'How I Taught Nixon To Use Makeup And Become President' - George Lois/Ad Man, Graphic Designer, Art Director

ESQUIRE Magazine May 1968
Art Direction: George Lois

Between 1962 and 1972, American Art Director and Madison Avenue graphic designer and ad man George Lois conceived and designed 92 front covers for Esquire, the American men’s magazine. In the new world of Sixties media, never before seen visual design and inventive copywriting made unforgettable images created by rebels. George Lois was one.  “I located this profile shot in the wire service archives and had Carl Fischer photograph the four hands, including the one wielding the lipstick”. A composite photograph published in May 1968 before Nixon was nominated for the Presidency, it refers to an era of turmoil and TV political debates won first by the televisual President JFK. It anticipates a digital age in digital photography where everything is a possibility. Mostly, I love the spray can with its light mist, the powder puff and the angle and colour of the Sixties lipstick. The lighting suggests an aeroplane. The four hands are different people and one is manicured in the best Sixties pink nail varnish for effect. Nixon is asleep but doesn’t look relaxed, about to be woken by the pink fluffy powder puff.

Maison Martin Margiela H&M Launch November 15 2012

Maison Martin Margiela H&M November 15 Launch 2012

Shoreditch East London

 Maison Martin Margiela November 2012
Collaboration H&M Collection
https://twitter.com/MMM_Official
http://www.maisonmartinmargiela.com/
 http://instagram.com/maisonmargiela

"Categorised successfully as underground, deconstructive, destroy, 

grunge, minimalist, provocative, established" - excerpt from catalogue 

to exhibition held to celebrate 20 years of Maison Martin Margiela June 

3 2010 to September 5 2010 Somerset House, London, England. 

In the late 1980s, Martin Margiela, the Paris-based Belgian designer,

pioneered the design of the shoulder of a narrow jacket with puffed 

sleeves mounted high for an elegant silhouette, an invention which still 

defines the look of the label today. Tabi boots in leather with a split 

toe traditionally worn as a slipper for agility in Japan is another 

recognised design Margiela feature.The label on a Maison Martin 

Margiela garment (main collection) is a plain white square hand sewn

at each edge with four white stitches. So instead of an obvious designer 

label, a blank white square, reversing the idea of the value of designerwear. 

Other collections are identified by a circled number and since 1998, 

Maison Martin Margiela has designed four collections yearly for men.

Martin Margiela's runway shows, which I attended in Paris initially for 

i-D magazine from October 1992 onwards, were always an 

incredible, involving experience. Demonstrating his concepts by staging 

his shows in unexpected venues, such as disused warehouses, away from 

the usual runway, he disposed of every available rule in 

fashion, including the importance of the front row. Introducing 

integrity in an industry that needs it, Martin Margiela broadened the 

beauty spectrum, expanding what was acceptable by casting unusual women 

to display the clothing. Sometimes the model's faces were completely 

covered in order not to distract from the design content of the 

clothing. The launch of Maison Martin Margiela's collaboration 

collection with highstreet retailer H&M in November 2012 was at least as

incredible a moment as when Jay-Z first raps "Maison Martin Margiela" in

'Run This Town', his track with Rihanna and Kanye West. Margiela's name

has since been checked by other rappers and Kanye himself attended the

Manhattan H&M collaboration collection launch in NYC, an epic moment

where valued conceptual design meets the accessible highstreet.

Revlon Photoready Compact Makeup with Liquefying Screen

                         Revlon Photoready Compact Makeup
                                      Natural Beige

It’s a liquid-like foundation cream compact with an applicator sponge. A fine, plastic micro-grid or ‘liquefying screen’ covers the cream makeup and disperses it evenly as liquid onto the applicator sponge, drying to a soft powder finish. The cream makeup contains light-reflecting pigments and liquefies for complete coverage and blendability. The photochromatic pigments bend, reflect and diffuse light to help erase flaws. Perfected, airbrushed skin is achievable in any light, an effect suggested by the name of the product Revlon Photoready. The rectangular product design and the liquefying screen inside lend a mobile phone-like quality suggesting a piece of makeup technology. Sun Protection Factor (SPF) 20. Complete with mirror. £12.99 for 0.35 Oz/10g, which is quite a small quantity. Range of shades – Vanilla, Shell, Natural Beige, Medium Beige. Oil free, fragrance free and allergy-causing paraben free. Ready for your close-up? www.revlon.co.uk

Japonesque Brow Kit

Japonesque Brow Kit
  Photo by: Deirdre Crowley

Arriving in a slender, pink mock crocodile purse, the Japonesque Brow Kit grooms and defines eyebrows professionally at home or when travelling. It contains three brow stencils, two brow powders in two shades of brown, one brow wax, a Japonesque slanted tweezer, a clear brow gel and two miniature brushes for application. Complicated at first because I’ve never used one, the brow kit shapes and maintains the eyebrows in four simple steps – select a brow shape using one of the three brow stencils; fill the brow shape in with the brow powders; tweeze any stray hairs, and then style and keep the brow shape in place with the clear brow gel. Instructions are included. This kit’s unique character is designed around the beautiful pink mock crocodile purse and the Japonesque stencils you follow to draw the brow on professionally in a natural arch, or a modern arch, or a light arch according to the stencil shape you choose, whichever matches your real brow shape. A beauty kit you will want and use. $28 from ULTA.com or see at www.japonesque.com  $1 will be donated to Breast Cancer Awareness Research with every kit sold. 

L'Oreal True Match Le Blush

Photo by: Deirdre Crowley/Le Blush True Rose

Le Blush by L’Oreal from the True Match range is the most visibly softening of all powder blushers I’ve used. Softening contours as it builds the cheekbones, it’s effect is enhanced by the colours it comes in - True Rose (a lovely, dusky pink I tested), Nude Pink, Rosewood, Old Rose, Nude Brown and Sandalwood Rose - warm, cool and neutral colours formulated to suit every skin tone. The surprise of this product is its two tier design – the compact blusher first and beneath that a mirror and a miniature, useful blusher brush. Oil-free and non-comedogenic (it doesn’t clog the pores causing acne), Le Blush by L’Oreal provides the finishing touch for a perfected, matte complexion. £7.69 from Boots and Superdrug stores nationwide or see the product online at www.loreal-paris.co.uk

Site Statement Think Beauty Try Beauty

i-D Magazine September 2012 issue

Beauty is filtered through to the consumer when the beauty product becomes available. Backstage at the international runway shows and in fashion magazines, for example, as beauty products, cosmetics and beauty tools are used and become more refined, the beauty industry presents an approach to the beauty ideal and it develops. Trends and glamour are identifiable in beauty and popularity translates into sales, sustaining this huge industry. The future of beauty is skincare, cosmetics, beauty tools and beauty applications and technologies, and these are continuous. The idea of your beauty routine is to sustain it, dream a little and absorb its effects. Consume. Synthesise. Absorb. Enhance.

Max Factor Mastertouch Under-Eye Concealer

309 Beige

The new Max Factor Mastertouch Under-Eye Concealer is a concealer pen with a unique absorbent tip for the precise application of concealer under the ultra-delicate eye area. Functioning as a concealer which blends away dark circles, it’s fluid light-diffusing cream can be applied elsewhere on the face to hide the usual blemishes. It gives excellent coverage. Moisturise your skin before applying to maximize the glide-on movement of the absorbent tip. This product dries quickly for efficiently delivered perfecting effects. Excellent alone or apply after your foundation and before your powder, a tip suggested by the international Max Factor makeup team whose Creative Design Director (Beauty) is the makeup artist Pat McGrath, formerly of i-D magazine. From the company who invented Erase, the original concealer, in 1954, the Max Factor Mastertouch Under-Eye Concealer is available in three shades - 303 Ivory, 306 Fair, 309 Beige. £7.99 from Boots stores nationwide or buy online at www.maxfactor.co.uk

Neal's Yard Remedies Organic Beauty Oil

Neal's Yard Remedies
Organic Beauty Oil

It’s a beauty oil. You drink it. Containing essential nutrients and anti-aging antioxidants including Vitamin E and botanical antioxidant lutein which is present in dark, leafy vegetables, the Neal’s Yard Remedies Organic Beauty Oil is a nutritional dietary supplement formulated to enhance the beauty of your skin, hair and nails. Essential nourishing fatty acids (omega 3, 6, and 9) required for biological processes are vital but cannot be provided by the body itself. Omega sources golden flax seed oil, hemp, avocado and evening primrose combine to renew, maintain and repair hair, nails and skin because radiant skin is more than just a surface – it’s needs nourishing. I add Neal’s Yard Remedies Organic Beauty Oil to fruit juice every day. My complexion looks extremely clear recently suggesting good health. This is a unique beauty product. £12.50 200ml. Available to buy from Neal's Yard Remedies stores nationwide or online at nealsyardremedies.com.100% organic.