Francesca Tolot Interview
Three weeks ago I attended a MAC Cosmetics‘ Masterclass with Francesca Tolot, you can read about that amazing experience here. Of course, I already knew Francesca as one of the greatest make up artists of all time but being able to see her in real life made me understand what make up as art really means.
One Woman 100 Faces is a 20 years long photographic trip through various transformations of Mitzi Martin.
Every single image shows Francesca‘s and Alberto Tolot‘s art and technique.
The perfect symbiosis of Francesca‘s makeup artistry and Alberto‘s camera bring us an extraordinary gallery of impressive images.
Through the pages you’ll see and feel fire, water and all the elements that Francesca used to create her marvellous creations.
Every image is a great and original composition where you can see every kind of insipiration: from classical art to futuristic portraits.
Ethereal essences, material elements, everything in those image creates something unique in a neverending aesthetic research.
All the photos seem part of something bigger: connecting every dot you can see a leit-motiv that evolves through time of this visual journey so you can feel Francesca and Alberto‘s style’s footprints through their meticulous artistic path.
I own many beauty books written by great make up artists (from Kevyn Aucoin to Bobbi Brown to Rae Morris) but Francesca Tolot‘s One Woman 100 Faces express and make you feel pure art at its highest level.
Francesca has been extremely kind to answer my questions.
– The book is long time story told in pictures. What of this time is revealed in these photos?
It’s a creative collaboration of the whole team, and it being an artistic expression its timeless and doesn’t reflect a specific time period.
– Every photo shooting is always a new adventure. Could you please describe in one sentence all great photographers you’ve been worked with?
They are all amazing artists, Inspiring, exciting and innovative.
– Beyoncé’s video “If I were a boy” was such a great work. Black and white usually solves a lot of problems but there were a lot of different shooting conditions. For example: did you use any particular technique for those amazing close-ups?
No in this video her makeup was very natural, very simple and the dramatic difference was influenced by the lighting and performance. The overall makeup was very simple and natural. In some of the close-ups she was supposed to be sweating, so I used plain water to spray on her face.
– One Woman 100 Faces is an amazing art works’ collection. Which look do you love the most? And which one was the most difficult to do? I love all the looks, the eyelash paper is the only one that came to me in a dream, so that might be the most special image in the collection.
None of them were particularly difficult. The most time consuming one was the look with all the latex application on the body, since the pieces need to be researched and fabricated ahead of time.
