Kid's Stuff
Shiseido Raises Playing With Makeup to an Art
May 1, 2001 – Playing with your mother's makeup is definite fun, but the stuff of high art? Shiseido thinks so. In an ongoing effort to support emerging art and fashion in the United States (it sponsored Susan Cianciolo's Spring 2001 runway show and Bruce's Fall 2001 show, the Japanese-based cosmetics company recently unveiled artist Libby McInnis'
Lipstick installation at its SoHo concept store (where you can try but not buy the products).
Created in the tradition of children's pop-up books, the moving sculpture depicts a young girl applying lipstick (the work was inspired by McInnis' 2-year-old niece). In keeping with the childlike spirit, Shiseido feted the artwork April 12th with a milk-and-cookies event. But this was no Oreo-dunking get-together. McInnis personally iced the hand-mirror-shaped cookies, which were served by models clad in Cianciolo's artisan designs and playfully made up by McInnis and Shiseido makeup artist Miyako Okamoto.
The crayon-bright look was more runway ([SIZE=-1]à[/SIZE] la Lacroix or Galliano) than everyday wearable, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd. Gallery owner Aaron Rose noted that both the art and the party had a raw, exuberant quality, one that "really stands out in a neighborhood as slick as SoHo."
If you can't make it downtown before May 5th, when
Lipstick comes down, look for it as part of the Whitney Museum's
Play's the Thing exhibit starting May 25th.
See Lipstick and a behind-the-scenes peek at the models' looks >>
See a slideshow of fantastical runway beauty looks >>
–By Laird Borrelli