<img title="Vinitha Shetty showcases lips of today, powerful and defined" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/jul/Vinitha-a.jpg" alt="Vinitha Shetty showcases lips of today, powerful and defined" /> Vinitha Shetty showcases lips of today, powerful and defined
If make-up was just about catering to the male gaze, Hitler wouldn't have banned it on women visiting his country retreat. The personal is the political, and city-based make-up artist Clint Fernandes secretly hopes his latest project isn't reduced to the status of a DIY tutorial.
Celebrating 100 Years of Lips is a digital chronicle of the history of lip colour right from the 1920s. Here, Fernandes collaborates with five female model-bloggers and French cosmetics giant Chanel to discuss each decade's iconic colours, application techniques, textures and symbolism. The digital medium made sense because he wished to target the millennial audience. "This generation follows beauty trends closely, but blindly, with no regard for their history," he says, calling it a "passion project". Because, rarely does anyone fund passion, Fernandes is the sole driving force behind the idea, with make-up sponsored by the multinational.
<img title="The 1920s saw women sporting an exaggerated cupid's bow, as modelled by Pallavi Singh" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/jul/yadav-x.jpg" alt="The 1920s saw women sporting an exaggerated cupid's bow, as modelled by Pallavi Singh" /> The 1920s saw women sporting an exaggerated cupid's bow, as modelled by Pallavi Singh
"Companies are usually interested in research only if it brings them commercial benefits," he thinks.
Most women, he says, share an intimate relationship with the lipstick since they hit puberty. Social conditioning links make-up to sexuality and femininity but Fernandes hopes to discuss the cosmetic tool's power of expression.
He references the idea of Lipstick feminism, a secondary wave in the women's rights movement, which unlike the original leg, didn't focus on fundamental rights and legal-social equality alone, but embraced sexuality. High heels and or red lipstick weren't disempowering.
<img title="The key lip colours of the '80s were dark to black, as modelled by Namrata Yadav. PICS COURTESY/CLINT FERNANDES" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/jul/Pallavi.jpg" alt="The key lip colours of the '80s were dark to black, as modelled by Namrata Yadav. PICS COURTESY/CLINT FERNANDES" /> The key lip colours of the '80s were dark to black, as modelled by Namrata Yadav. &nbsp;PICS COURTESY/CLINT FERNANDES
Fernandes speaks of Polish-American cosmetics entrepreneur Helena Rubinstein, and the cupid bow style of application that became all the rage in the 1920s, a significant decade given that the war didn't allow women to splurge on clothes, and changing lipstick colour became their refuge for feminine expression. It was also the time when the first swivel-up lipstick of the sort we use today was patented.
Over three days and 10 looks, Fernandes flitted between the roles of photographer and make-up artist, working with bloggers Aiana Jain, Vinitha Shetty, Urvashi Choudhary, Namrata Yadav and Pallavi Singh at his Bandra studio for the pictorial essay he has documented on his personal blog, Clintasticfantastic, Facebook and Instagram.
<img title="Make-up artist Clint Fernandes" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/jul/Clint.jpg" alt="Make-up artist Clint Fernandes" /> Make-up artist Clint Fernandes
It's a global scenario he presents, given that India features nowhere in the make-up pioneering story. "India lacks individualism when it comes to cosmetics," says the artiste who has worked with Kalki Koechlin, Aditi Rao Hydari, Parineeti Chopra and Huma Qureshi. "Hollywood and Western beauty norms have set benchmarks for us. Even veteran actors like Nutan and Devika Rani mirrored make-up trends popularised by their Hollywood counterparts."
The project's first post went live on June 28, and the final post, a collection of all 10 looks, debuts today. With this, you can be certain to pull off the Catherine Hepburn or Cindy Crawford look with ease. Although Fernandes wished to offer tips quietly, he says, "it was a deliberate effort not to be a teacher or preach history. There is enough research available on my blog if you are interested in the backstory of how pale and frosty shades had a co-relation to the artistic movement of the '60s."

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Make-up artist traces the history of lip fashion

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Make-up artist traces the history of lip fashion

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