Cher, Kate Moss and Isabella Rossellini in documentary on celebrity make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin
Kevyn Aucoin grew up in Louisiana, was discovered in New York by Vogue magazine and by the end of his short life he had written a book, was working with the stars, appearing on talk shows and had his own entourage
Tiffany Bartok remembers the exact moment she decided to make a film about Kevyn Aucoin. As a make-up artist, she was working on a client and referencing Aucoin, and the impact that he’d had on her. An intern listening in asked, ‘who?’
“I realised then that millennials don’t know who Kevyn Aucoin is,” says Bartok, a New York-based filmmaker. “When I showed the intern his books and work, she was floored at his level of artistry. I knew then that the story had to be told.”
That was five years ago.
The result, Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story, came out in late July on iTunes, Amazon and on DVD. In the intervening years, Bartok and her team – including producers Bronwyn Cosgrave, Jayce Bartok and Troy Surratt – gathered some equally legendary people, like Cher, Kate Moss and Isabella Rossellini to talk about the impact the iconic make-up artist had on their lives.
Aucoin died in 2002, at the age of 40, due to organ failure after he become addicted to painkillers. But in the preceding couple of decades, he became the first true celebrity make-up artist, as much of a star as the luminous faces he regularly worked on. He pioneered the art of contouring long before it was a thing with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian.