ANNIVERSARY
Beauty
ANNIVERSARY FRANÇOIS NARS WANTS TO TALK about lipstick. Specifically lipstick tubes. Neatly arranged on a low-slung coffee table before him sits an array of sculpted bullets. They’re just a small sampling of the new 40-shade Audacious Lipstick Collection ($37 each, narscosmetics.com) that will debut this month, marking the 20th anniversary of Nars’s smash-hit cosmetics brand. The colours are gorgeous—rich, sexy and named after notable women the makeup artist admires (Marlene, Raquel, Brigitte). But to be clear, the man himself is more interested in the cases that house them. “The most important part of the collection was to have new packaging,” he says. The new bullets are pretty slick, featuring a shiny metal shell—an update of the soft-touch matte exterior that’s been a signature of the brand since its inception in 1994—and a magnetic closure. “This tube is so much improved; it’s much more luxurious, and the magnet is really cool,” he says. For 20 years, François Nars’s namesake Like all elements in the Nars universe, cosmetics brand has remained true to its glossy and the newfangled lipstick case came about during brainstorming sessions with Fastylish image. KARI MOLVAR finds out how. bien Baron, who has served as unofficial art director and design whisperer for the brand since its earliest days. Baron and Nars met on a shoot with Steven Meisel for Italian Vogue in 1989; Nars was doing the makeup, Baron the art direction. “We became very good friends right away,” Nars recalls. “I really loved his work and he loved mine, so we were both on the same wavelength.” A few years later, when Nars was contemplating launching a makeup range, he reached out to Baron. “Fabien was the only person I wanted to do the art direction of the line,” says Nars. “He was my only choice. Ever.” Like Nars, Baron was born in France and moved to New York in the ’80s to launch his career. Since then, he’s become something of a visionary in the fields of creative direction, product design and brand vibe-ing, which he’s provided for magazines and fashion houses like Calvin Klein, Prada and Balenciaga. At Nars, his touch can be seen everywhere, from FROM TOP: 1997 CAMPAIGNS FEATURING the logo (Baron decided it should only consist of the makeup artist’s CLARA AKER BENJAMIN AND KAREN ELSON; last name, calling the effect “sharp, simple and boom: straight to SHADES FROM THE the goal,” recalls Nars) to the aesthetic of the makeup to the design AUDACIOUS LIPSTICK COLLECTION; FALL 2004 of the boutiques (of which there are 12 worldwide) and even to the CAMPAIGN FEATURING NAOMI CAMPBELL quality of the cardstock used on the company stationery. “The idea was that anything that came out of Nars had to go through Fabien. I felt this is what would give us cohesion, strength, vision and really the DNA of the line,” explains Nars. “It’s been like a marriage—we’ve been faithful to each other over the years. No cheating!” Monogamy aside, there’s a lot of freedom—and spontaneity—in their relationship. “It’s very laid-back,” says Nars. “Probably a lot of
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FASHION SEPTEMBER 2014
PHOTOGRAPHY: NARS AND BARON BY DAVID X PRUTTING/BFA/SIPA USA; STORE BY DEAN KAUFMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY: LIPSTICKS BY CARLO MENDOZA
WORLD VISION
companies would hate the way we work. We’re so unorga- winter, he released a limited-edition makeup collection nized, and that’s the way I like it. We do a little research that was reminiscent of the saturated tones captured by and we meet for an hour to talk about something, whether the photographer’s lens. “I liked the surrealist way Guy apit’s a campaign or a limited-edition launch. We don’t meet proached fashion. He couldn’t care less about the clothes, for hours and hours. He’s busy, I’m busy.” Call it the art- in a way; what counted was the image. The insanity, the ist’s way to succeed in business, without overcomplicating wildness…he was a mad guy.” In part, this madness is what inspired Nars to become a things. “We try not to have 3,000 people involved in the process, because then the original idea gets so diluted, makeup artist and also to take up photography, although not in the style of Bourdin. “I don’t have the talent of Guy. you miss the essence.” Nars takes a similar laissez-faire approach when col- I’m not a surrealist photographer,” Nars readily admits. laborating with others. Consider Marc Jacobs: Nars has Instead, his passion is portraiture; he has published five known the fashion designer since his early years in New books of his works. “I love taking portraits of people,” he York, when they travelled in the same creative circles, says. His muses are not conventional beauties, however. hanging out with a similar pack of models and photogra- “There’s always this little something that makes someone phers. Nars has provided the makeup for many of Jacobs’s more attractive,” he says. “For me, it could be the way a shows over the past 20 years, and you get the sense that person moves or the way she talks. The personality is so nothing is too mapped-out ahead of time. “We understand important.” Having the perfect face, not so much. “I’ve aleach other so well,” he says. “When he builds a collection ways been more attracted to ugly beauties in a way. I think around a theme or an actress that inspires him, I connect that look has always been more interesting. Some might with him so quickly because I have all those references too, find a strong nose ugly, but I think it’s beautiful. Other in the back of my mind. I get it very quickly.” This unspo- people love a cute face, but that’s not really my thing.” Obsessing over youth is also not his thing, which is provken understanding is sacred to the relationship. “That’s why I think Marc likes working with me, and I like working en by the fact that he chose 68-year-old actress Charlotte with him, because with just a click of the finger, we get it.” Rampling to be the face of the Audacious collection instead Having such references is as crucial as water or air to of a 20-something model. “I always look at people that I Nars. “You need to be inspired by people and art, and by love, regardless of age,” he says, adding that he shot her those who came before you, whether it’s photographers, in a very natural way for the accompanying ad campaign. artists, writers, film directors,” he insists. “I think it’s “It’s a simple picture and it really looks like Charlotte.” When taking a good, hard, unfiltered look at his own life terrible if you don’t have any references. I have tons and tons. I think that’s what helps you create something new and career, Nars credits his success to staying true to his but with strong substance. I could not function if I didn’t vision. “I wanted to be the best, work with the best photoghave all those inspirational people that are so important raphers, the best magazines, the best models. I think that helped me become what I am today and have a makeup for me in life.” Photographer Guy Bourdin receives a lot of hero wor- line that makes sense and lasts,” he says, pausing. “It’s ship from Nars, who, as a kid, would often collect Bour- difficult to have something that still looks good 20 years din’s images in French Vogue: “I would cut out all the pho- later—but hopefully Nars does.” tographs and put them on my wall. I was obsessed.” In 2002, Nars launched a vibrant red blush called Exhibit A, named after a book of Bourdin’s works, and he has nodded to Bourdin’s slick style with numerous ad campaigns. Last BELOW: NARS AND BARON AT THE OPENING OF THE BLEECKER STREET FLAGSHIP IN NYC; THE STORE’S INTERIOR
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