The cosmetic and fashion industries have always been inextricably linked. Both, after all, cater to the cult of the creation of beauty. But their symbiotic relationship tends to remain behind the scenes, backstage during runway shows where makeup artists work feverishly to create a series of fantastical faces to complement the fashion. The past few years have seen this slowly changing as fashion designers collaborate with beauty houses to produce limited-edition cosmetic lines to reinforce their brand aesthetics.
Estee Lauder started the burgeoning trend in 2005 when it signed up designer Tom Ford. Fresh from his tenure at Gucci, a limited collection of fragrances and beauty products under the name Tom Ford for Estee Lauder was released in 2006 and 2007.
By the beginning of this year, Lancome had released its full Pout-a-Porter collection of Color Fever lipsticks in specially designed shades by Behnaz Sarafpour, Proenza Schouler, Peter Som, and Thakoon. The shades were used in respective runway shows and went straight from the catwalk to beauty counters. 3.1 Phillip Lim also teamed up with Nars to bring out an exclusive artist's palette based on Lim's fall/winter show and MAC with Alexander McQueen to produce a range of eye shadow pots, lip glosses and skin finish pots emblazoned with the McQueen logo.
Most recently, the darling of the British up-and-coming fashion scene Christopher Kane has developed a line of ultra-shiny Juicy Tube lip gloss shades with Lancome. Pulling off a Kane bandeau dress may prove too difficult for some but sporting his lip gloss shades should be easier. The designer, who publicly announced that he would never lend clothes to Victoria Beckham, has designed nine new shades inspired by four hot cities in tubes decorated with a chic fashion illustration.
This month, we can expect MAC's long-awaited collaboration with club-scene design duo Heatherette - a much-loved label of celebrities Gwen Stefani and Paris Hilton - to arrive in Hong Kong. The Heatherette for MAC collection includes illustrations by designers Traver Rains and Richie Rich on the cardboard packaging, and the compacts in hot metallic pink. With lipsticks and lip gloss shade names as Style Minx and Fleshpot, the collection is a true reflection of the Heatherette brand which counts Amanda Lepore as one of its biggest muses. It has also been rumoured that an exclusive collection with Emanuel Ungaro is also in the works for later this year.
In support of their four-year backstage beauty collaboration with Stila, Marchesa designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig are joining the bandwagon. The colours used in their fall/winter 2008 show will be available in a line of three palettes that will make up the Backstage Beauty Collection. Each palette will contain one matte, two shimmery eye shadows and eyeliner.