Looks at ways in which persons can change their facial appearance
to reflect their moods, while offering the views of Kenneth Gergen,
psychologist and Robert Jay, psychiatrist. Reference to the book 'Making
Faces,' by Kevyn Aucoin, a makeup artist; Use of cosmetics to change
facial appearances; Details on the Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover compact
disc.
By
Annie Murphy Paul, published on July 01, 1998
STYLE
Even as psychologists are exploring the multiplicity of modern
selves, a new generation of makeovers is showing that the mirror has many
faces.
Experts on interior reality like psychologist Kenneth Gergen and
psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton have been saying for years that we have
not one self, but many, each suited to a specific occasion. Now, that
idea has come out where we can see it: the makeover.
Take a look at makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin's book, Making Faces
(Little, Brown, and Company, 1997). "Kevyn believes that makeup gives
everyone the power to transform themselves and try out new personas,"
reads the back cover. The actress Gena Rowlands, who one would think has
no need to look like anyone but herself, writes in the introduction about
a makeover Aucoin did on a movie set: "When he was through with me, the
crew didn't recognize me. I was that glamorous!"
Other movie stars are also rendered unrecognizable, at least as
themselves: Lisa Marie Presley is made to look like Marilyn Monroe,
Isabella Rossellini like Barbara Streisand, and the ever-flexible Demi
Moore like both Clara Bow and Ingrid Bergman. This malleability extends
even to Aucoin himself, who gushes, "You see, now I can be Japanese one
evening and Spanish the next, with just a little makeup
application."
Though Aucoin is still constrained by what his pencils and powders
can do, no such limits exist for the new computer-generated makeovers.
One of the most popular programs is the Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover on
CD-ROM. It allows users to manipulate a digitized photo of themselves,
changing hair color, lipstick shade, and eyebrow shape instantaneously.
More elaborate still is a program called Wig Out, which adds virtual
accessories and body piercing to the mix.
The appeal of these products appears to lie in their promise of
total transformation. Virtual Makeover (put out by that champion of
selfimprovement, Cosmopolitan magazine) offers 150 different hairstyles,
in 20 different colors. "A whole new you is just a click away," its
package exclaims. "One click and you're a blond, a redhead, or a
brunette. Feeling adventurous? Then change your hairstyle or reshape your
lips and brows. Even change the color of your eyes!" At a recent computer
show at which Wig Out was on display, Rastafarian dreadlocks for women
and gender-bending drag for men were favored choices.
All of this looks like bad news for department stores, which have
been steadily losing cosmetics customers to salons and discount stores.
Part of their downfall, perhaps, lies in the modesty of their promises:
their makeovers never offered metamorphosis, only a little lift or the
season's new shade. Though it's hardly here yet, it's possible to imagine
a day when the department-store makeover is no longer available,
discontinued like a dated shade of lipstick. As it goes, we ought to
acknowledge what's passing away with it: a time when selves were
singular, when one face was enough.
Tags:
appearance,
barbara streisand,
beauty,
cosmetics,
image,
ingrid bergman,
isabella rossellini,
lisa marie presley,
make-up,
makeup artist,
many faces
