4 posts tagged "Monica Bellucci"
Monica, The Beautiful
The name Dolce & Gabbana has long stood for a certain kind of femininity. Even when androgyny takes its periodic stronghold on the fashion industry, the Italian brand stays true to its roots, which celebrate curves, class, and good old-fashioned T&A, Sicilian style—an archetype that presumably has its origins in Monica Bellucci. The Italian model and actress has played muse to the house that Stefano and Domenico built for over 20 years, and to pay Bellucci due homage, the designers are launching a new makeup collection this month inspired by her. Six new shades of their Voluptuous lipstick have been named using attributes they associate with the raven-haired beauty: Magnetic Monica is a sophisticated glossy plum; Only Monica is a sweet candy pink-turned-sugared almond; Natural Monica is a creamy taupelike cappuccino; Italian Monica is a bright cherry red; Chic Monica is a soft velvety rose petal pink; and Attractive Monica—Bellucci’s personal favorite—is a seductive, dark crimson. “I wasn’t in the lab,” Bellucci admits about her part in the collaboration. “But we talked about the shades. Women choose colors depending on the mood of the day, how we feel, our state of mind—and that’s why we created each of the different shades”—so there’s a bullet for every woman, or every Monica, as the case may be. Here, the 47-year-old sounds off on the transformative power of lipstick, feeling sensual rather than sexy, and why “taking sun” isn’t something she’s willing to give up in the name of eternal youth.
After countless fashion shows, collaborations, campaigns and the like, can you remember when you first met Stefano and Domenico?
Easy. I was a young model, I was doing fittings and castings and I went to see them and I did my first fashion show [with them]. Can you imagine! For me it was great, because those two young people at the time, people were talking about them already, like “Oh, these two stylists are so great—have you heard about them?” So, they were brand-new and everybody was talking about them already. After 25 years—my God!—it’s incredible; we’ve done all these things together and after all these years, after all these campaigns, they came to me again and asked me to do their makeup.
Are you a big lipstick wearer in your “normal” life?
I do like to wear just a little lipstick, some mascara—simple things for myself. I like to please myself. I think to put even just a little lipstick is such a traditional attitude from our mothers and grandmothers, so it’s something that we see from when we are a child. When my two little girls see me put some makeup on they want some too.
Do you have a favorite shade from the new collection?
I like the red one [Attractive Monica]. But you can’t wear red every day. Because when you wear red everybody looks at you; you’re under the spotlight. You have to be prepared, because sometimes you don’t want to be the center of attention.
Monica For Dolce; The LFW Tan Ban Takes Effect; And More…
Monica Bellucci will join Scarlett Johansson and Felicity Jones as the latest face of Dolce & Gabbana The Makeup. “She’s a fantastic woman, very sunny, very feminine—she’s our icon,” the design duo says of the actress, who will get her own line of lipsticks in May. [WWD]
Despite christening “the Aggie”—the platinum blond, spiky crop that hairstylist Sam McKnight gave her on set, thus forever changing the trajectory of her modeling career—Agyness Deyn’s favorite hairstyle over the years has been the buzz cut. “Having a skinhead, it was the easiest,” she says in a new LFW video. “You just wash and go, no hair-dryers or brushes needed.” [Grazia]
If you see bronzed limbs on the runway in London, they won’t be from a tanning bed. Directors from 11 U.K. modeling agencies including Elite, Premier Model Management, Storm, and Next have signed up for a zero tolerance policy on sun bed use to protect new and established models from the mal-effects of ultraviolet rays. St. Tropez must be thrilled. [Daily Mail]
Lady Gaga will be shooting the commercial for her long-awaited fragrance this weekend, the footage from which will be edited into a ”special song,” according to the pop star. As for the fragrance itself, it’s being billed as “something never smelt before, that you’ll never forget.” [Bloomberg]
How To Get Red-Carpet Makeup Right
Proper Riviera beauty typically takes its cues from the sun—a little bronzer here, some shimmer lotion there—but when the Cannes Film Festival comes to town, all of that changes. “You can’t think about Cannes without thinking about Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve,” celebrity makeup artist for Christian Dior Christophe Danchaud told us from the newly designed Dior Beauty Suite at the Hotel Majestic, referring to the icons’ heavily lined eyes and lots and lots of lashes. Danchaud, who has tended to Monica Bellucci’s gorgeous face for upward of 12 years, is the brand’s go-to guy for properly primping out its spokespeople—including newly named Dior Hypnotic Poison face Mélanie Laurent. “The trick is no powder until she walks out,” he says of keeping actresses camera ready for premieres and photo calls. “I love when you can see fresh skin, so I put powder on the T-zone and only the T-zone. It gives the right shine to cheeks.” As for blush, Danchaud prefers to start with a cream texture on really dewy skin and then dust on a powder pigment, like Dior’s Bronze Harmonie de Blush in Rose Brazilia “super-big,” from the apple of the cheek, way up past the temple.
When it comes to eyes, film premiere makeup requires eyeliner, but applied with restraint. “I like liner when you just have the liner. Lids need to be nude, nude, nude. Then mascara—you have to use it on the red carpet.” Danchaud’s method is to start with something volumizing like Dior’s Diorshow Extase and then top it off with DiorShow Blackout for an even fuller effect. Discussing the Hollywood set’s ubiquitous smoky eye, Danchaud says that he’s into it every once in a while. “It’s sexy,” the face painter points out. “And you can do it on every woman.” He recommends switching it up for added character, though, using a green, navy, or brown base rather than the more traditional black.
In regards to red lipstick—every actress’ best friend in paparazzi pictures—Danchaud prefers an orangey red to the blue varieties. “I like Rouge Dior in Red Premiere,” he says adding a proviso to the uninformed: “If you do the eyes, though, you can’t really do the lip too.” First-timers, take note.
Sasha Pivovarova: Bootylicious?
Perhaps in response to French Elle‘s La Beauté Vérité issue, in which cover stars Monica Bellucci, Sophie Marceau, and Eva Herzigova went sans maquillage (and sans digital altering) to stare the controversial issue of magazine retouching in the face, Carine Roitfeld and Bruce Weber collaborated on what could be construed as a body image story in the new Paris Vogue. The 14-page editorial stars the infamously rail-thin Sasha Pivovarova parading around the beach in butt pads and a collection of vacation-appropriate duds, sticking her enhanced posterior out in every shot. An intentional commentary on models’ unrealistic dimensions, or just a case of silly summer satire? You decide.