This is the first glimpse into the palette and colours imagined and created byDaphne Guinness. Daphne is her art. This is part of her discovery and evolution.
“This collection is a window into my imagination.” – Daphne Guinness
PIGMENT – $20.00 U.S./$24.00 CDN
Aurora Pinked taupe (frost)
Circa Plum Frosty dirty mid-tone lavender (frost)
Nebula Dark greyed brown with pearl (frost)
PRO LONGWEAR LIPCREME – $17.00 U.S./$20.00 CDN
Warp Speed Light silver
Red Dwarf Blue-pink
Seasoned Plum Mid-tone lavender
Approaching Storm Deep rose
CREMESHEEN GLASS – $18.50 U.S./$22.00 CDN
Borealis Pale grey pink with iridescent pearl
Japanese Spring Pale dirty pink
Narcissus Dirty eggplant
Richly Revered Deep brown plum
POWERPOINT EYE PENCIL – $15.00 U.S./$18.00 CDN
Engraved Rich black
Grey Utility Uniform grey
EYE BROWS – $15.00 U.S./$18.00 CDN
Fling Light taupe ash blonde
Stud Deep rich blackened brown
EYE SHADOW X4 – $38.00 U.S./$45.00 CDN
Interior Life Quad
Stratus Light pink (matte) Interior Life Mid-tone grey blue (veluxe pearl)
Bruised Sky Dark lavender-y grey (satin) Heather Belles Dark charcoal/carbon (satin)
BLUSH OMBRÉ – $26.00 U.S./$31.00 CDN
Azalea Blossom Light cool pink
Vintage Grape Mid-tone violet pink
NAIL LACQUER – $15.00 U.S./$18.00 CDN
Hyperion Light grey blue green (crème)
Endless Night Pale grey pink with iridescent pearl (frost)
Blueblood Deep eggplant (crème)
North America December 26, 2011
International January 2012 at all M·A·C locations,
1.800.588.0070 and www.maccosmetics.com
An Artist who values her freedom to discover the myriad ways to express and transform the human soul, from couture and punk, to historical research and the metaphysics peculiar to mankind. Mother. Model. Muse. Journalist. Actor. Once again, the Honourable Daphne Suzannah Diana Joan Guinness has added another project to her resume with her latest creative endeavour, which could be her most electrifying and beautiful yet. Everyone’s most obsessed-over, free thinking and cross-disciplining aristocrat has teamed up with M·A·C to create a collection of colours as sophisticated, authentic and refined as Daphne herself. Someone who defies the labels with which society brands those they can’t explain. A person who is not only unafraid to dirty her well-manicured hands, but one for whom the actual process is an ultimate pleasure and not just a means to an end. Someone for whom life is an infinite journey of discovery.
To create this magnificent collection, Guinness kicked off her towering shoes and threw herself into the world of makeup artistry to concoct a truly elegant wash of watercolour-inspired shades that recall the classically beautiful cool and rich tones of the Old Masters and the stark light of northern Europe. From inception to final incarnation she took instructions, and for weeks applied herself to personally mixing palettes of differing hues. Her ethos is that unless you do it yourself or are part of the process, the final result is not interesting or authentic. For her that is unacceptable. In M·A·C she found a team that was willing to support and help her bring this first collection from the drawing board to the final product, so each colour is curated to perfection.
Q&A WITH JAMES GAGER
Senior Vice President and Creative Director M·A·C Worldwide
Oh well, I’ve had my eye on her for a long time! I mean, you see photos of her out and about and really, there’s no one more chic. We were also drawn to her because she’s out there doing very original projects; dressing windows at Barney’s, staging her own funeral and so on. Everything she’s involved in is done in such an elegant way. For her to join us as part of a very high fashion collection is just appropriate, and more than an honour.
When she walked into the office for the first time to talk about the collection we were all just blown away. You instantly understand how seductive she is as a person. Suddenly, you’re in love with her because she looks so incredibly chic and the clothes and the hair and all the jewellery is real…it’s visual overload!
We didn’t really guide her. Certainly we talked to her about product categories, but we didn’t give her any instruction in terms of colour development. She has a very stylish way of looking at colour and she’s also opinionated about texture, so the process was quite easy.
Well she loves makeup; she mixes her own fragrance and she’s very experimental. When we first started working on colours, she pulled a tiny watercolour case out of her handbag and, using her own saliva, began mixing colours immediately! She gets very excited about the creative process. She also named many of the shades. Obviously, she’s extremely well read and very much an intellectual and possesses amazing visual references from which to pull. The result is a collection of colours that are so beautiful and quite sophisticated.
I mean, look at her hair. She really knows how to wear her look, and right now she’s into a lot of these cool tones that you see in the collection. Maybe yesterday she could have been wearing a lot of reds and mandarins, and she may change her palette again, but this collection is about what she’s in love with right at this moment. It’s indicative of how creative people go through all sorts of different phases and this is where her colour sensibility lies right now. And it’s so good for our customers as there’s nothing like it on the market. Our fans look to us for the newest, most cutting-edge collections and this is so very representative of that.
Daphne represents couture on the highest level: she is living the moment, living the life. When she arrives at an event you can’t keep your eyes off her. Her persona is beyond definition; she’s timeless and yet personifies modernity.
It is absolutely a couture collection because it’s so personal as opposed to trend-oriented. It truly epitomizes how M·A·C and Daphne feel about this particular collection. As I said, she’s really out in the world and therefore she has an innate point of view that connects with trends; it’s in her and she’s absorbed by it. But here, the colours come together in a more natural way, which is why there’s such authenticity to the collection.
Well to be honest, there wasn’t much makeup around when I was growing up! I never really thought of it. But I was always painting. Let me see…Did I paint myself? I tried to make myself look Japanese…I had a Japanese nanny, and I love the Japanese aesthetic, so I remember trying to achieve that look. But instead of makeup I would use watercolours or acrylics or anything I could get my hands on. Sometimes I would paint pictures on my face, on my eyelids or whatnot. Now if I want to do something like that I go over to the M·A·C Pro Shop in Canada and get these pigments that make your skin really white and pearly. You can use them on your body as well.
I’ve always loved M·A·C. I’m obsessed with the Lipglass and the Mascaras. I’d often go into the M·A·C shops to play with the brushes and such, but for this, to be able actually to have some kind of input on a project? I felt it was a great opportunity. And of course M·A·C and I have mutual friends. My dear friend Issy did a Lipstick – she was terribly excited about that – and another great friend, David LaChapelle, always had a good time shooting for M·A·C. And I always just thought it was such a cool company. I even remember when it first came on the scene, I thought, ‘great, finally something new for a change.’
I was in the Beverly Hills Hotel – and let me tell you there’s always some mad project going on in my bedroom when I’m there, ha! I had parchment papers spread all over the floor and all sorts of different powders and watercolours that I was mixing together and my finished pieces were drying on the balcony. I was painting for so long on that floor. When I’m given a task, I take it really seriously. I start with the raw materials and mix them and all the while I imagine art references and try to consider the Old Masters and try to figure out how they mixed this colour or that colour. Then, when the pieces were done, I packed them all in my suitcase to show M·A·C. Maybe it all sounds strange, but I’m always playing with colours and pencils and paints. I do it all the time! For me a recurring theme in my work is history and the universe – the smallest things and the largest things and I explore that through colour. The process that I’m always in.
I think it all has to do with light and the places I grew up. Of course the light is different in Ireland from that in London, and it’s really extraordinary in Cadaqués in the north of Spain. When you have a storm the clouds come out from behind the mountains and make these extraordinary shapes and when the sun hits them from a certain angle it makes a beautiful light. When you look at Dali’s paintings, that’s not him being surreal, that’s him painting from life because that’s what it looks like! I’m very sensitive to light change – I’ll start jumping up and down when the sun begins to set because of the way it goes an orange colour when it comes through my windows because it’s so beautiful. And I hate bad light. When I go in some place and the overhead light is neon it gives me a headache. I’m obsessed with light because without it, you can’t have colour.
They are!? Oh gosh. Well what happened was that it’s all an accident. First I dyed the underneath red. At that point it was less baby blonde on the top – it was very white when I was a child and then it went darker as it does. Anyway I dyed it red, then darker red, then plum, then I went to purple, then darkish blue; so at this point it’s not quite black. And the kind of whitest shade of blonde on the top happened by mistake gradually in different salons. Anyway this is what I ended up with! I’m not sure what will be next. I like to experiment. And I do like my hair to be done, it is civilized!
The thing is I don’t like to copy anything and I really try to come up with something completely new. Of course, you have to work with things that are in your frame of reference, but I really aim to create a new colour or at least a new configuration of colours together. As Degas said, “You have to copy and recopy the masters,” but you can only do that for so long and then you have to do your own thing. Otherwise you’re only going backwards and not forward. So I try to take my references from the past and bring them into the present and make them relevant again. I tend to like classic things that you can use many times instead of fads; trends annoy me actually. There’s one thing in loving beautiful things and admiring people’s creations, but a trend? I quite prefer things to move forward, but to exist as a pinnacle of quality.
Well for instance, I’m quite proud of the Hyperion Nail Lacquer. It resembles this almost grey, steely light that is pure Whistler from the 1890s when he still had fog in the paintings. The shade is so beautiful and it also reminds me of a celadon-coloured antique Chinese porcelain vase. Porcelain in that colour is rather compelling. There’s something about these sorts of shades that I find quite lovely, and you’ll see that this collection is all about cool tones. I’m not a real primary colour person, and warm colours do not become me. Anyway we can’t all be bouncing along the beach looking sunkissed. I’m never gonna be that girl. I wish, but it ain’t gonna happen! I’m just not great with browns or terracottas and perhaps aside from daffodils, I think yellow is bad luck. I hate canary diamonds with a passion!
Oh certainly. Couture means handmade, and I mixed the colours by hand and really, really, really put a lot of thought into them! It’s been one very happy experience and I’ve had such a nice time. The only thing I missed is I wanted to be right there in the factory. I would love that. The process is just everything to me. You see, before I was speaking to you I was literally in my bathroom mixing up products and smashing them about! I’ve learned so much and I’m having so much fun with makeup.
I need to say thank you so much for your work you have made in writing this piece of writing. I am hoping the same perfect job from you later on also.
Terrific post, I am checking back persistently looking for upgrades.
I haven't been excited about a MAC collection in ages, but I can see a few things I want from this!
I really enjoyed reading her interview…She does sound quite eccentric…! And she looks amazing for her age…