The story of Kevin Aucoin, the first celebrity makeup artist who made Cindy Crawford famous and changed the rules of the makeup game

Brad Pitt is the first celebrity makeup artist who managed to turn the American dream into reality in the makeup world. Kevin Aucoin, who left his native Louisiana for New York as a 20-year-old, wanted nothing more than to paint models for the covers of Vogue. After eight months in the big city, he was sitting in the lobby of the Condé Nast office with a notepad in his hand. It contained Polaroid photos of models whom Kevin had given free make-up for test shoots in New York.

She didn’t make an appointment, she didn’t make any calls, but she just happened to be in the right place at the right time – by a miraculous coincidence, she managed to show her work to Linda Wells, deputy beauty editor of Vogue (who later founded the beauty magazine Allure). Linda recalled her first encounter with Kevin: “He was more passionate and obsessed than anyone I’d ever met in my life.” It was this acquaintance that gave impetus to her career, changing the foundations of the fashion world and the attitude towards the profession of make-up artist.

On Kevin Aucoin’s birthday, February 14, we remember how ahead of his time he was and why we are still grateful to him.

Created the first basics suitable for everyone

Kevin did his first make-up when he was 11 years old. The artist, who stole cosmetic products from local stores and then turned her younger sister Carla into a model, could not imagine that 10 years later, Revlon, one of the largest companies in America, would appoint Aucoin as creative director.

And after a year of collaboration, Ultima II will present The Nakeds, a series of revolutionary foundations for the brand. Revolutionary because until the late 1980s there were almost no product lines for skin of color. Kevin has worked to create cosmetics suitable for all skin types and tones, thereby empowering women.

The makeup artist’s foundations had a yellow undertone (before this, all products had a pinkish tint). But that’s not all. Their secret lay not only in the right undertone but also in the application technique. Kevin used his fingertips instead of a brush. They literally melted the foundation with their warmth and could be applied with a translucent light layer.

In the following years, world-famous beauty brands MAC, Vincent Longo, Laura Mercier and Shiseido would approach her with offers of collaboration. And in 2001, Kevin will launch his own cosmetics brand of the same name, which will safely continue its existence even after the death of the make-up artist.

Reinvented styling

Kevin Aucoin was a risk taker who constantly challenged traditional ideas of beauty. When the fashion industry encouraged glam and heavy makeup, Kevin invented no-makeup makeup. And when glam gave way to grunge, instead of black, casual smokey eyes, Kevin peppered the stars’ makeup with Swarovski crystals. It was she who became the makeup artist who reinvented the contouring technique and greatly influenced Kim Kardashian’s makeup artist, Mario Dedivanovic, who would later make her makeup recognizable.

Aucoin revisited the shaping technique pioneered by Max Factor in the 1930s. The creator of star makeup and the founder of a well-known cosmetics brand figured out how to make the facial features of actors more pronounced and voluminous using the game of products of dark and light tones. And Kevin started doing the same thing makeup artists do in the movies, only using gold and pearlescent pigments that blended with his natural skin tone.

He gave ’90s supermodels wired eyebrows

“I believe there are no rules when it comes to makeup… I think the goal should be to expand our definition of what we consider acceptable, normal, and beautiful. “The future will belong to people with an open mind and heart who know how to appreciate beauty in all its manifestations” – these words are Kevin’s entire philosophy and approach to makeup. It was she who revived the razor-thin eyebrow fashion of the 1920s (made famous by Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard and Joan Crawford).

When bushy eyebrows dominated the Isaac Mizrahi show in the ’90s, he decided everyone should look like Carole Lombard and plucked the eyebrows of Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. According to designer Isaac Mizrahi, Cindy Crawford’s career took off quickly after that. So Kevin introduced a new trend to Hollywood – braiding eyebrows.

He became the Brad Pitt of the makeup artist world

Kevin Aucoin changed the perspective on makeup artists. At the peak of his career, it was difficult to find a celebrity’s face he had not touched. J.Lo, Madonna, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Janet Jackson, Liza Minnelli, Stevie Nicks, Courtney Love, Lisa Marie Presley, Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tori Amos and Cher – just her Clients Name a few people among them. He was the best friend of everyone who sat in his chair, and his talent was always greatly appreciated. You had to make an appointment several months in advance, and she charged the highest in the industry (makeup cost up to $6,000). However, the stars who once worked with him no longer wanted to entrust his face to anyone. “I wasn’t going to anyone but Kevin,” recalls Naomi Campbell in the documentary Larger Than Life: The Kevin Aucoin Story. “There was always a queue but I figured I wouldn’t go anywhere else, that’s all.”

Aucoin’s star status elevated her profession – the on-set make-up artist became a less important participant in the process than the photographer or model. “I remember we went to Make Up Forever and <…> “It was like Brad Pitt walked in,” Cher recalled of Kevin’s fame. “These girls were everywhere, asking him anything and telling him how much he inspired them.” But Aucoin never forgot the little boy from Louisiana and shared his knowledge with people like him. shared.

A behind-the-scenes look at a makeup artist was shown

“Kevin was a trailblazer, a makeup artist who allowed anyone with a passing interest in the beauty world to see him behind the scenes,” says makeup artist Troy Surratt. Aucoin expanded the understanding of the makeup artist’s profession by showing the hidden side of the fashion world. Long before the advent of social networks, she kept her own blog (if you can call it that) – she made videos about her work, filled her diaries with Polaroid make-up and her own achievements. By the way, in 2020, the Make-Up Museum shared one of these diaries with the permission of Kevin’s family.

Kevin wrote books revealing the secrets of various makeup techniques and believed that beauty should be all-encompassing. She became the author of best-selling books: The Art of Makeup 1994, Making Faces 1997 (the book that many makeup artists consider the bible) and Face Forward 2001, in which she talked about her working methods. Nowadays every blogger does this, but back then it was a new thing.

Throughout his career, Kevin has created 18 Vogue covers, became the first makeup artist to receive a CFDA Award (Pat McGrath received this award in 2019), and most importantly, he has always believed in the uniqueness of every person. She was devoted to women who did not fit into the narrow confines of the beauty industry. Liza Minnelli, Naomi Campbell, Martha Stewart, Cher, Janet Jackson were her true fans. And not only because he knows how to work, but also make friends. “He knew that our differences, like a scar or a crooked nose, made us unique and beautiful,” Martha Stewart recalls. Kevin has repeatedly said that he sees makeup as a way to highlight so-called flaws rather than hide them.