From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V7 #101 Reply-To: precious-things@smoe.org Sender: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "precious-things-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. precious-things-digest Monday, May 13 2002 Volume 07 : Number 101 Today's Subjects: ----------------- ny times article on kevyn [invader woj ] Losing My Religion [Cyndi S Crawford ] Re: Losing My Religion ["Ryan" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 12:53:09 -0400 From: invader woj Subject: ny times article on kevyn the new york times has an article about kevyn aucoin in this sunday's style section < http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/12/fashion/12KEV.html > which includes several quotes from tori. the print article also includes pictures of tori as mary queen of scots and hillary swank made-up as raquel welch. here 'tis for those who don't feel like dealing with the ny times registration (free as it may be): In the Eye of One Beholder, Only Beauty By ELLEN TIEN Events in the beauty world  that comfy, familiar haven of lip glosses and blushers  rarely have any wide-reaching reverberations. But last Tuesday, when the makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin died of a rare pituitary condition at age 40, the news resonated beyond cosmetics counters and out into the larger bailiwick of style. The beauty industry had lost a star. Arguably, it had lost its only star. While the world of fashion is rife with designers who are household names, standouts in the beauty business are less common. Nonetheless, in the 18 years that Mr. Aucoin daubed and defined celebrity faces, he managed to achieve unusual renown. "There's Kevyn and there's everybody else," said Jeanine Lobell, the creator of Stila cosmetics. "Way Bandy was famous, but only to insiders. People know Max Factor and Bobbi Brown, but only because they have product lines. Kevyn was the first to become a household name without positioning himself as a household brand. He did not do it with packaging. He built his fame with just his two hands." Mr. Aucoin commanded a day rate of $6,000 to $7,000 for magazine shoots, movie publicity and awards galas, and his client roster was chockablock with celebrities, many of whom would pose for the covers of Vogue or Vanity Fair only on the condition that he do their faces. "When he did makeup, it was kind of magical," the actress Nicole Kidman said. "He would look at you and say, `Oh, I know exactly what to do,' and in the space of five minutes he'd give you red lips and put a tiny smudge around the eyes, and pat something on your nose and cheeks, and you'd be transformed. You'd think, `Can I do this?' and of course you couldn't. So after that, it would always have to be Kevyn." Simultaneously tell-all and how-to, Mr. Aucoin was as comfortable discussing his own adolescent identity struggles as he was explaining exactly how to get maximum effect from mascara. In his role as populist beauty guru, he worked to diversify the conventions of makeup, pioneering the natural look and urging women to show off their unique features rather than hide their flaws. In his 1994 book, "The Art of Makeup," he cited Barbra Streisand as his childhood beauty ideal because "she wasn't a Barbie doll." "Kevyn was all about reaching out and making sure people felt included, no matter who they were," said the actress Hilary Swank, who became friends with Mr. Aucoin after he saw her movie "Boys Don't Cry" and impulsively phoned to tell her how much he liked it. "He didn't turn anyone away." He made her up as a feral Raquel Welch in his last book, "Face Forward." "He never did the same makeup on me twice," recalled the model Amber Valletta, who was transformed into Clark Gable and Carole Lombard in the same book. "He could somehow sense the growth and change that was going on inside you and move with it. There wasn't any one patented technique that he used over and over. It was as if he could tap into your spirit and transform you into your dream." It was Mr. Aucoin's ability to intuit and interpret the essence of his clients that enabled him to connect with them so viscerally. "Yes, he was a master painter, but it was what he did in the conversation that made your inside glow, and helped you find the part of you that had grace or humor," said the singer Tori Amos, whose daughter was Mr. Aucoin's godchild. One afternoon late in her pregnancy, she recalled, "he held my hand and said, `I think you look so sensual right now.' I said: `Come on, let's be real. I'm a beached whale.' And he said, `No, I see sensuality in you, and I'm going to make you up.' "So he made me up, and even though I could barely roll over, he took pictures of me. He captured a simple moment in our lives and turned it into something beautiful and meaningful. And he made me feel beautiful in the process." "This was a man who loved women," Ms. Amos added, "even the ones who weren't good  the nice-seeming people who were closet Cruella De Vils. I would watch him working on a person and I'd think, `Yikes, I wouldn't want to leave my Alsatian with her.' But by the time he had told her a few jokes and finished his Baby Jane imitation, the walls of rigidity and insecurity would be broken down." In a competitive market, Mr. Aucoin shared the tricks of that trade in magazines, in books and on Web sites. Beauty was his science; putting that science within reach set him apart in the glamour business. Liza Minnelli, who last saw Mr. Aucoin at her wedding to David Gest on March 16, when he did her makeup, recalled: "He shared everything. He always told me you can't take it unless you give it away. He did a lot of giving away to everybody." Any woman who has ever felt the quick little thrill of spinning open a fresh lipstick knows that cosmetic products can feed a certain hunger, the hunger to feel special and pretty. If the fashion world is about aspiration, the beauty world is about hope. That was Mr. Aucoin's trade. "He made you feel like anything was possible," said Charlie Green, a makeup artist who assisted Mr. Aucoin at the start of her career in the 1990's. "I remember standing backstage, watching him do the models. He had these great big hands. He could practically hold your entire face in one of them. But he had a special touch. He made women feel confident. He made them feel safe." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 22:38:15 -0400 From: Cyndi S Crawford Subject: Losing My Religion OH MY *SHIT*. I just heard Tori's cover of Losing My Religion.. *OH* MY **SHIT**. I listened to it and I had tears in my eyes!!! (keep in mind, it's very rare that a song makes me cry so this was pretty damn good) AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!! how DOES she do it? *phew!* Sincerely, Cyndi S. Crawford (Keyyooo on ICQ and IRC, Keyyooo1 on AIM) http://learntothink0.tripod.com/learntothinkagain/ -- http://www.geocities.com/keyyooo/ -- http://www.platinumcomplication.com/cyndi/ Tori Amos' response when asked to describe herself in five words: "I. Do. Not. Describe. Myself." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 20:25:23 -0700 From: "Ryan" Subject: Re: Losing My Religion Jeez..where have you been? ;) That's one of Tori's first covers. - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cyndi S Crawford" To: ; Sent: Sunday, May 12, 2002 7:38 PM Subject: Losing My Religion > > OH MY *SHIT*. I just heard Tori's cover of Losing My Religion.. > *OH* MY **SHIT**. I listened to it and I had tears in my eyes!!! (keep in > mind, it's very rare that a song makes me cry so this was pretty damn > good) AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!! how DOES she do it? > *phew!* > > Sincerely, Cyndi S. Crawford (Keyyooo on ICQ and IRC, Keyyooo1 on AIM) > http://learntothink0.tripod.com/learntothinkagain/ -- > http://www.geocities.com/keyyooo/ -- > http://www.platinumcomplication.com/cyndi/ > Tori Amos' response when asked to describe herself in five words: "I. Do. > Not. Describe. Myself." ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V7 #101 *************************************