Live from Tokyo

November 23, 2018

Tokyo is known for many things: its high-end shopping; its futuristic architecture à la Lost in Translation; it's ingenious (and totally kawaii) packaging, advertising, food and pretty much everything; and its incredibly detailed beauty and fashion subcultures that make walking around the city on any given day, like a magical Halloween parade. It's like Disneyland for hair and makeup—but even better.

There's goths, Lolita girls, Mori girls, the Decora style, visual kei—beauty in Tokyo isn't like beauty in New York or Los Angeles. People go all out every single day. And while, in the U.S., contouring, big lips and false lashes are the current beauty norm courtesy of the Kardashians, in Tokyo, there is no single main trend—only boundaries to push and makeup to apply in order to make sure everyone stands out.

The only thing all of the different scenes have in common is the beauty looks are all amazing.

Photos by Colin Matsui

No matter where you are in the city—Shibuya, Shimokitazawa, Omotesandō, Roppongi—you can't walk a block without seeing a style you'll immediately want to cop.

Last month, office went to Tokyo to see it all IRL. Peep the photos, below.

Follow @officebeautynyc for more killer beauty looks, product reviews from the office Beauty Committee and our favorite makeup artists around the world.

Beauty

The World Is Not Straight

February 01, 2019

In a world that often makes us choose between minimalism or maximalism, makeup artist Nami Yoshida has chosen both. From print to the runway—magnifying the simple, powerful beauty of models and stars like M.I.A. for the cover of magazines like Dazed and campaigns for brands like Kenzo, to covering models in glitter or making them look like they were hatched from eggs for Xander Zhou's A/W '19 show—Yoshida plays to each individual's face to create the looks that fashion houses and office Beauty can't get enough of.

This makes sense, considering it was faces—not makeup—that pushed a high school-aged Yoshida to pursue a job in the beauty industry. "[They] remind me of the human body," she says of her effortless, abstract looks. "From my point of view, the world is not straight."

Photo by Jori Komulainen
Interview by Alyson Zetta Williams

Keep scrolling for Yoshida's take on beauty, her take on the 10-step routine and the next great skin products.

You've said that 'beauty is love, and love is energy'—what does that mean for you?

It is not very easy to explain, but for me, beauty is something sensuous. It is an energy I can’t see with the eye. Love is within that energy—it’s a connection to thought, consciousness, prayer and nature.

As with most creative careers, one has a small chance of succeeding in the beauty industry the way you have. How did you decide to 'go for it' as a makeup artist?

I think I was lucky to work with the people that I worked with. They are very creative. I just wanted to learn a lot—I was and still am keen to know or see something I don’t know.

Looking at your portfolio, you've done both minimal and maximal makeup looks. Which is your favorite?

Maybe both! When I do minimal and maximal, I’m working through the same process. For me, there’s no line between them. When I start any makeup, I don’t approach the face as a blank canvas. I love the fine detail of the face, an expression and personality. I love creating any kind of character—it's like channeling the character to the image. It doesn’t have to be literally beautiful.

What product or campaign made you first realize you were destined to become a makeup artist?

It was actually before I started working professionally, when I was in high school. I just loved doing makeup on myself, and changing my identity with my it. It was fun. Looks, expressions, personality—I was interested in faces.

There's a lot of talk in the beauty community right now about skincare, particularly the idea of a 10-step routine and how many products we should actually be using regularly. What do you think?

I like to keep it simple—a good cleansing oil to remove makeup and wash with pure water. I love toner.

Are there any brands or products that you're rooting for in the coming year?

Paul & Joe’s refreshing skin tiner and also their oil. Chanel’s Hydra Beauty Micro Gel Yeux serum, too.

Your more abstract work has a running motif of circles, like your 2016 Purple Magazine cover, and your looks backstage at Kenzo S/S '18. What does the shape represent to you?

I guess I just like drawing curved lines. To some extent, it reminds me of the human body. From my point of view, the world is not straight—there are always curves, blurs, softness and imperfections.

Follow @officebeautynyc for more of our favorite makeup artists, Instagram beauty gurus, club kids and inside info from our office Beauty Committee.

'Exeunt' photos by Camille Vivier from office Issue 06.

Beauty

Everybody Hates Linux

January 31, 2019

For Linux, more is more is more—and we can't get enough. The downtown It girl and LGBTQ activist has been running around NYC in avant-garde makeup looks and matching costumes, getting hundreds of likes online and IRL. She's even caught the eye of fashion mega brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Fendi, to some of whom he's paid homage with his iconic outfits.

But before she exploded onto the NYC nightlife scene, Linux was just a small town girl sneaking into gay clubs, making her way through Milwaukee. Still underage and with no fake ID, she put together outrageous ensembles that no bouncer could turn down (which, of course, they didn't). And although the superstar is no longer in need of a fake, she hasn't stopped rocking those insane 'fits. Thank god.

Interview by Shay Gallagher

Whether she’s dressed up as a used maxi pad or a bottle of poppers, she's consistently fierce from head-to-toe. Read our interview with Linux, below.

Let's start from the beginning. How did you first get involved in the club scene?

Growing up in Wisconsin, all the kids in my high school were straight edge and Catholic. At age 16, I got a car and a fake ID, and started driving to the nearest city, Milwaukee, and going to gay clubs downtown. I made friends with a bunch of Milwaukee drag queens who I performed with at nightclubs on school nights, and when I finally graduated high school we moved to LA together. I lost my fake ID and the only way for me to get passed the bouncers was by dressing up crazier and crazier every week, so they would just assume I was somebody and wouldn’t check my ID. I fell so in love with the looks I created when I was going out, and it was a high I had never experienced before. After a few months in LA and a summer in Chicago, I hopped off a bus in New York City and the rest is history.

You have created some pretty major looks. Which have been your most memorable?

Thank you! The most memorable looks for me have been whenever I do collaborations with brands I love—my Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Chanel and Fruit of the Loom looks are my all time favorites.

How do you come up with your designs?

When I create a look, the concept always comes from a childlike version of myself, and then the adult-me crafts it. I’m really inspired by the cartoons I would watch as a kid as well as what a child’s perspective of 'fashion' is (see: the RuPaul supermodel montage in The Lizzie McGuire Movie). To a child, the idea of fashion is just so silly and extravagant and never taken seriously—and I love that.

What’s your number one rule when it comes to navigating your way through the New York City nightlife?

Have good intentions with everything you do.

In 2016, you released your album Everybody Hates Linux—what do you think people love to hate the most about you?

That album was a big moment for me. I wrote it when I just moved to New York and I still felt like a freak, even at the places I was told I was supposed to fit in the most. The other girls were really mean to me when I first moved to NY and making the album was a way for me to reclaim their hatred for me and be like, 'You know what? I hate her too!' I think the thing people love to hate the most about me is how outspoken I am. If you don’t wanna say it, LINUX WILL!

I love your song “FUJIWM (Fuck Jesus I Want Makeup)"—what are some of your miracle products?

It’s so funny, I made that song in 2016 before the makeup industry was what it is today. If I could rewrite the chorus now it would be: “Ben Nye. Nars. Jeffree Star. Pat McGrath. I heard Chanel has great foundation!” Anything by those brands—beyond.

Asking for a friend—tips for fabulous lashes?

More is more is more is more! The longer, curlier, thicker, blacker, the better, bitch! My favorite lashes to wear are Beauty & The Bartsch lashes in “Bush.” A reminder: lower lashes are your friends—use them.

What are your guiltiest pleasures?

I’m obsessed with hydrating oils. My ideal day of beauty is covering my body, hair and pussy in every organic oil known to woman and just slipping and sliding around the house while my pores drink up.

What’s on the horizon for you in 2019?

More music, more looks and more parties. Right now, I’m throwing a monthly porn-video-game party “PLAY NOW!” with nightlife legend Susanne Bartsch on the second Saturday of every month at 3 Dollar Bill in Brooklyn. As far as music, I know everyone is begging for me to release something and I’m close, I promise! I’ve written a few second albums and every time I show one of my friends a song they totally hate them or think it’s a PR nightmare, so I scrap it all and start over. I think I’ll just release an EP called All The Songs I Was Begged Not To Release instead of a formal album, but we’ll see.

Follow @officebeautynyc for more of our favorite club kids, beauty gurus, makeup artists and inside info from our office Beauty Committee.

Beauty

Behind the Mask

January 26, 2019

Magnhild Kennedy, known by her 30K Instagram followers as @damselfrau, is a meticulous master of making masks. Based in the London, the Norwegian artist has gained traction in the worlds of fashion and art—you've probably even seen her masks while flipping through the pages of Vogue or even Forbes.

As an artist, Kennedy doesn't let anything get in the way of her practice—her work sits at the crossroads of materials and time. Using textiles and objects including ribbons, beads and anything else that strikes her fancy, her materials guide her process, with the medium in which she uses them being secondary to her art. Eventually, though, that process brought her to mask making, and while that may have been unintentional, it's clear that's exactly where she belongs.

Interview by Shay Gallagher

Tell me about yourself.

I’m from Trondheim, Norway. I spent my 20s as a waiter and bartender in Oslo, but I didn’t feel much at home in the life I was living, so I moved to London to mix it up. It worked. I’ve been making masks for 10 years now. I am self-taught—it has all developed organically. Now, I have a workshop, connected to my husband’s photo studio, Dalston Pier.

What inspired you to start making masks?

I used to go clubbing a lot and masks came up as part of the get-up. But I don’t know why masks have become my thing. I have always collected materials I find around—textiles, beads, small bits of ribbon, little ornaments and things—and I needed somewhere to put these materials to use. I don’t draw, design or plan. I sculpt and see where the materials take me. But it’s funny, I have never been particularly interested in masks as a category.

Do you ever find yourself personifying your masks? Do they have personalities?

To me they do—I feel that personality through the process of making them. But it’s more about what other people find in them. Once I finish a mask and photograph it, I rarely put it on again. It lives its own life. An important part is taking a self-portrait of the mask and getting it out online. There, it can have a life of it’s own.

What is the first mask you remember making?

I remember making a plaster mask when I was 17 as part of a school project, but a few years ago my mum gave me a mask of paper and tulle I made when I was four.

What three words would you use to describe your process?

Materials and time.

Where did the name Damselfrau come from? What does it means?

It used to be my Skype name before the masks emerged. I was listening to a lot of German industrial music in my late 20s, so I think the German twang came through that. It lent itself to the mask work naturally. It means unmarried/married woman. To me, it has come to mean something like married to oneself.

Do you ever wear masks? Are they a part of your wardrobe in any way?

Not really. They are more a part of my home, on walls and photos. But sometimes I’ll make a fun one for Halloween.

Follow @officebeautynyc for more of our favorite beauty gurus, makeup artists and product reviews from our office Beauty Committee.

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