Fashion

Looking good with Ilia Georgiou

Big MAC
Make-up artists’ brand of choice comes to Nicosia

Most of us have heard of MAC make-up. Even people who aren’t into make up can’t have failed to notice the Viva Glam ads in international glossies, especially, more recently, the one featuring Pamela Anderson. Viva Glam is the name given to a special edition lipstick colours produced each year to raise money for AIDS charities, a cause MAC has donated millions of pounds to. It also actively advocates social reform to help educate people about the disease. The first ever ‘face’ chosen by MAC to represent and model the Viva Glam avant garde campaign was drag diva Ru Paul, in 1994. Ru Paul’s image is synonymous with MACs motto that “everyone has the right to self expression.” They honour the beauty in everyone, ‘All Races. All Sexes. All Ages.’

MAC make-up is well known in the UK, the US, Canada and worldwide and has now arrived in Cyprus. It has managed to plant itself firmly within the world of fashion shows, professional make-up artists and the hip, finger-on-the-pulse scene that is musicians, models and pop culture. Not surprising really as MAC was created by a make-up artist and a hair salon owner. They created the brand with very chic, minimalist black packaging and colours and textures which would appeal to professional make up artists as well as stylists, models and beauty editors. Word of mouth soon ensured it became the new street cred brand and in 1984 it was officially launched from a single counter in the basement of Simpsons department store in Toronto. Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo, the innovative creators of Make Up Art Cometics (MAC) staffed their counter with trained make up artists and the approach was notably different with staff being upbeat and with a positive buzzy vibe.

MAC identifies itself with and promotes free expression through image for all, whatever race, age, sex. It manages to blend together an image of street savvy and glamour with a touch of theatre and outrageousness. This clever and innovative portrayal has helped give them a cult status with everyone from professional artists to performers and drag queens loving to use their constantly updated collection of cosmetics.

I vividly remember, as a working make up artist in London, regularly visiting the new MAC shop in Carnaby Street to see what new products they had dreamed up. More often than not I would bump into fellow professionals who were also looking for, or researching, new textures and colours for a shoot. MAC was popular with professional make-up artists and media types from the beginning, as they brought the world of unusual textures and colours to the public, something that before was the domain of specialist brands, the secret world of professional make-up artists, shops and industry suppliers.

MAC has now arrived on our shores and you can find them at Makarios Avenue in Nicosia. You’ll find a lot of interesting products and up to the minute fashion colours and textures and I know the shop will be a hit, especially with younger generations. Be warned though if you go in you won’t be able to resist buying stuff! I’m probably the most careful person in the world when comes to spending and I don’t really need any make up as I have cases of the stuff that I use for my work but if I step into a MAC shop I will inevitably step out with something I just had to have because it was so gorgeous! One can find everything from make up brushes, cosmetic accessories and body paint, to lipstick there. The shop is a godsend to anyone who had to wait for a visit to Greece or the UK to buy their MAC supplies.

MAC, Makarios Ave, Nicosia. Tel: 22 460146

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.