WILL MARIAH’S ‘GLITTER’ TREND CATCH ON?
Byline: Peter Braunstein
NEW YORK — It’s a familiar dilemma: you’ve been painting your apartment all day and are covered with paint, then suddenly remember that you have to be at Madison Square Garden that night to entertain thousands of adoring fans because you’re a famous pop star. Once an embarrassment, this ‘just-painted’ look may indeed become the hottest new makeup trend when “Glitter,” Mariah Carey’s upcoming film reworking of “A Star is Born,” hits theaters next month.
Throughout the film, the multi-platinum pop diva will be sporting a “paint swatch”: essentially, a streak of silver paint brandished most often on her shoulder. It’s a look that’s very gang-meets-glam, HBO’s Oz-meets-Flashdance, and the innovator is Kristofer Buckle, the makeup artist for “Glitter.” “It’s like a slash, a brush stroke, of silver — in the film, it’s always silver,” Buckle told WWD. “I decided that silver worked best against Mariah’s golden skin.”
According to Buckle, the paint swatch is not simply a glam accoutrement like, say, glitter, but a symbolic and ritualistic device that highlights Mariah’s film persona. “The slash is about fighting for individuality; it’s an empowerment thing,” he said. “Mariah’s character only wears it when she’s performing in the studio or on stage, but not in private moments. It’s her war paint. It’s what she wears when she has to be a star.”
Buckle then provided instructions for “slashing” with the silver substance produced by Make Up For Ever. “It should be wet, and you should apply it like water color,” he said. “You don’t want it to come off on other people, so I also use a fixative spray for hold.”
Does Buckle feel that Glitter’s “slash” may become the hot new makeup trend for fall? “Well, there was the glitter fad, the Swarovski crystal fad, the fake tattoo thing — I think the slash stands a chance,” he mused. “You get to mark yourself and make a statement, but the mark isn’t permanent.”
The same could be said of the Eighties, when “Glitter” is set. Despite its title, though, the film makes less use of actual glitter. “We wanted to avoid glitter because it was trendy so recently, although there is a “glitter theme night” scene at Limelight in the movie,” said Buckle.
Having experienced the high-gloss superficiality of the Eighties firsthand, Buckle feels that the filmmakers may have been too restrained in their recreation of the era. “They didn’t let us go too far into the Eighties with the makeup and the hair,” he said. “I mean, back then I personally looked like Siouxsie from Siouxsie & the Banshees. They were worried that the true Eighties look would have distracted people from the plot and made everything seem comical — but you’ll still know that it’s the Eighties.”
Buckle’s life right now is all about Mariah. He just finished work as makeup artist on the diva’s next film, “Wise Girls,” co-starring Mira Sorvino.