“Glamour is not cruelty. Glamour is not closemindedness. Glamour is not bigotry or hatred. Glamour is not self-conscious; it’s not trying really hard. It’s just expressing your own truth. I think that’s what the essence of glamour really is, expressing your uniqueness.” — Kevyn Aucoin
I pulled the above quote from Dressful’s Facebook page and was reminded of how much I adored Kevyn Aucoin and what a shocking loss we suffered when he died in 2002. Kevyn grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he suffered ceaseless bullying at school over his being gay, a fact he discovered about himself when he was six. Aucoin was forced to drop out of high school as a result of the abuse and enrolled in beauty school. He took a job at an exclusive women’s shop giving make-up lessons, but the female customers were uncomfortable with a man applying their make-up.
He moved to Baton Rouge where the abuse continued when he and his friends were beaten by security officers. His move to New York to start his career was motivated as much by fear for his life as a desire to be at the epicenter of fashion and beauty. It was while building his portfolio doing free make-up applications for models that he was disovered by Vogue and began working with famed fashion photographer Steven Meisel. During 1987-89 he did nine Vogue covers in a row and commanded up to $6000 for a make-up session.
The most enduring quality about Kevyn Aucoin and what makes me love him so much is that he revered the beauty within every woman and saw his job as one of making women feel beautiful. He considered make-up a tool to help a woman discover herself. He refused to do the make-up of models he felt were too young. Working for Revlon, Aucoin launched a make-up line called The Nakeds which was the first to address all skin tones, a move considered groundbreaking at the time.
According to Kevyn Aucoin:
Beauty is about perception, not about make-up. I think the beginning of all beauty is knowing and liking oneself. You can’t put on make-up, or dress yourself, or do your hair with any sort of fun or joy if you’re doing it from a position of correction.
Perfection is boring. If a face doesn’t have mistakes, it’s nothing.
Today I see beauty everywhere I go, in every face I see, in every single soul.
Yes, but everyone is beautiful to someone.
I love this post, thanks so much for sharing more about Kevyn Aucoin’s background! When I was in highschool my parents bought me a book by Bobbi Brown and also Kevyn Aucoin’s “Making Faces” and I was in awe at how artistic makeup could be I loved that he saw what most women think of as “flaws” and the things that make us beautiful!
Kevyn is one of those brave people that never let anyone get him down or ruin his outlook. He was such a loving personality.
Thanks for sharing this. I have admired Kevin for many years too, and I love his books. He seemed to love his work so much, and to really value women.
Yes, it’s true. He said while growing up it was men who hurt him and women to whom he ran for comfort.
I’ve gone through all his make-up books I could find in the only library in the city that has fashion- and beauty-related books. Reading about some of his life experiences shocked me and I found it astounding how afterwards he had the courage and power to go on and become who he really was, become the best version of himself with a seemingly undying optimism. What I wouldn’t give to have him do my make-up.
He was such a courageous man…I love people who use trials to fuel them rather than bring them down.