The Makeup Mole

I shouldn’t really call the amazing photographer and artist Lee Miller a “Current Obsession” as she’s been an obsession of mine for years.

Born in 1907 in New York and unbelievably beautiful, by her teens she was modeling for Vogue  for the great photographers of the day like Edward Steichen and Hoynigen-Huene. After tiring of this, she moved to Paris where she became the lover, partner and muse of Surrealist photographer and painter Man Ray. She was also his collaborator on many works and is credited by some as being the creator of his groundbreaking solarisation technique (which is still widely referenced today, most notably by fashion photographers Mert and Marcus.)

After spending the 1930’s as a successful photographer in Paris and New York, she became one of the only female war correspondents, sending back dispatches for British Vogue. This culminated in her being the only female photographer and one of the few photojournalists to document the liberation of the concentration camp Buchenwald. Understandably she never really recovered from this experience, and in her later life (when she became a mother and something of a domestic goddess), her solace became cooking, which she did with the same gusto that she did everything else.

This is a truly inspirational woman who packed more into one life than ten people could, who was never hampered by her gender and lived her life with an astonishing bravery and courage. Her life is a who’s who of the 20^th century, and her biography is a must-read for anyone interested in art, photography or history. Lover of Picasso, collaborator and muse of Cocteau and Man Ray, Vogue writer and model, an incredible photographer, photojournalist and chef, this is a woman who epitomizes Hemingway’s maxim of “Grace under pressure.”

My favourite autobiography on Lee Miller, is Lee Miller by Carolyn Burke, published by Bloomsbury.  Her work is very strictly copyrighted, so if you would like to learn more about her art, please go to www.leemiller.co.uk. There is also an exhibition of her work, ‘Lee Miller’s Surrealist Eye’ is at Millesgarden, Sweden from 14^th November- 14^th February, 2010.

Anyone who’s been following my Twitter feeds this past week or so, knows that I’m crazy about my new Züca bag, and today I’m going to tell you why.

Carting a suitcase full of makeup all over town goes with the territory of being a makeup artist, especially in London where you need to be prepared for pretty much anything. But when it weighs about two thirds of what you do it can get a bit out of control, and eventually the inevitable happened and my overburdened body gave out and I ended up at the doctor’s. Months later after my ligament injury I am finally recovering, but I’ve had to seriously re-assess my work life. Enter Züca.

Designed by an engineer for a daughter with a back problem (due to carting around too many school books – I’ve been there, too!), it’s a simple idea – a bag with a seat.

A seat I tell you! So no matter where the studio, the location, the train, whether I’m waiting outside a Winnebago whilst the star is getting dressed, or in a field all day watching the shot on location, I can sit down if I want to. Already I’m sold!

It also has special square mesh bags that maximize the space available. Because they’re flat and zip open, you can stack them in the bag, put them out on your work surface and away you go. I separate different areas with smaller bags inside, and it makes unpacking and re-packing super easy.

Then there’s the wheels that you can push up and DOWN stairs, since it pushes forward as well as it rolls backward, and I no longer have to heave the whole darn thing up when I reach a flight of stairs (and anyone who’s worked anywhere in East London knows just how many steps there can sometimes be!)

It’s not a huge bag, but now I’ve decanted everything, it doesn’t need to be. And really I’d rather be a bit more organized with a LOT less stuff, and still have a body that can do makeup for years to come.

For more information on Züca bags, check out www.zuca.com

I just can’t get enough of this American series set in an ad agency in New York, in 1960. From the enigmatic title character Donald Draper and the complex, interwoven relationships shared by their wives and secretaries (or “chickens” as they are so charmingly referred to in an episode) to the vision of a vanished world on the cusp of extinction, it’s pretty much perfect television.

 From a beauty and styling point of view it’s spot-on as well – the lipstick is that amazing, Technicolor orange red beloved by Grace Kelly and the nails are all perfectly manicured in that long, elongated 60’s oval shape. The sets are a sea of Dacron and you can almost hear those man-made fibres squeaking as they walk around.

 A word of warning – if you’re trying to give up smoking this ain’t the show for you since pretty much every character in every scene is smoking or drinking something. (Morning meeting? Let’s have a scotch! At the doctor’s office? You can both smoke there! Ooh, after 3pm? It must be Cocktail Hour.) Good times!