Behind the Makeup: 3.1 Phillip Lim, Fall 2012

To work on a collection, you have to envision

the woman in it.

You start to paint this character.

I can t leave her or him faceless

so in the end, it comes back to beauty.

It s in the details, it s in the makeup,

it s in the nails, it s in the hair.

Just being inspired by Phillip s

drive to even push the look, push

the meaning of the makeup, push the meaning of the

sensuality of the girl.

We don t know what we re doing.

We re searching for magic.

Like me.

There s a no, but we try, and then we do,

and then maybe not, and maybe this way,

and then that way, it s quite magic,

I m like yeah.

Now it looks too much like a hairdo.

I want to be a makeup artist.

(laughter)

How do you go back to the first one

but less like this, you know what I mean?

I m a huge magnet and I just drag

whatever I pick up and in this season it was

built on new art illustrations,

comic illustrations and just the very simple

idea of light and dark.

But it s nice to work with someone that really

brings his inspiration into the makeup as well.

I m really hands-on.

I ve had experiences where I had to do the hair myself.

You know what I mean, like take it a part

Because I wasn t happy and it s almost like,

here, paint the nail like this.

I m not trained in beauty.

I don t speak the language so the only way to get there

is to paint a picture.

Does it need to be more exaggerated?

Do you think?

I m kind of inspired by a old

paintbrush with the lashes so,

it really kicked the product in

and then by putting a gloss on top of the eye

and underneath, it kinda creates that element of

she s holding back emotion and she s crying.

I love vulnerability.

I find that there s so much strength in vulnerability.

It just goes back to the idea of

romancing reality through clothes.

It s when the girls are dressed and

we see her in the final look.

She comes alive.

Well there is a definition,

and on the other side, it s like a shadow.

There is a contrast.

I do things that I didn t what know I was doing.

I did good.

We always push each other.

That s why I love working with Francelle and Odile.

With the clothes, the hair, the makeup, the nails,

everything kind of works in harmony

and that s when you know that you ve

arrived at the time where it s like okay,

that s the look.

We got it.

I love it.

And he loves it.

No, him first.

Me after him.