while shopping in a gingham frock?" Revlon's Cherries in the Snow ad asks, while others describe their colors as "luscious," "tempting," "madly voluptuous." Also, compare the close-ups of the women's mouths used in the 1976 Cover Girl ad to those used in the Lancome ads. Both reduce the model to just a pair of lips, but the Cover Girl one seems much more sexualized. Even the names – "Hot Strawberry", "Wild Peach", Forbidden Fruit" and "Fatal Apple" – have a fairly risqué tone, while most of today's are simply named after fruit (the raciest name in the Lancome Juicy Tube lineup is "Suggestive Strawberry". Oooh.) I'm guessing the difference stems from the idea that back then, women were supposed to use makeup with the primary purpose of landing a man. "He'll love it" claims both the Cutex Hot Strawbery and Revlon Cherries in the Snow ads. Yardly encourages the consumer to "kiss him in his favorite flavor". Cutex's Cute Tomata is described as a "stop, look and whistle" red. Today, companies are smart enough to leave the man out of the advertising equation – trying to sell the idea that women should enjoy wearing makeup only for themselves. Fruity makeup is nothing more than a yummy way to put on your face, and can even have health benefits (in the case of Clinique).
I hope you've enjoyed this thorough round-up of fruit in beauty advertising. Something I always wonder about in looking at vintage ads is whether today's ads will seem as amusing to future generations as the ones from the 20th century are to us now. Which one is your favorite? I'm going with Hot Strawberry – I'm still giggling as I type it!
Part two of this year’s Ghosts of Christmas Makeup Past is devoted to this gorgeous highlighter by Clé de Peau, released for the 2010 holiday season.
With flash:
The golden raised stripes look like rays of sunlight streaming down from the sky, and to my eye, have a very Art Deco feel to them. A detailed description of the characteristics of Art Deco period would take way too long, but here’s a good little overview on the jewelry of the time (this would be the most relevant, as the Clé de Peau holiday vintage palettes are modeled after antique jewelry).
Take a peek at 2009’s palette and let me know whether you prefer that one to 2010’s. Personally, while I think they’re both gorgeous, I love the 2010 one more.
What better way to kick off the official start of holiday parties and shopping madness than with this boozey highlighter from Bobbi Brown? While Bobbi has dabbled in special editionpackaging before, I believe this is the first time a design has actually made it onto the makeup itself.
Love the 50s-style shaker and glass – very Mad Men, no?
Up close - I like to think that little line at the bottom of the glass is a partial outline of an olive:
With flash:
While it's not as intricate as some patterns I've seen (see Chantecaille's butterfly eyeshadows) this is a fun design and lends itself perfectly to a shimmery body highlighter.
Hope everyone has a safe and sane Black Friday. 🙂
I've been eying this palette since it came out about a month or two ago. Looks like Too-Faced released another Quickie Chronicle palette after a long hiatus, and this one is bigger and lights up! I wonder if there's a story on the back like the other Quickies. I'll guess I'll just have to buy it and find out. ;)
(image from toofaced.com)
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! I headed up to see my family and then off to the Big Apple for a few days in the hopes of finding this treasure from Cle de Peau. Simply named the Holiday Vintage palette, it was inspired by antique jewelry. Sadly this was not available at either the Saks or Barney's Cle de Peau counters in NYC, and it doesn't appear to be sold online anywhere (except for E-bay, where it's going for $160 – $35 more than the already whopping retail price of $125.) This would have been a very nice addition to the Museum's collection, but it's a wee bit out of the budget. I guess it's good in a way, as the spring 2010 collections are looking quite delectable!
(image from temptalia.com)
BellaSugar posted pictures of some truly amazing vintage compacts today, dating from the 1920s through the '50s. The detail on some of them was astonishing, and the materials they were made out of – Bakelite, sterling silver, to name a few – are definitely something you don't see nowadays. I just wish the authors had specified where they found these beauties and roughly how much they cost!
