Ever wondered what goes into the creation of those incredible celebrity shots?
In New Zealand recently for the launch of his Kabuki Magic collection for MAC, celebrity makeup artist Kabuki gave Fashion Quarterlybeauty editor Bronwyn Williams the inside story on 10 of his most iconic images:
1. Katy Perry, E.T music video (2011)
“Katy was really sweet and easy to work with. I remember the stencils; I made silk screens before I left to go to LA. I drew the designs and had silk screens made out of them, and then airbrushed through the silk screens onto her face. That particular makeup was quite involved. Kanye was there, too. He remembered me from last time I saw him which was nice; it made me feel important!”
2. Rihanna on the September 2014 W magazine cover
“Rihanna is always very hands-on with the process. I found that a good way to work is to provide sketches — I think I did about 11 sketches for different ideas based around this tribal idea. I put them on a board and she picked out her two favourite ones and we took it from there. That cover was the last makeup that we did. It just happened very organically, and it was good; if she doesn’t like something she lets you know.”
3. Michael Jackson on the October 2007 L’Uomo Vogue cover
“It was a big deal for me, I certainly wasn’t expecting to get a call from Michael Jackson — it was his first photoshoot in 10 years [Michael called Kabuki’s home himself]. There was a lot of anticipation, he arrived late, which I think was somewhat expected, so I kind of got to know the women who were part of his entourage. One of the first things he said to me was ‘do you have any candy?’. I had a private room to do the makeup, so I went out to the women and I said ‘he’s asking for candy?’ and they just pulled some Twizzlers out of a purse and some Halls — they’re a throat lozenge. I said ‘I can’t give him those!’ and they were like ‘Oh no, he loves them’. So the next time I worked with him [for Ebony magazine; the last photoshoot before his death] I gave him a bag of vintage candy that was quite popular in the 70s (he’s a very 70s type of person) and he got so excited about it — it really was a special moment.”
4. Karen Elson on the March 2004 Italian Vogue cover shoot
“That was my first big shoot with [photographer] Steven Klein. He knew me from when I was a club kid, and he’d actually taken a photo of me (I think I was in some art book that he did). He called me up and said I had a week to get ready — he said ‘This is the first time you’re in Italian Vogue, I’d like you to really show me your most extreme work’ and he would get more excited when I would show him photos of myself from the early days. That was a look I used to do on myself back in the good ol’ days!”
5. Sex and the City title sequence with Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw (1998)
“It’s funny because I remember filming that like it was yesterday. I remember how it was kind of rainy… it was not the ideal weather for the thing. But it’s funny, these moments that you remember that are [completely normal] just like we’re sitting here talking, and people build it up into this fantasy! It was really easy to create Carrie’s beauty look because Pat Field [Sex and the City’s stylist] really set the stage. She was the person who brought me onto the show and she viewed me as more of an artist. Because Sarah Jessica had so much trust in Pat Field, it really made me feel that I was open to experiment.”
6. Kylie Minogue on the February 2012 Stylist Magazine cover
“Kylie is a lot of fun to work with. I’d worked with her for a long time at that point [as Kylie’s personal makeup artist]. She’s so inspiring because she really emanates joy; she loves what she does. So I think that’s what you’re responding to in that picture is really just her essence.”
7. September 2010 Vogue Gioiello cover
“I bet that model will never forget doing that photoshoot! It was for a jewellery magazine but they didn’t tell me to bring any jewels so that’s what I had with me. There’s actually a video of the whole process of applying the gold leaf; there’s no Photoshop. The thing that took a long time was to pre-cut the gold leaf to get that precise edge and to make it symmetrical.”
8. MAC C-Shock campaign image (2007)
“I did it in about five seconds! We had a lot of makeup to do and I was working on something that demanded a lot of attention to detail and control. They really said ‘you have to stop doing that now and do this’, and I think that’s what makes it successful is that it’s not laboured. I just did something spontaneous without thinking too much, and that’s what it needed.”
9. Gigi and Bella Hadid on June 2015 V magazine cover
“This was a full shoot. There’s a studio in New York that we shoot in a lot, but we actually went outside and did it all around the building. That was the first time I’d seen them together — I’d worked with Gigi once before and they have exactly the same voice!”
10. Kendall Jenner on November 2015 Vogue Japan cover
“She’s also a sweetheart. I created a nude lip colour for her for this magazine cover and I knew I wanted to do a nude lip for the [MAC X Kabuki Magic] collection, so I took the pigment that I mixed to MAC and it turned into this [Retro Matte Liquid Lip in Sweet Thing].”
