Beauty’s Shining Star
Whether we like to admit it or not, the key to the ultimate “look” lies in the hands of magical makeup artists. Take a quick look at any fashion beauty without it…and you won’t be that impressed; even if she’s dressed in the trendiest, hottest outfit of the season, without the art of makeup, she won’t wow you. I was more than lucky to interview François Nars, the creator of the much-loved (and one of my favorite brands, I must add) NARS cosmetics. Read on to find out more about the beauty-world’s most-loved magician.
By Hend Seif El Din
1. When did you first develop a passion for cosmetics?
I was probably seven or eight years old when I started having a real love for beauty and fashion because I was lucky to have really good looking women around me. Their chic and sophisticated style is what probably trigged and pushed my love for makeup.
2. What inspired you to become a makeup artist?
Around the same time as mentioned above I was a huge fan of Yves Saint Laurent. As a little boy I was pouring over fashion magazines like French Vogue. My mother, my grandmothers and French Vogue from the Seventies inspired me. Every month my mother would buy French Vogue and I would comb through it for hours looking at photos and the makeup looks. Marie Claire was the first magazine I ever worked for as a makeup artist. I was working with Olivier Echaudemaison on the shoot, and he had to run to another shoot and left me to do the makeup. I got along with everyone so well that the magazines started calling me directly to do the makeup. Olivier was very supportive.
3. Define beauty
I think to me it’s something that comes from within and it’s the way you feel, you know? I don’t think you can really put like a really definition about beauty. It’s really a state of mind to me more than just an external thing. That’s, you know, that’s what I feel.
4. Who or what inspires you today?
Everything inspires me. I am inspired by beauty. It could be from nature, from music, fashion, books or movies. I love old Hollywood and old European films from the start of the film industry up through the 70’s. I also like Italian, American, and French movies. I am inspired by many, many, different things – even the streets. I love traveling as well. I’m touched by many things when I create colors. I also like books that are related to the arts. And painters! Picasso and Matisse. And, opera…Verdi and Puccini.
5. How do you approach beauty?
I always like beauty a little bit edgy- not the typical beauties with cute little noses and perfect features. I like a lot of strength in the face. Character and personality are most important when it comes to beauty. To me, beauty today is global. Or, at least, NARS is. I don’t believe that women should be wearing a specific makeup look or color – that’s what’s so amazing about it. You can always take it off, tone it down, or intensify it. Figure out who you want to be on that day – and have fun.
6. How do you use makeup to explore a woman’s character?
It’s very important that you really believe in yourself, believe in yourself first, but also believe in your own beauty. I think that’s a very important thing. And then makeup is there of course to enhance it.
7. Tell me about your remarkable collaboration with Madonna in the 90s…would you call that a milestone in your career?
Yes, I would. Madonna is very particular with whom she works with and has very strong taste. She has very good taste. She trusted me completely and we got along very well. I made her look softer, more womanly and sexy – she liked that.
8. When did you know it was time to launch your own makeup line, NARS?
It was never a goal for me to start a makeup line really. But I believe it was when I was buying Chanel, supermarket stuff, and thinking oh my god I should do colors. I was never fully happy with a total line and I felt like one day I’ll make a line where everything has the perfect colors – the perfect blues, the perfect greens – and lipstick too. So that’s really what pushed me to create my own. As an artist, I knew I would be happy with the textures, the formulas, the color shades, and the packaging.
9. Your choice of faces to represent your work has truly transformed the industry’s standards; tell me more about that.
I have always been attracted by faces that are different, for faces that have an impact on others. I am not as interested in esthetic perfection. I prefer the type of woman Fellini liked or the type of woman Almodovar uses: a woman with a big nose, dark hair and very interesting features…The truth is it bores me to always work with blondes, who have perfect faces and sensuous mouths.
10. When it comes to choosing faces, do you still back off from blondes, or “typical” beauties?
The models I usually pick are definitely not a typical beauty. I don’t like totally perfect beauty. Perfect eyes, perfect little nose, perfect little mouth – that to me is just a bit boring. I like beauty with character.
11. Tell me your vision for NARS.
Keep creating modern, deep, rich and adventurous colors and products that inspire creative expression every day.
12. How does NARS stand out from other cosmetic brands?
You have to put your whole soul into it and that’s what the team at NARS does. I think that’s what makes us different from any other brand, from the big brands like Dior, Chanel. The line has a very personal approach to makeup and beauty and that’s what really sets us apart.
13. If you had to choose one favorite makeup item, which would it be and why?
I would say the lipsticks because that was the first product we came out with – I launched the line with 12 shades of lipstick. I love the lipsticks and believe any makeup artist probably loves lipsticks too, as we love playing with colors. One of my favorite shades is Shanghai Express.
14. Moving on to your photography…how did you get into that?
I felt I didn’t want to be stuck just creating makeup, I needed more in my life and I felt like I could do something else. I had also worked with the best photographers in the world, Avedon, Penn, Meisel, all those big legends so it was like being schooled. I
really learnt so much about photography over the 20 years of doing makeup; watching how they worked and watching the light, watching the sensibility. I captured it very quickly. To be able to photograph the makeup, you know, I was actually creating makeup and actually photographed it so it was very, very linked together.
15. When did you realize you wanted to remain your brand’s photographer?
After the first shoot. It happened in such an organic way. Who better to interpret my vision than me I love being behind the camera very, very much.
16. Do you take the shots yourself because you believe you’re the only who can capture the faces the way you want them to be seen, or is there another reason?
I really think photography makes you see things and people a bit differently. Being a photographer is a very special, amazing experience – one you can only have looking through a lens.
17. Did publishing your books follow as a natural step after photography, or were you planning on publishing books either way?
All the books that I made were planned. It’s like being a writer, who starts writing to have a book in the end.
