Why we almost stopped painting
Masha Vorslav
We talk a lot about the triumph of sports style and try to comprehend the causes and consequences of its popularity. The main catalysts for this trend - the need for comfort and functionality - are so essential that they cannot but influence the appearance of the whole, and not only the wardrobe of a modern woman. This time we tried to analyze how the current speed and lifestyle change the concept of modern makeup.
If you look at any selection of trends in the make-up of this season, it seems that ideologically it is not much different from the past: instead of blue shadows - green, instead of gold leaf - pearls, instead of false cheekbones - multi-colored gouache smears. There are no changes breaking the foundations; each make-up artist works in his anthill, supports the designer from time to time and helps him to create a complete image of the entire collection. About how to interpret the makeup from the podium for everyday wear, the makeup artist thinks only when the editor asks him such a question.
To understand what makeup is now popular, you need to turn not to backstage photos from shows, but at least to street style blogs - they provide a sufficient sample of images to study the mobile environment that picks up and continues viable trends with natural speed. At the same time, it is pointless to focus on the discharged visitors of fashion weeks - they are driven by a quite conscious desire to get into the photo report of a fashion magazine or website, for which you need to look as bright as possible. But you should take a closer look at the usual street style of the main world capitals: most of the girls who fall into the lenses are made up almost imperceptibly or with some perceptible but simple accents - for example, almost all The Sartorialist heroines. The image of a typical girl who meets Schumann (and his coverage of the heroines is much broader than that of an ordinary editor) is natural — that is, pale in winter and tanned in summer — skin tone, simple styling, and minimalistic makeup.
No less indicative, though biased, example is our “Available” heading. Girls of different ages, professions and hobbies fall into it, but the overall portrait looms quite clearly. The heroine managed to understand that she goes and likes it, and feels quite comfortable with minimal makeup: tone, mascara, rouge and red lipstick (the latter is in almost every cosmetic bag, so it’s time to call it a basic item). By the way, they come to such a simple scheme in different ways: many managed to play with shiny shadows and linings at an earlier age, and some were never particularly interested in decorative cosmetics.
We want to be faster, higher, stronger, and everything around should contribute to this or at least not interfere
The simplicity and deliberate minimalism in make-up, it seems to us, is due to the same, because of which the girls set aside conventional "heels" and fit into the same "sneakers". We want to be faster, higher, stronger, and everything around and adjacent should contribute to this or at least not interfere; bright matte lipsticks would not be ubiquitous if they were poorly applied and not persistent. Fashion should not be overlooked either: natural makeup (no makeup makeup) in one way or another of its interpretation appears on the catwalks from season to season and is now moving closer to its archetype than ever: models look really unpainted - and attractive. Occurred, planned or not, amusing change: not the street adopts the images of the podium, but vice versa. Outside of fashion weeks, the mechanism also works: in advertising campaigns, selfies are used with filters and without and “simple” citizens - this is how the idea of minimal makeup spreads further.
But despite all the trends, the need for communication and self-realization cannot disappear. Cosmetics - one of the easiest and most effective ways of communication; the more noticeable it is, the easier it is to read one or another message. The difference between the modern and the outdated way, it seems to us, is simple: if earlier the signals were obvious, now they are less superficial: complex aromas and subtle, but charming, like drawn freckles or deliberately strange alterations of the exterior - these are the wording that most interesting to operate. With limited resources, even artificially created, the mind will always find a more cunning way out; in the case of makeup and self-expression, this rule, of course, also works.