Alex Box - Makeup Artist

[flyme2themoon]

Alex Interviewed by Christabel Draffin (Makeup Artist / The Makeup Mole)

The Interview – Alex Box

November 30th, 2010
Author: The Makeup Mole

This is a lady who really needs no introduction, and I am very proud to include her in my Interviews. She is the most creative of makeup artists, the Creative Director of Illamasqua Cosmetics and a regular contributor to Italian Vogue, I-D, Numero and Harper’s Bazaar, to name but a few. She works with photographers like Nick Knight and Karl Lagerfeld and her work is renowned across the world for it’s completely iconoclastic and other-worldly approach to beauty. It’s makeup, but not as we know it.

On a personal level I have assisted Alex for over six years now in London, Paris (and even Sydney!) and she really is magic with a brush. Her makeup truly is art, and she is still one of the most wonderful, down to earth (and hilarious!) people I know. Without further ado, I give you The Interview:

1) What are you working on at the moment?
MY DRAWINGS. RESEARCHING AND COLLECTING MY THOUGHTS TOGETHER FOR ILLAMASQUA’S SPRING SUMMER COLLECTION AND TOP SECRET PROJECT THAT COMES OUT NEXT YEAR, BOTH INCREDIBLY EXCITING. I’M ALWAYS JOTTING DOWN IDEAS OR DRAWING LOOKS ON THE BACK OF SOMETHING OR IN MY SKETCH BOOK, I’VE ALWAYS WRITTEN INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES OR WORDS TO PROMPT ALTERNATIVE AVENUES OF THOUGHT, INSTEAD OF JUST CUTTING OUT PICTURES ALL THE TIME, BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT ALLOWS YOU TO GO OFF IN YOUR OWN WORLD MORE. MY HOUSE LOOKS LIKE A CRAFT SHOP AT THE MOMENT AND I KEEP FINDING DOUBLE SIDED GLITTER TAPE IN THE MOST UNUSUAL PLACES!

2) Favourite makeup job ever?
THATS EXTREMELY HARD, I ALWAYS LIKE TO SAY ‘THE BEST ONE IS THE NEXT ONE’, I DONT LOOK BACK MUCH, I’M ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT HOW MY OWN PRACTICE COULD EVOLVE AND BE IMPROVED OR FIND A NEW TECHNIQUE , THE HOLY GRAIL OF MAKEUP, THE PERFECT MOMENT. AS A BODY OF WORK DOING THE BOOK WAS DEFINITELY A FAVOURITE, IT WAS AN OPEN SKETCH BOOK, I TURNED UP AND WHATEVER WAS IN MY HEAD THAT DAY, THAT’S WHAT WE SHOT…THEN I WOULD GO HOME AND WORK ON THE DRAWINGS. I THINK ALONE DRAWING AND BEING ALONE PAINTING ON A MODEL AND BEING INSPIRED BY HER FACE AND ENERGY IS MY FAVOURITE…

3) Top 5 products?
THAT QUESTION ALWAYS FREAKS ME OUT BECAUSE I NEVER USE THE SAME THINGS OVER AND OVER, I’M A MAGPIE AND A HOARDER AND WILL USE BEAUTIFUL PIGMENTED LUXURY MAKEUP AT THE SAME TIME AS CHEAP HORROR KIDS FACE PAINTS…FORCED TO CHOSE I’D SAY…..

• ILLAMASQUA EYESHADOWS AND BLUSHERS
• ILLAMASQUA SATIN PRIMER
• MAC BEAUTY POWDERS
• LAURA MERCIER SECRET BRIGHTEN POWDERS
• BLACK AND LOVELY COLOURED HAIR SPRAYS

4) Best makeup tip ever?
BOLDNESS OF ATTACK, LET YOUR MIND AND SPIRIT BE FREE, THERE ARE ‘NO RULES’, YOU ARE YOUR OWN CREATION.

5) How did you get started in the business?
I WAS AN ARTIST WORKING PRIMARILY ON INSTALLATIONS USING THE BODY AS THE CENTER OF THE ART, AND MY FRIEND INTRODUCED ME TO A FASHION DESIGNER WHO USED DANCERS INSTEAD OF MODELS MUCH LIKE LEIGH BOWERY AND MICHEL CLARK. I DESIGNED THE MAKEUP LOOK FOR THE SHOW AND THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE SEEING MY WORK IN THAT CONTEXT I BECAME A MAKEUP ARTIST. MY ART WORK IN THE FRAME OF FASHION BECAME ‘MAKEUP’.

6) How is it different to when you started?
YOU ARE MUCH MORE VISIBLE NOW, THE BUSINESS IS ALMOST TRANSPARENT, THE RISE OF BACK STAGE FILMING ETC AND NEED FOR CONTENT HAS MADE AN UNSEEN WORD PERMEABLE. I DO LAMENT THIS BECAUSE THE WORLD OF FASHION NEEDS IT SECRETS, THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT ALLURING, WITHOUT MYSTERY YOU HAVE NO MAGIC WITHOUT MAGIC YOU HAVE NO BELIEF.

7) What do you love doing in your spare time?
RUNNING, DRAWING, STARING INTO SPACE, TAKING CLOSE UP MICRO PHOTOS OF NATURE. MAKING SURE I TAKE IN THE ‘DETAILS OF LIFE’…

8) What are your favourite looks for the coming Autumn/Winter season?
I DONT REALLY PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO LOOKS…I NEVER KNOW WHAT TO SAY HERE….I JUST WANT TO SEE THE ‘LOOK’ OF CONVICTION AND CONFIDENCE REGARDLESS HOW YOU CHOSE TO PAINT YOUR FACE.

Source: makeupmole.com

 

[flyme2themoon]

Dazed & Confused January 2011
"Primary"
Models: Theres Alexandersson and Eugeniy Savchenko (Sauchanka)
Photographer: Kacper Kasprzyk
Stylist: Katie Shillingford
Hair: Naoki Komiya
Makeup: Alex Box





Source: exacteditions.com via williscrazy

 

[flyme2themoon]

Illamasqua "Throb" Collection for Valentine's Day 2011
Makeup by Alex Box





Source: illamasqua.blogspot.com

 

[flyme2themoon]

Dazed & Confused August 2011
"Crystalline"
Model: Kinga Rajzak
Photographer: Ruth Hogben
Stylist: Katie Shillingford
Hair: Martin Cullen
Makeup & Face-Pieces: Alex Box




Source: exacteditions.com via GivenchyHomme

 

[Wicked Halo]

source: stylist

 

[iclawhands]

source: stylist

Credits for that are (from the stylist website)

Photography: Malcolm Pate
Makeup Artist: Alex Box
Beauty Director: Joanna McGarry

 

[Benn98]

Dazed & Confused April 2011



Time is Money

Photographer: Roe Ethridge
Stylist: Katie Shillingford
Hair: Christian Eberhard
Makeup: Alex Box
Cast: Zuzanna Bijoch, Juju Ivanyuk



Dazed & Confused Digital Edition

 

[Benn98]

Another Man Autumn/Winter 2006

Behold the Man

Photographer: Laurence Passera
Stylist: Nicola Formichetti
Hair: Tomo Jidai
Makeup: Alex Box
Cast: Nick Menie, Michael



Another Man Digital Edition

 

[Benn98]

Another Man Spring/Summer 2006

Short Circuit

Photographer: Magnus Unnar
Stylist: Katy England
Hair: Martin Cullen
Makeup: Alex Box
Cast: Emina, Karl Felberg






Another Man Digital Edition

 

[aracic]

AnOther Magazine Spring/Summer 2004

Native Rockability

Photographer: Rankin
Styling: Tal Brener
Hair Styling: Eugene Souleiman
Makeup: Alex Box
Model: Nataša Vojnović


AnOther Digital Edition

 

[aracic]

AnOther Magazine Spring/Summer 2004

Summer For Men

Photographer: Alasdair McLellan
Styling: Alister Mackie
Hair Styling: Eugene Souleiman
Makeup: Alex Box
Models: Maciek Sadowski, Clark, Casey Culver, Steven Morgan, Chris


AnOther Digital Edition

 

[aracic]

AnOther Magazine Spring/Summer 2004

Raw Power

Photographer: Rankin
Hair Styling: Tomo Jidai
Makeup: Alex Box
Cast: 11 bands (credited on pictures)


AnOther Digital Edition

 

[aracic]

AnOther Magazine Spring/Summer 2005

Everything Repeats Itself

Photographer: Rankin
Styling: Kim Jones
Hair Styling: James Rowe
Makeup: Alex Box
Cast: Leo Gregory, Ben Whishaw


AnOther Digital Edition