Thursday, 29 January 2015

Past & Present Faces of Nars.

''In general I like faces that are a little bit odd, not a little cute nose and heart lips that are a bit plastic and Barbie doll. As much as sometimes I guess it could be fun to photograph a Barbie doll, in general it’s not what I’m attracted to. Women with character, bone structure, a strong nose. I love character in the face.''

-Francois Nars 
Hughes, S. (2014). François Nars

Francois Nars is renounced of his unconventional choice of models features within his add campaigns. Nars being one of the first to use black and minority ethnic women in commercial beauty campaigns. Nars challenges and expands constantly beauty ideals and standards within the industry.

''I felt that makeup was universal and should apply to everybody. I didn’t want to create a makeup line for one ethnic group, it had to be multi-ethnic. To me, beauty is beauty. It doesn’t matter to me what colour the skin is. Back then, no one would have dared put Alek Wek in a beauty campaign, but I thought she looked so amazing, so beautiful, that as soon as I saw her I said: “I want her to be a Nars girl.” I was probably the only one who would have done that at the time. I suppose it was quite daring then, but I will continue to do it, always.''

-Francois Nars 
Hughes, S. (2014). François Nars

This will be an important part within the dissuasion of choosing my own models for the final shoots, its important that as a brand they represent every majority and minority and i think this is important to remember, Francois Nars was a strong believer in the fact that makeup was universal and there fore should apply to everybody, unlike other brands who picture the same pretty prefect women within there advertisements Nars deviates from the unspoken high fashion beauty rule and this is another key point to the brand.

1999/2000
One of the first black women to feature in a commercial beauty campaign, this challenged and pushed the expectations and general rule within the beauty industry. I love how Francois Nars kept the look very neutral really playing with the key point the skin tone deviating away from his usual love of bright colour he has played and exaggerated the skin tone within both the lip and eye looks making very successful images.


1997
Erin O'Connor another unique model featured in the 1997 X-Ray Campaign. 

''I love Erin. I loved her profile, her modernity, her haircut. She has one of the greatest noses and the longest neck and you always remember her.''
-Francois Nars 
Hughes, S. (2014). François Nars

''We started working with talented models in the way they did in the 60s. It was a more creative, less conventional view of beauty.''


2014
Fall Audacious Lipstick Collection campaign as part of the company’s 20th anniversary, featuring a portrait of British actress Charlotte Rampling that François Nars took. 



-Martin, C. (2015). Nars Unveils Fall Campaign.


2015 
The latest face of Nars Spring 2015 (January to April) campaign is Tilda Swinton. Nars choosing 50 plus Tilda because of the film roles she choses. He photographed the images in a way that each one would show a different characterisation of Tilda in relation also to the character behind each makeup collection.

“As an actress, she brings such strong personality to the camera, 
And as a woman, she lives the experience of transformation and expression.”

-Naughton, J. (2015). Nars Taps Tilda Swinton for Spring Campaign.



Its very clear though looking at Francois Nars model choices though out the past decade that he is draw to extraordinary beauty, wether that be within the structure of a models face, skin tone, personality and talent or feel he gets from the model when in front of the camera. Nars pushes the conventions of what society depicts as standard beauty ideals and by showing these extraordinary strong beautiful women of any age within his campaigns he appeals to every women race, age, sex and overall look proving that any women can look beautiful.

References: 
Hughes, S. (2014). François Nars: 'There are many ways to be sexy'. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/nov/13/francois-nars-makeup-artist-sexy-models [Accessed 25 Jan. 2015].
Naughton, J. (2015). Nars Taps Tilda Swinton for Spring Campaign. [online] WWD. Available at: http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/nars-taps-tilda-swinton-7986392 [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015].
Martin, C. (2015). Nars Unveils Fall Campaign. [online] WWD. Available at: http://wwd2.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/the-big-shot-7820460?src=rss/fashion-memopad/20140801 [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015].

Images:
Anon, (2015). [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/156781630750938245/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015].
Anon, (2015). [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/240379698836387226/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015].
Hughes, S. (2014). François Nars: 'There are many ways to be sexy'. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/nov/13/francois-nars-makeup-artist-sexy-models [Accessed 25 Jan. 2015].
Narscosmetics.co.uk, (2015). François Nars. [online] Available at: https://narscosmetics.co.uk/en_GB/francois-nars.html [Accessed 25 Jan. 2015].

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