From Stockholm to New York via Paris
Working as a "booker" for a modelling agency in Stockholm, learning the basics of make-up very early, Brigitte Reiss-Andersen draws the attention of several fashion photographers. We are in 1980.
Two years later, by chance, she meets José Luis, the legendary make-up artist and creator of Yves Saint Laurent’s range of make-up. It’s all about making up his twenty models who are on a fashion parade on the same day in Stockholm, and he needs an assistant. She answers his call. And they get on well! So well that he very quickly gives her the choice: to accompany him in Paris, or not. And before he knew it, the answer was yes and it was a deal! A luggage each, their plane tickets in the other hand, and they’re on their way! This will last for two years. "A very fulfilling and rich period," she admits, "where I’ll be collaborating with José Luis for prestigious fashion magazines as well as on big fashion shows (Montana, Alaia, YSL)".
Eventually, at the beginning of 1985 when Brigitte Reiss-Andersen decides to fend for herself and she hires her first agent. The saga continues and she is contacted by ELLE, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and creates the looks for the ads of Yves St Laurent, Biotherm, L’Oréal. In 1987, the question arises. Why not go to New York?
"It’s quite funny, when you think about it, since it’s my hairstylist, Frédéric Fekkai who gave me the idea when he told me he was going to establish himself on the other side of the Atlantic. It puzzled me at first, but very quickly, desire took over. Why not?" There too, Brigitte Reiss-Andersen takes the decision in no time.
"When I arrived in New York, she says, the atmosphere was quite different from that of Paris. Here it is not only a poorly paid vocation, it is a profession of its own just needing to be developed.” Brigitte Reiss-Andersen reinforces her professionalism and... gets married!
Art direction
Her talent is not left unnoticed. She works with great photographers (Demarchelier, Penn, Leibovitz, Elgort), fashion designers (Kamali, de la Renta, Ralph Lauren) and spends her time between studios in Paris and New York. Then her long time friend, Frédéric Fekkai who is launching, with the Chanel Group, a range of products bearing his name, asks her to create a line of make-up.
She quickly grows a true passion for this other world in the universe of colour cosmetics: branding, marketing, launches and public relations. She then works with Procter & Gamble, Walgreens and Sephora.
Today she has the rare privilege of keeping her position at a top fashion make-up Artist (she can boast for more than two hundred cover magazines) and to be requested to work for the biggest names in showbiz. Among the twenty Oscars-winning movie stars she was requested to work for, there are Halle Berry, Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, Juliette Binoche as well as Catherine Deneuve, Mariah Carey and Michelle Pfeiffer.
"Convenient and easy!"
"To me, she says, make-up has always been, at the start, something very spontaneous. When you make up someone for a magazine, it’s instantaneous work. Therefore, my vision is quite natural and logical: make-up is a tool that allows a women to show the different facets of her beauty. She can change it. She can modify it depending of her desires, goals, and the identity she wants to take. At the same time, life changes every day. Obviously, to some extent, the use of the tools we have at our disposal every day has become "simpler". The make-up application must also be simple and quickly reach the desired objective. It must remain practical!”
“What has also changed in the picture is that the great Beauty Houses are no longer the only ones to pave the way. Many others stakeholders have emerged to successfully influence the public: Celebrities "parading" on red carpets, fashion shows and blogs, for example. They are quick and efficient and are well suited to demand. This too has changed! I would say finally that a woman should not make up only according to the physical features of her face, but she should mostly make up for the story she wants to tell in her make-up and, somehow, for the message she wants to convey."
Does she see herself classic and discreet for her business lunch, or more casual during her vacations or with the looks of a femme fatale for her evening date? Her make-up will match her very desires and the "role" she has chosen.
